Committee holds bill requiring schools to post federal civil‑rights data and ADE to publish school safety report

House Education Committee members held Senate Bill 12-55 for further explanation by the sponsor’s office. The bill would require public schools and local education agencies to post on their websites the most recent data they submitted to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and would direct the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to publish an annual school safety report with incident, law-enforcement referral and climate data.

Committee staff said the measure is intended to bring additional transparency to school safety and civil‑rights information. Camilla Strong of ADE appeared in the hearing but deferred to the sponsor’s representative; the sponsor’s staff (miss Bullock) was not present at the start of the item, so the chair held the bill so the sponsor’s representative could be available to answer detailed questions about “school climate” and other technical reporting items.

Chairman Gress said the bill had been considered in a previous legislative session and that the committee would set the item aside until the ADE and sponsor could provide more detail. The committee took no vote on the bill at this hearing and placed it on hold for follow-up.

Committee members asked ADE staff to clarify what “school climate” data would include and where the OCR submissions would be posted. ADE staff said she would provide answers after consulting agency records and that the bill would be held until ADE or sponsor staff could explain the reporting elements.

The committee’s action on SB 12-55 was to hold the bill without prejudice while awaiting the sponsor’s availability to explain specific provisions; no formal vote was taken.