Title 6, Education

(a) (1) (A) The Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall establish two (2) tiers of required training.(B) Both tiers of required training shall apply to public school districts, open-enrollment public charter schools, and education service cooperatives.(C) (i) At a mi…

(a) Any school district or open-enrollment public charter school that does not follow the provisions of this subchapter shall be placed in fiscal distress as provided by law. (b) Any education service cooperative that does not follow the provisions of this subchapter shall be san…

(a) If the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education determines that an overpayment has been made to a school district, open-enrollment public charter school, or education service cooperative in any funding category authorized by law, the division is authorized to withhold t…

(a) (1) (A) The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules governing a uniform budget and accounting system that shall be known as the “Arkansas Educational Financial Accounting and Reporting System”.(B) This system shall include a uniform chart of accounts known as the “Ark…

(a) (1) The General Assembly determines that, although funds may be distributed to school districts under this subchapter, it is the duty and responsibility of the State of Arkansas to monitor such expenditures to ensure that each public school child in Arkansas is provided with …

(a) Unless otherwise provided by law, the county treasurer shall be allowed a commission of two percent (2%) on all school funds paid into his or her hands, except on borrowed money, or the proceeds of the sale of bonds and all other funds on which the law shall not allow commiss…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Facilities master plan” means the same as defined in § 6-21-803;(2) “Net legal balance” means the:(A) Combined balance for a public school district's teacher's salary fund, operating fund, and debt services fund; minus(B) Combined balance for the …

(a) All general deposits of school funds in banks shall be secured by general obligation bonds of the United States, by bonds, notes, debentures, or other obligations issued by an agency of the United States Government, by bonds of the State of Arkansas, or by bonds of a politica…

(a) Noncredit remedial courses of instruction taken by a student at a state-supported institution of higher education in this state to qualify for unconditional admission to the institution or to another state-supported institution of higher education in this state may be include…

Any federal mineral leasing funds, federal forest reserve funds, federal flood control funds, or any similar turnback funds in the State Treasury for which the eligible county or school district cannot be identified may be transferred to the Division of Elementary and Secondary E…

Notwithstanding the provisions of § 19-24-101 et seq., or any law to the contrary, up to two million dollars ($2,000,000) received by the Public School Fund from the Budget Stabilization Trust Fund either by loan or transfer during the 1996-1997 fiscal year, shall be repaid from …

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Public School Funding Act of 2003”.

(a) The General Assembly recognizes that:(1) Intelligence and virtue are the safeguards of liberty and the bulwark of a free and good government; and(2) Arkansas Constitution, Article 14, § 1, requires the State of Arkansas to ever maintain a general, suitable, and efficient syst…

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Additional education categories” means state funds distributed to school districts for alternative learning environments, English learners, national school lunch students, and professional development;(2) “Alternative learning environment” mean…

(a) The State Board of Education shall have the authority, acting pursuant to its rulemaking powers, to adopt rules for the implementation of the provisions of this subchapter. (b) The state board shall provide access to legislation of the General Assembly concerning public schoo…

(a) (1) (A) For each school year, each school district shall receive state foundation funding aid computed as the foundation funding amount under subdivision (a)(2) of this section less the sum of:(i) Ninety-eight percent (98%) of the uniform rate of tax multiplied by the propert…

(a) If the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education determines that an overpayment has been made to a school district under any appropriation authorized by this subchapter, the division may:(1) Withhold the overpayment from subsequent state funding;(2) Transfer the amount w…

In order to provide relevant information to the General Assembly impacting the funding of public education, upon approval of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, Arkansas Legislative Audit shall prepare a report regarding the assessment and collection of property taxes.

(a) For the purpose of making an initial calculation of state foundation funding aid, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall calculate the miscellaneous funds of a school district as:(1) The aggregate amount of miscellaneous funds a school district received in t…

(a) For the 2025-2026 school year, in addition to the foundation funding provided to a school district under § 6-20-2305(a)(2), the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education shall distribute enhanced transportation funding to school districts each school year in the followin…

This subchapter is known as and may be cited as the “Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities Funding Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) (A) For fiscal years 2024-2025 and each year thereafter, “academic facilities wealth index” means a percentage derived from the following computations:(i) Determine the value of one (1) mill per student in each school district as follows: (a) Mu…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Eligible school district” means a school district that applied for bonded debt assistance under this section before July 1, 2005;(2) “Foundation funding” means an amount of money specified by the General Assembly for each school year to be expende…

(a) There is established the Academic Facilities Partnership Program under which the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall provide state financial participation based on a school district's academic facilities wealth index in the form of cash paym…

(a) There is established the Academic Facilities Catastrophic Program under which the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall award state financial participation to a school district based on a school district's academic facilities wealth index for …

(a) (1) The Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall establish formulas that shall be updated annually by the fourth quarter of the calendar year for determining the basic project cost per square foot for various types of new construction projects, i…

(a) It is the intent of the General Assembly to encourage school districts to explore and consider arrangements with other districts that have the potential to:(1) Improve academic facilities and equipment available to the public school students in the districts;(2) Result in imp…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “High-growth school district” means a public school district in which the average daily membership for the public school district in the present school year is four percent (4%) higher than the school year that is two (2) years before the present s…

The Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation shall promulgate rules necessary to administer this subchapter, which shall promote the intent and purposes of this subchapter and assure the prudent and resourceful expenditure of state funds with r…

(a) (1) A public school district may appeal a determination of the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation under this subchapter to the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation in accordance with procedures developed by…

(a) The General Assembly finds that:(1) In Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 364 Ark. 398 (2005), the Supreme Court raised concerns that some school districts might not receive any state financial assistance with academic facilities projects because the districts migh…

(a) At least one hundred twenty (120) days before the application deadline, a district may request and be granted by the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation a review conference that shall be held within seventy-five (75) days after the date of request…

(a) Beginning in the 2017-2019 funding cycle for the Academic Facilities Partnership Program, each new application for a new school building or a major renovation to an existing school building that would normally house a nursing office shall include a school nursing center. (b) …

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities Financing Act of 2007”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Bonds” means any bonds, notes, interim certificates, or other evidences of indebtedness;(2) “Commission” means the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation or its successor;(3) “Debt service” means principal,…

(a) (1) (A) The Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation is hereby authorized to issue bonds of the State of Arkansas to be known as State of Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities General Obligation bonds, in total principal amount not to …

(a) The bonds shall be issued in series in amounts sufficient to finance all or any part of public school academic facility project costs with the respective series to be designated in alphabetical order, or by the year in which issued, or both. (b) (1) Each series of bonds shall…

Bonds issued under this subchapter shall be issued to finance on a temporary or permanent basis or to develop one (1) or more public school academic facility projects, and the proceeds of the bonds shall be applied to the payment of public school academic facility project costs, …

(a) The bonds shall be authorized by resolution of the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. (b) Each resolution shall contain the terms, covenants, and conditions deemed desirable for the bonds, including without limitation conditions pert…

(a) Each bond shall:(1) Be signed with the manual or facsimile signatures of the Governor, the members of the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, and the Treasurer of State; and(2) Have affixed, imprinted, or lithographed on the bond the …

(a) The bonds may be sold:(1) Either at public or private sale in a manner and upon such terms as the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation determines to be reasonable and expedient for the purposes for which the commission was created; and(…

(a) The proceeds from the sale of the bonds shall be deposited by the recipient thereof, as received, into trust funds either established in the State Treasury or into accounts established outside the State Treasury in the name of the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academi…

The bonds shall be the direct general obligations of the state for the payment of debt service on which the full faith and credit of the state are irrevocably pledged so long as any such bonds are outstanding. The bonds shall be payable from the general revenues of the state, and…

(a) (1) On or before the commencement of each fiscal year, the Chief Fiscal Officer of the State shall determine the estimated amount required for payment of all or a part of the debt service on the bonds issued under this subchapter during the fiscal year to determine what amoun…

Bonds and the interest on the bonds issued under this subchapter are exempt from state, county, and municipal taxes, including income taxes, inheritance taxes, and property taxes. The bonds shall be eligible to secure deposits of all public funds and shall be legal for investment…

(a) (1) Bonds may be issued under this subchapter to refund any outstanding bonds issued under this subchapter.(2) Bonds issued under this section:(A) Do not require the Commission for Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to submit a written plan to the G…