Title 6 — Education

A placement organization that fails to register as required by this subchapter or that submits false or incorrect information to the Secretary of State in filing statements required by this subchapter, whether or not the statement or report is verified, shall be prohibited from p…

(a) The General Assembly recognizes:(1) The importance of adequate eye and vision care for school-age children as an important component to maximizing their educational opportunities and classroom performance; and(2) The need for a study to be conducted to evaluate eye and vision…

A.C.A. § 6-18-1804Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Public School Choice Act of 2015”. (b) The General Assembly finds that:(1) The students in Arkansas's public schools and their parents will become more informed about and involved in the public educational system if stud…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Nonresident district” means a school district other than a student's resident district;(2) “Parent” means a student's parent, guardian, or other person having custody or care of the student;(3) “Resident district” means the school district in w…

(a) A public school choice program is established to enable a student in kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) to attend a school in a nonresident district or another public school within a resident district, subject to the limitations under § 6-18-1906. (b) (1) Each school di…

(a) The transfer of a student under the Public School Choice Act of 2013, formerly this subchapter, is not voided by this subchapter and shall be treated as a transfer under this subchapter. (b) (1) A student may accept only one (1) school choice transfer per school year.(2) (A) …

(a) (1) An application under this section shall be accepted no earlier than January 1 and no later than June 1 each year.(2) (A) Each school district shall have a policy stating the method by which a parent or guardian of a student, or a student who is eighteen (18) years of age …

(a) If the provisions of this subchapter conflict with a provision of an enforceable desegregation court order or a district's court-approved desegregation plan, either of which explicitly limits the transfer of students between school districts, the provisions of the order or pl…

(a) The State Board of Education may promulgate rules to implement this subchapter. (b) (1) A student whose application for a transfer under § 6-18-1905 is rejected by a nonresident district or a resident district if a student applies to transfer to another public school within h…

The provisions of this subchapter are effective immediately.

(a) A child shall be eligible for enrollment in the public school district of his or her choice if he or she is a dependent of a:(1) Uniformed service member in full-time active-duty status;(2) Surviving spouse of a uniformed service member;(3) Reserve component uniformed service…

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “School Counseling Improvement Act of 2019”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Administrative activities” means activities that are not directly related to the comprehensive school counseling plan and are absent of any direct student services or interaction;(2) “Direct services” means services that are provided through fa…

(a) Each public school district shall:(1) Develop and implement a comprehensive school counseling program that ensures student services are coordinated in a manner that provides comprehensive support to all students; and(2) Have a written plan for a comprehensive school counselin…

(a) Sufficient time at each public school shall be allotted for the school counselor to carry out the duties stated in the comprehensive school counseling plan required under § 6-18-2003. (b) (1) A school counselor shall spend at least ninety percent (90%) of his or her working t…

(a) Each public school district is responsible for posting its annual comprehensive school counseling plan on the district website under “State-Required Information”. (b) (1) Beginning with the 2020-2021 school year, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall monito…

(a) Under the penalty for noncompliance set by law, every parent, legal guardian, person having lawful control of the child, or person standing in loco parentis residing within the State of Arkansas and having custody or charge of a child five (5) years of age through seventeen (…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “In loco parentis” means relating to the responsibility to undertake the care and control of another person in the absence of:(A) Supervision by the person's parent or legal guardian; and(B) Formal legal approval;(2) “Reside” means to be physically…

(a) The school-age children of a person who owns land meeting at least one (1) of the following conditions shall be eligible to attend the school in either of the school districts in which the person's tract of land or principal place of residence is located, regardless of the lo…

(a) The title of this section shall be “An Act Making It Legal for a Student Living in One School District to Attend School in Another School District under Specified Conditions”. (b) A student may attend school in another district under the following conditions:(1) A student in …

(a) A school district that admits for ten (10) school days or more a student the school district knows, or should have known, is a resident of another school district not included in a tuition agreement, or not officially transferred to the school district, is liable to the resid…

A.C.A. § 6-18-206Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) A student may enter kindergarten in the public schools of this state if he or she will attain the age of five (5) years on or before August 1 of the year in which he or she is seeking initial enrollment.(2) Any student who has been enrolled in a state-accredited or state-…

(a) Before a child's admission to an Arkansas public school, a school district shall request the parent, legal guardian, person having lawful control, or person standing in loco parentis to furnish the child's Social Security number and shall inform the parent, legal guardian, pe…

(a) The board of directors of each school district in this state shall adopt student attendance policies. (b) Each school district, as a part of its six-year educational plan, shall develop strategies for promoting maximum student attendance, including, but not limited to, the us…

A.C.A. § 6-18-210Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(1) The General Assembly finds that:(1) Forty-seven (47) states have established farm to school programs to improve the health of children through the support of the following three (3) core elements:(A) School gardens;(B) Food, nutrition, and agriculture education; and(C) Procur…

As used in this subchapter, “local farm or food products” means food products that are grown in Arkansas or packaged and processed in Arkansas, or both.

(a) A farm to school and early childhood education program is established within the Department of Agriculture for the purposes of:(1) Improving student health;(2) Developing an educated agricultural workforce;(3) Enriching the local farm or food products system and supporting th…

A.C.A. § 6-18-211Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

A.C.A. § 6-18-212Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) (1) A record of pupil attendance shall be kept by each school district of the state in a format prescribed by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.(2) (A) This basic record, showing the daily attendance and absence of each student for the school year, shall be k…

(a) In addition to the records required by § 6-18-213, a record of students who have left school without having completed requirements for high school graduation shall be kept by each school district of the state on forms provided by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Educa…

(a) (1) (A) On or before October 1 of each school year, a public school shall conduct a census of all students enrolled at the school to arrive at a school enrollment census total for each grade.(B) The number of students transferring into the school October 1 through September 3…

A.C.A. § 6-18-216Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) It shall be the duty of each teacher in the public schools of Arkansas to keep an accurate record of attendance and nonattendance of all children enrolled in his or her class or classes. (b) Any teacher failing to keep such record may have his or her license revoked for such …

A.C.A. § 6-18-218Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(1) Any teacher, principal, superintendent, or any other person whose duty it is to make reports as to the schools of the county who shall make a false report to the State Board of Education as to the number of children enumerated, the number enrolled in school, or the number in …

(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that:(1) The National FFA Organization, Family, Career and Community Leaders of America, Inc., and 4-H programs in the state involve an education and learning process that is not otherwise available in the regular curriculum of secondar…

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Student Protection Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) “Abortion” means the act of using or prescribing an instrument, medicine, drug, device, or other substance or means with the intent to terminate the clinically diagnosable pregnancy of a woman with knowledge that the termination by those mea…

(1) A public school or open-enrollment public charter school shall not knowingly enter into any type of transaction with an individual or entity that:(1) Performs abortions;(2) Induces abortions;(3) Provides abortions; or(4) Offers or provides abortion referrals. (1) Performs abo…

(a) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall promulgate rules to implement this subchapter. (b) Each public school and open-enrollment public charter school shall promulgate policies for the implementation of this subchapter and the rules promulgated by the divisi…

(a) Any public school district may enter into a cooperative agreement with local law enforcement officials to implement within the district an “Operation Stay in School Program”. (b) Upon the request of the board of directors of the school district, the law enforcement agency sha…

(a) (1) (A) (i) The board of directors of each school district in this state shall adopt a student attendance policy, as provided for in § 6-18-209, which shall include a certain number of unexcused absences that may be used as a basis for denial of course credit, promotion, or g…

(a) (1) A public school student who is enrolled in a public school in Arkansas and who has successfully completed the eighth grade shall be eligible to enroll in a publicly supported community college or four-year college or university in accordance with rules adopted by each ins…

Any student who is enrolled in a public high school in Arkansas and has earned the number of credits required by the local school district for graduation shall be eligible to graduate from the high school without regard to the grade level the student is enrolled in at the time su…

As used in this section and § 6-18-226, “community truancy board” means a board composed of members of the local community in which the child attends school.

(a) The local school district boards of directors may create a community truancy board or may use other boards that exist or are created such as diversion boards. However, a diversion or other existing board must agree before it is used as a community truancy board. (b) Members o…