§ 6-17-705 - Professional development credit.
6-17-705. Professional development credit.
(a) Up to twelve (12) hours of professional development credit may be earned by licensed personnel for time required at the beginning of each school year to plan and prepare a curriculum and other instructional material for their assigned classes if the time is:
(1) Spent in their classrooms, offices, or media centers at the public school; and
(2) Before the first student-teacher interaction day of the school year, but a school district shall not require licensed personnel to work additional days that are not included in their contracts unless the licensed personnel are paid their daily rate of pay.
(b) Licensed personnel shall earn one (1) hour of professional development credit for each hour of planning and preparation that meets the requirements of subsection (a) of this section.
(c) Licensed personnel may earn the twelve (12) hours of professional development credit required under subsection (a) of this section through online professional development credit approved by the Department of Education and related to the:
(1) School district's Arkansas Comprehensive School Improvement Plan; or
(2) Teacher's professional growth plan.
(d) (1) If illness of a teacher or a teacher's immediate family under 6-17-1202 prevents a teacher from obtaining the required professional development hours, the teacher shall be allowed to make up the hours missed during the:
(A) Remainder of the current school year; or
(B) Succeeding school year.
(2) The teacher may earn the professional development hours through online professional development.
(e) The State Board of Education shall promulgate the rules necessary for the proper implementation of this section.