Title 6, Education

In the event of loss of a school district, education service cooperative, or open-enrollment public charter school property under the Public Elementary and Secondary School Insurance Program, the Public School Insurance Trust Fund shall pay the loss as specified in the contract.

Any school district, education service cooperative, or open-enrollment public charter school that may receive financial assistance from the United States Government as a result of federal legislation pertaining to disasters shall not be adversely affected as a result of any money…

The General Assembly shall provide a Permanent Insurance Reserve Fund of not less than two million dollars ($2,000,000) on a loan basis for the purpose of initiating the Public Elementary and Secondary School Insurance Program.

(1) All funds received by the State Insurance Department as premiums, adjustments, earnings, and the like, as provided in this subchapter, shall be deposited into the Public School Insurance Trust Fund and used for the following purposes, listed in a descending order of priority:…

(a) The State Insurance Department is authorized to invest funds of the Public Elementary and Secondary School Insurance Program. (b) Funds of the program may be invested and reinvested as the Insurance Commissioner may determine. (c) Moneys invested and interest earned thereon s…

The State Insurance Department shall report annually to the Governor and the General Assembly on the status of the Public Elementary and Secondary School Insurance Program. The report shall include a detailed statement of investments and earnings.

(a) (1) Unless a shorter period is prescribed by law or rule, all school districts' annual audits not conducted by Arkansas Legislative Audit shall be completed and filed with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and Arkansas Legislative Audit within nine (9) months…

(a) Any school district failing to file an audit report required by § 6-20-1801 within the nine-month time period or within the time period under any extension granted by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall automatically be considered by the division to be in…

(a) If the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education or the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee is concerned that a particular audit may be substandard or seriously questionable with respect to applicable professional auditing standards, the division or the Legislative Join…

(a) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall maintain a list of accountants or accounting firms ineligible to conduct school district audits. Accountants or accounting firms placed on the ineligibility list by the division shall be ineligible to conduct school aud…

(a) The State Board of Education shall establish by rules appropriate training and continuing education requirements for individuals whose job responsibilities include preparing a budget or classifying, recording, or reporting receipts or expenditures of a school or school distri…

(1) A licensed certified public accountant or a licensed accountant in public practice shall not provide the following nonaudit services to a school district, education service cooperative, or open-enrollment public charter school if the licensed certified public accountant or th…

This subchapter shall be known as and may be cited as the “Arkansas Fiscal Assessment and Accountability Program”.

(1) The purpose of this subchapter shall be to improve Arkansas public school districts' financial practices and use of resources by establishing a:(1) System by which the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall review the financial management practices of public sch…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Annexation” means the joining of an affected school district or part of the school district with a receiving district pursuant to § 6-13-1401;(2) “Consolidation” means the joining of two (2) or more school districts or parts of the districts to…

(a) A school district meeting any of the following criteria may be identified by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education to be a school district in fiscal distress upon final approval by the State Board of Education:(1) (A) A declining balance determined to jeopardize …

(a) (1) (A) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall provide written notice, via certified mail, return receipt requested, to the president of the board of directors and the superintendent of each public school district identified as being in fiscal distress.(B) T…

(a) Those school districts identified by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education as being in fiscal distress shall be classified as school districts in fiscal distress upon final determination by the State Board of Education. (b) Any school district classified as in fi…

No school district identified in fiscal distress may incur any debt without the prior written approval of the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education.

(a) Those school districts identified by the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education as being in fiscal distress shall file with the division within ten (10) days after the final classification by the State Board of Education a written fiscal distress improvement plan to a…

(a) In addressing public school districts in fiscal distress, the Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education may:(1) Remove permanently, reassign, or suspend on a temporary basis the superintendent of the public school district and:(A) Appoint an individual in place of th…

(a) After a public hearing, the State Board of Education shall consolidate, annex, or reconstitute the school district in fiscal distress to another school district or school districts upon a majority vote of a quorum of the members of the state board as permitted or required by …

(a) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall promulgate rules as necessary to identify, evaluate, assist, and address school districts in fiscal distress. (b) The division may promulgate rules as necessary to administer this subchapter.

(a) When a public school district is returned to local control or removed from fiscal distress status, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education:(1) Shall monitor the fiscal operations and accounts of the public school district for a period of three (3) years;(2) Shall p…

(a) As used in this subchapter, “general business manager” means a chief financial officer or business manager, however the position is titled, who:(1) Is an employee of a public school district or has contracted to perform financial services;(2) Is responsible for the fiscal ope…

(a) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall implement a system for reviewing the financial management practices of public school districts to determine the support that is needed by public school districts. (b) The system established under subsection (a) of this …

The purpose of this subchapter is to track and account for the amount of state funds that is used to support interschool athletic programs in public schools.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Athletic expenditures” means all direct expenses related to interschool athletic programs, including without limitation:(A) The proportion of salaries or supplemental pay for staff for or related to interschool athletic programs or organized ph…

(a) (a) During the appropriate Arkansas Public School Computer Network reporting cycle each year, a school district shall submit appropriate data to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education documenting the school district's total athletic expenditures paid from state fu…

The State Board of Education may promulgate any rules necessary for the implementation of this subchapter.

(1) When the Treasurer of State receives the following proceeds from the Commissioner of State Lands, it shall be the duty of the Treasurer of State to set aside that amount to the credit of the Land Sales Fund:(1) The proceeds from the sale of all lands that have been or hereaft…

(a) (1) At the end of each fiscal year, the Treasurer of State shall transfer to the credit of the Public School Fund all unappropriated balances of the Land Sales Fund that have been or may be made to this state and that are not otherwise appropriated by the terms of the grant, …

(a) The annual interest and income derived from the Public School Fund, the annual revenue of the state that is set apart by law for general purposes, and all other revenue and funds that may come into the State Treasury for such purposes shall constitute the Public School Fund o…

(a) The State Board of Education is authorized to publish and offer for sale an Arkansas history textbook copyrighted in the name of the state board and the Arkansas State Archives. (b) The state board shall establish a procedure for marketing the textbook and shall establish a s…

In determining the allocation of available funds to the various programs in the Public School Fund, the State Board of Education shall consider those line items necessary to provide an equitable and adequate education to be of highest priority above all other programs and commitm…

The purpose of this subchapter is to track and account for the amount of state funds that is used to support interschool scholastic activities in public schools.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Classroom teacher” means an individual who is required to hold a teaching license from the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education and who is engaged directly in instruction with students in a classroom setting for more than seventy perc…

(a) During the appropriate Arkansas Public School Computer Network reporting cycle each year, a school district shall submit data to the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education documenting the school district's total interschool scholastic activity expenditures paid from s…

The State Board of Education may promulgate any rules necessary for the implementation of this subchapter.

The State Board of Education shall have the authority to budget carryover balances in the Public School Fund.

The general school fund of any county shall be composed of all money received from the Public School Fund of the state, such fines, penalties, and other money as shall be accrued to the general school fund in accordance with the law, and any appropriation from the general revenue…

The county treasurer shall apportion the general school fund of the county based upon the average daily membership of the school districts within the county. Each school district within the county shall receive its pro rata share of the general school fund of the county.

The quorum court of any county is authorized to place all funds about which there is a doubt as to their proper application to the credit of the general school fund in the county treasury. These funds shall be apportioned by the county treasurer among the school districts of the …

(a) All moneys received by the counties for the support of the public schools from the United States Government from the income from the national forests shall be paid by the county treasurer upon receipt from the Treasurer of State only to the school districts that lie in or par…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Arkansas Educational Financial Accounting and Reporting Act of 2004”.

(a) (1) The board of directors of each school district, open-enrollment public charter school, and education service cooperative annually shall prepare a budget of expenditures and receipts that shall be filed with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education by September 3…