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Education committee advances five bills including chaplain volunteers, 9/11 instruction change
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Summary
The Senate Education Committee gave due-pass recommendations to five bills on Feb. 4, 2025, including SB 1437 (mandatory-reporting changes), SB 1269 (volunteer chaplains), SB 1225 (restricts 9/11 instruction to grades 7–12), SB 1247 (expands Arizona Teachers Academy eligibility), and SB 1255 (annual school safety reporting).
At the conclusion of its Feb. 4, 2025, meeting the Arizona Senate Education Committee issued due-pass recommendations for five bills. The committee recorded formal committee votes and took testimony on several measures.
SB 1437 (Warner) — Due pass as amended (committee vote 7–0) Synopsis: Expands mandatory-reporting duties to include governing-board and charter governing members, clarifies reporting standards for immoral or unprofessional conduct, requires immediate law-enforcement notification for investigations of certain sexual nature, and limits interviews of alleged student victims to trained forensic interviewers. (See separate article for full testimony details.)
SB 1269 (Rogers) — Due pass (committee vote 4–2, 1 not voting) Synopsis: Authorizes school districts and charter schools to permit volunteer school chaplains to provide support services and programs if a governing board adopts a policy, posts a list of volunteer chaplains and their religious affiliation, and obtains written parental consent. Chaplains would be subject to fingerprinting, affidavit and background-investigation requirements for school employment.
Support and opposition: Sponsor Senator Wendy Rogers described the measure as voluntary and noted other states have similar programs. Oliver Spires, a minister with the Satanic Temple of Arizona, testified in opposition, arguing the bill risks unequal access, may create the appearance of state endorsement of religion and could lead to litigation; he asked whether districts would be required to list chaplains from all faiths and how nonreligious students would be served.
Vote: The committee voted 4 ayes, 2 noes and 1 not voting to give the bill a due-pass recommendation.
SB 1225 (Mesnard) — Due pass as amended (committee vote 6–0) Synopsis: Limits the statutory requirement that public schools provide age-appropriate instruction on Sept. 11 to students in grades 7–12 (previously applied more broadly to K–12). Sponsor described the change as avoiding presenting traumatic material to very young children while preserving teacher discretion.
SB 1247 (Farnsworth) — Due pass (committee vote 6–0) Synopsis: Expands eligibility for the Arizona Teachers Academy to include any Arizona community college that offers postbaccalaureate programs that lead to teacher certification. Maricopa Community Colleges testified in support, citing new community-college bachelor’s programs in education and the program’s potential to yield more teachers per state dollar.
SB 1255 (Mason/staff) — Due pass (committee vote 4–2, 1 not voting) Synopsis: Requires the Arizona Department of Education to submit an annual school-safety report by Dec. 15 listing counts of incidents (bullying, fighting, sexual assault, threats, harassment, suicide, hazing and other physical attacks) reported at each school site; requires ADE to establish a survey for districts and charter schools and to post redacted data online consistent with FERPA.
For each bill the committee’s due-pass recommendation advances the measure to the full Senate; the committee’s votes were recorded on the Feb. 4, 2025, agenda.
