§ 6-15-430 - State Board of Education authority over school in academic distress.
6-15-430. State Board of Education authority over school in academic distress.
(a) The State Board of Education shall have the following authority regarding any public school district in academic distress:
(1) To require the superintendent of the school district to relinquish all authority with respect to the school district and to appoint an individual to administratively operate the school district under the supervision of the Commissioner of Education, with the cost to be paid from school district funding;
(2) To suspend or remove some or all of the current board of directors and call for the election of a new school board of directors for the school district, in which case the school district shall reimburse the county board of election commissioners for election costs as otherwise required by law;
(3) To allow the school district to operate without the local school board of directors under the supervision of the local school district administration or an administration chosen by the Commissioner of Education;
(4) To waive the application of Arkansas law, with the exception of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act of 1983, 6-17-1501 et seq., and the Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act, 6-17-1701 et seq., or the Department of Education rules and regulations;
(5) To require the annexation, consolidation, or reconstitution of the public school district; and
(6) To take any other necessary and proper action, as determined by the state board, that is allowed by law.
(b) (1) Any student attending a public school district classified as being in academic distress shall automatically be eligible and entitled pursuant to the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 1989, 6-18-206, to transfer to another geographically contiguous school district not in academic distress during the time period that a school district is classified as being in academic distress and, therefore, not be required to file a petition by July 1 but shall meet all other requirements and conditions of the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 1989, 6-18-206.
(2) The cost of transporting the student from the resident district to the nonresident district shall be the cost of the resident district.
(3) The nonresident district shall count the student for average daily membership purposes.