The state Board of Education on Thursday opened public comment on a set of proposed rules covering some of the most controversial pieces of the Arkansas LEARNS Act, including a new requirement for public school students to complete community service as a graduation requirement and rules surrounding school bathrooms and gender identity.
The seven rules will be released for a 30-day comment period before coming back to the board for further edits or final approval, depending on whether the comments spur substantive changes. Once the proposed rules are published on the Department of Education’s website, a link will be provided to submit comments.
Once approved, the rules will replace the temporary ones put in place after last year’s passage of the 145-page LEARNS Act, Gov. Sarah Sanders’ far-reaching education overhaul.
Arkansas LEARNS created a voucher program that will eventually be open to all students in the state. It also raised the minimum teacher salary to $50,000, eliminated special labor protections for teachers, required high school students to complete 75 hours of community service before they graduate, and made other sweeping changes to the school system.
Dozens of temporary rules were initially put into place for the 2023-24 school year. Those rules must now be replaced with permanent ones, a process that begins with the state Board of Education.
State Education Secretary Jacob Oliva told the board that another set of rules will be presented at next month’s meeting and the process will continue until all LEARNS-related rules have been produced and reviewed.
If substantive changes are made by department staff (and approved by the board) after the public comment period ends, there will be a second public comment period. Once the rules are approved by the Board of Education, they will be sent to the state Legislature for approval.
The seven rules reviewed by the board today covered the following:
- Overnight Travel and Use of School Restrooms. Multi-occupancy restrooms or changing areas for district and charter schools must be designated by biological sex at birth, according to this rule. Districts are still allowed to provide “reasonable accommodations.” This rule also requires that only individuals of the same sex share rooms on school trips.
- Educator Performance. The Educator Performance rule rewards highly effective teachers with $10,000 bonuses through the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund. It holds superintendents accountable for improving student performance and allows for the non-renewal of contracts for ineffective teachers.
- The Right to Read Act. This rule ensures comprehensive high-quality literacy screeners for all students in kindergarten through third grade and establishes literacy coach support for D and F schools. The rule also establishes supports for students not meeting third-grade reading expectations and keeps a third grader from being promoted to the fourth grade if the student does not meet standards or does not have an exemption.
- Community Service and Diploma Requirements. This rule spells out the requirements that high school students — beginning with ninth graders this school year — must complete 75 hours of community service before graduation. It empowers school districts to oversee and approve community service projects and outlines the process for student exemptions.
- Public School Choice. The rule eliminates the 3% limit on the number of students who can transfer out of a district and allows school choice transfers to take effect immediately, rather than during a break in the school calendar. The rule also requires districts to notify the education department if more than 20% of resident students transfer to another district.
- Petitions for Student Transfers. This rule allows parents to petition the state Board of Education if their school transfer request is denied. Previously, the local school board had the final say.
- The Student Protection Act. This rule prohibits school districts and charter schools from doing business with individuals and entities that provide abortion referrals.
Deputy Education Commissioner Stacy Smith told the board while reviewing the rules governing the Right to Read Act that teachers in kindergarten through third grade will for the first time have a streamlined, comprehensive one-assessment system available to them.
The department recently selected the Cambium Assessment System to gauge K-3 literacy levels beginning in the 2024-25 school year. It will include a literacy screening at the beginning of the year, diagnostic tests, and interim and summative assessments for both literacy and mathematics.
School districts and teachers will use a single platform, which will include a parent portal, Smith said.
