All Roll Calls
Yes: 107 • No: 11
ArkansasHB16722025 Regular SessionHouse
TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE TO CREATE A MORE EFFICIENT SYSTEM FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION IN ARKANSAS.
Sponsored By: Justin Boyd (Republican), Austin McCollum (Republican)
Enacted
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
15 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 3 costs, 8 mixed.
Teachers lose protections during charter conversions
Licensed teachers who worked at a school the year before its charter conversion lose specific legal protections. These protections barred transfers or charter employment over their objection and protected continued district employment. The law also removes required teacher votes in specified conversion cases. It does not require any particular teacher to transfer or lose a job.
Charter families gain enrollment and caregiver flexibility
Open-enrollment charters no longer have the statutory July 30 enrollment deadline or related replacement-enrollment rules. Schools can enroll students up to their charter's enrollment cap; the law sets no replacement deadline. Charter law also recognizes someone acting in place of a parent as a parent, alongside guardians and other custodians.
Charter boards gain a transfer path
Charter boards can petition the authorizer to approve a voluntary transfer to another board. A receiving board is not responsible for earlier activity, including discipline imposed by the authorizer. After a transfer or assignment, the authorizer must issue a new local education agency number. The authorizer cannot issue an annual report until the recipient completes at least one school year.
District charter conversions lose application requirements
Districts seeking a conversion charter use the state education division's application and an authorizer-approved schedule. The law removes listed application requirements covering purposes, hearings, improvement plans, performance goals, stakeholder involvement, exemptions, and reporting agreements. When an applicant requests review, the authorizer must review the application and can approve or deny it.
Virtual charters receive physical attendance waivers
Approved virtual open-enrollment charter schools must receive waivers of physical-presence rules designated by the state education division. This applies when the charter panel and State Board approve an initial application or renewal.
Charter applicants face planning and nonprofit rules
Charter applicants must be eligible to do business in Arkansas and submit the approved application with supporting documents. Open-enrollment applications must include a business plan, detailed budget, governance plan, and five-year performance criteria. They must also disclose intended facilities and use agreements, including district or religious-organization facilities; academic plans can describe meeting or exceeding state goals. Open-enrollment boards must be nonprofits meeting section 501(c)(3) requirements, and applicants must establish their tax-exempt application status before students attend. Private and parochial elementary and secondary schools cannot receive open-enrollment charter status.
Charter contracts set school accountability terms
A charter is a performance-based contract governed by Arkansas law between the authorizer and the school board. It sets school terms, applicable state and local exemptions, performance expectations, and accountability standards. The state education commissioner and an authorized board member must sign it, replacing the school's chief operating officer as signatory.
Charter applications lose local notice requirements
Open-enrollment charter applicants no longer have to publish hearing notices in newspapers or send notice letters to district superintendents. Affected districts lose the stated opportunity to submit written comments. District findings and statements also leave the listed bases for approving or denying an application. Applicants must still describe public hearing results in their applications.
Charter decisions get state board review
The state education division authorizes charters through a commissioner-appointed, seven-member panel; a majority must come from outside the Education Department. After division approval, the panel reviews charter openings, renewals, changes, revocations, transfers, and assignments, recommending only waivers allowed by law. The State Board gives final approval and must accept or reject recommendations at its next meeting. Schools and applicants have 15 calendar days after an adverse ruling to file written appeals explaining their reasons; the Board votes whether to hear them. If the Board rejects a panel recommendation, it must explain why and hold a hearing; hearing decisions are final.
Charters report more with fewer deadlines
Charters must post their latest agreements online by August 1 each year. Reports cover enrollment, applications received and accepted, student groups, retention, departures, discipline, and test scores, using state formats and charter schedules. Open-enrollment performance criteria and annual progress reports must cover academic, financial, and operational goals. The division publishes reports, notes reporting failures in annual evaluations, and evaluates open-enrollment charters using charter criteria and letter grades. Enrollment and budget monitoring continues, but first-year monthly reports and the former first- and fourth-quarter reporting deadlines are removed.
Existing charter waivers get end dates
Charter schools existing by July 1, 2025, keep existing waivers on schedules based on their 2022–2023 letter grades. Conversion charters rated C, D, or F keep waivers through 2026–2027; A or B schools through 2027–2028. Conversion charters without those grades keep waivers through the charter term in effect on July 1, 2025. Open-enrollment charters rated D or F keep waivers through 2026–2027; C schools through 2027–2028; A or B schools through 2028–2029. For open-enrollment charters, waivers end sooner if the charter term ends first.
Failing charters lose approval but can appeal
A public charter school must lose its charter after receiving an F grade for three consecutive school years. After receiving notice of the third F and revocation, the school has 10 days to request a State Board hearing. The hearing allows the school to seek reinstatement.
Innovation schools move into charter system
The law ends the District of Innovation Program and includes former innovation schools in the conversion charter school definition. These schools keep waivers held on July 1, 2025, through their current four-year approval cycle and can seek charter renewal. Teacher-license waivers instead come through charter law or the separate district waiver law. The legal definition of teacher includes licensed and nonlicensed classroom teachers working under those waivers. Teacher evaluations under the Teacher Excellence and Support System remain required and cannot be waived.
State takes control of transferred charter funds
When an open-enrollment charter is revoked, transferred, or assigned, the school must develop and carry out a closure plan with the division. The school must disclose bank accounts holding public funds and provide a detailed ledger of state-funded bills it owes. Spending over $500 requires prior division approval. The school must immediately transfer all state and federal funds to the division. The division holds the money separately in receivership and can spend it only with the Commissioner's prior approval.
Successful charters gain expansion and renewal paths
Open-enrollment charters can seek additional campuses despite the usual one-campus limit. They must meet charter terms, show academic success, and have no listed discipline, deficiencies, probation, suspension, or revocation. Expansion requires written approval by a majority of a quorum and findings that required education results and criteria are generally met. After the initial five-year term, renewals can last one or more years, up to 20, based on academic, financial, and operational performance. A required faster renewal process uses above-state-average ratings, exceptional student growth, compliance, and evidence of continued operation and financial stability.
Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
Justin Boyd
Republican • Senate
Austin McCollum
Republican • House
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
Senate vote • 4/14/2025
Senate Vote - Monday, April 14, 2025 12:54:25 PM
Yes: 32 • No: 0 • Other: 1
House vote • 4/8/2025
House Vote - Tuesday, April 8, 2025 2:42:54 PM
Yes: 75 • No: 11 • Other: 7
Actions Timeline
Notification that HB1672 is now Act 800
4/17/2025HouseCorrectly enrolled and ordered transmitted to the Governor's Office.
4/15/2025HouseTO BE ENROLLED
4/14/2025HouseReturned from the Senate as passed.
4/14/2025HouseReturned to the House as passed.
4/14/2025SenateRead the third time and passed.
4/14/2025SenateReturned by the Committee, with the recommendation that it Do Pass
4/9/2025SenateRead first time, rules suspended, read second time, referred to EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE
4/8/2025SenateReceived from the House.
4/8/2025SenateRead the third time and passed and ordered transmitted to the Senate.
4/8/2025HouseREPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
4/7/2025HouseAmendment No. 2 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed.
4/7/2025HousePlaced on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
4/7/2025HouseReturned by the Committee with the recommendation that it do pass as amended 2
4/3/2025HouseREPORTED CORRECTLY ENGROSSED
3/31/2025HouseAmendment No. 1 read and adopted and the bill ordered engrossed.
3/31/2025HousePlaced on second reading for the purpose of amendment.
3/31/2025HouseRead the first time, rules suspended, read the second time and referred to the Committee on EDUCATION COMMITTEE- HOUSE
3/4/2025HouseFiled
3/4/2025House
Bill Text
HB1672 - Introduced
3/4/2025
Act Version
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