Shown verbatim: the complete text as captured from the official PDF posted by the Arkansas General Assembly, fetched 2026-07-23. Page and line markers are part of the official record; nothing is edited or removed. The official bill page.
Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
1 State of Arkansas A Bill
2 95th General Assembly
3 Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 172
4
5 By: Senators C. Tucker, J. Bryant
6 By: Representatives Gazaway, M. Shepherd
7
8 For An Act To Be Entitled
9 AN ACT TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO TITLE 6 OF
10 THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING EDUCATION; AND FOR OTHER
11 PURPOSES.
12
13
14 Subtitle
15 TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS TO TITLE 6
16 OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING
17 EDUCATION.
18
19 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
20
21 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code � 6-13-1006(c), concerning the first meeting
22 of a board of directors of an education service cooperative, is repealed
23 because the subsection is obsolete.
24 (c) The first meeting of the board of directors shall be held within
25 thirty (30) days of January 1, 2024.
26
27 SECTION 2. Arkansas Code � 6-13-1006(d), concerning the first meeting
28 of a board of directors of an education service cooperative, is amended to
29 read as follows to repeal obsolete language.
30 (d) At its first regular meeting, the The board of directors shall
31 elect a chair.
32
33 SECTION 3. Arkansas Code � 6-15-215 is repealed because the section
34 expired on June 30, 2020.
35 6-15-215. The Arkansas Smart Core Incentive Funding Program --
36 Definitions.
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1 (a) The General Assembly finds that:
2 (1) The skills and knowledge gained through Arkansas's Smart
3 Core curriculum provide the academic foundation required for high school
4 graduates to succeed in their first year of college or in a job that promises
5 a well-paying career track; and
6 (2) School districts should encourage all students who are
7 capable of completing the Smart Core curriculum to do so.
8 (b) As used in this section:
9 (1) "Eligible high school" means each public high school in a
10 school district that meets the criteria to receive incentive funding under
11 subsection (f) of this section and the program rules adopted under this
12 section by the State Board of Education;
13 (2) "Smart Core" means the curriculum established by the
14 Division of Elementary and Secondary Education under the Standards for
15 Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts that is part of
16 Smart Future, a state initiative focused on improving Arkansas public high
17 schools for all students; and
18 (3) "Smart Core graduate" means a student who graduated from an
19 Arkansas public high school after having successfully completed the Smart
20 Core curriculum.
21 (c) The Arkansas Smart Core Incentive Funding Program is established
22 to provide a financial incentive to:
23 (1) Assist with a public high school's efforts to encourage
24 public high school students to complete the Smart Core curriculum;
25 (2) Promote programs that contribute to student success,
26 including without limitation:
27 (A) Tutoring;
28 (B) Quality after-school and summer programs that may
29 include literacy, math, and science specialists in elementary school; and
30 (C) Professional development for mathematics, science,
31 literacy, foreign language, and Advanced Placement instruction; and
32 (3) Provide support to school counselors to improve student
33 services.
34 (d)(1)(A) A school district that receives incentive funding under this
35 section shall provide the incentive funding to each eligible high school in
36 the school district.
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1 (B) The eligible high school shall spend the incentive
2 funding only for the purposes identified in subsection (c) of this section.
3 (2) A school district that receives incentive funding under the
4 program shall not use the incentive funding to provide increases to the
5 salary schedule of the school district.
6 (e)(1) Subject to an appropriation and available funding for the
7 program, the division shall pay incentive funding to a school district under
8 this section based on an annual percentage of Smart Core graduates from a
9 public high school in the school district.
10 (2)(A) The division shall make the calculation based on a
11 student record analysis conducted annually by the division beginning with the
12 graduating class of 2010.
13 (B) The division shall exclude from the student record
14 analysis a student with an individualized education program that does not
15 require the student to complete the Smart Core curriculum.
16 (f)(1) By June 30 of each year, the division shall pay to a school
17 district incentive funding under the program as follows:
18 (A) If one hundred percent (100%) of a public high
19 school's graduates in the immediately preceding school year completed the
20 Smart Core curriculum, the school district where the public high school is
21 located shall receive one hundred twenty-five dollars ($125) per Smart Core
22 graduate;
23 (B) If at least ninety-five percent (95%) but less than
24 one hundred percent (100%) of a public high school's graduates in the
25 immediately preceding school year completed the Smart Core curriculum, the
26 school district where the public high school is located shall receive one
27 hundred dollars ($100) per Smart Core graduate; and
28 (C) If at least ninety percent (90%) but less than ninety-
29 five percent (95%) of a public high school's graduates in the immediately
30 preceding school year completed the Smart Core curriculum, the school
31 district where the public high school is located shall receive fifty dollars
32 ($50.00) per Smart Core graduate.
33 (2) The division shall not pay incentive funding to a school
34 district for a public high school in which less than ninety percent (90%) of
35 its graduates complete the Smart Core curriculum.
36 (3) If a public high school's graduation rate falls below the
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1 average graduation rate for the public high school for the previous three (3)
2 school years, the school district is not eligible to receive the full
3 incentive award under the program for the public high school.
4 (g) Participation in the program is voluntary.
5 (h) This section is effective from July 1, 2009, through June 30,
6 2020.
7
8 SECTION 4. Arkansas Code � 6-16-152(b)(3), concerning the requirements
9 of a computer science or computer science-related career and technical
10 education course under the Computer Science Education Advancement Act of
11 2021, is amended to correct a grammatical error:
12 (3) A computer science or computer science-related career and
13 technical education course offered by a public high school shall:
14 (A) Be of high quality;
15 (B) Meet or exceed the curriculum standards and
16 requirements established by the State Board of Education; and
17 (C) Be made available in a traditional classroom setting,
18 a blended learning environment, or an online-based or other technology-based
19 format that is tailored to meet the needs of each participating student.
20
21 SECTION 5. Arkansas Code � 6-17-2403(e)(2), concerning the minimum
22 teacher compensation schedule for a part-time teacher or part-time
23 paraprofessional employed by a public school under the Teacher Compensation
24 Program of 2003, is reenacted to ratify the decision made by the Arkansas
25 Code Revision Commission to insert "open-enrollment public charter school" in
26 order to correct a reference error.
27 (2) The minimum teacher compensation schedule for a part-time
28 teacher or part-time paraprofessional employed by a public school district or
29 open-enrollment public charter school to work in an adult education program
30 shall be established by the Adult Education Section and approved by the
31 Director of the Division of Workforce Services.
32
33 SECTION 6. The introductory language of Arkansas Code � 6-17-
34 2403(f)(2), concerning the requirements to qualify for funding under the
35 minimum teacher compensation schedule, is reenacted to ratify the decision
36 made by the Arkansas Code Revision Commission to insert "open-enrollment
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1 public charter schools" to correct a reference error.
2 (2) To qualify for funding appropriated under this section,
3 public school districts or open-enrollment public charter schools shall:
4
5 SECTION 7. Arkansas Code � 6-63-317(c), concerning regular salary
6 procedures and restrictions for institutions of higher education, is
7 reenacted to ratify the decision made by the Arkansas Code Revision
8 Commission to codify the subsection at � 6-63-317.
9 (c)(1) New funding through the Revenue Stabilization Law, � 19-5-101
10 et seq., that is determined by the Division of Higher Education to have been
11 for salary increases for the current fiscal year for institutions of higher
12 education shall be used exclusively for salary increases.
13 (2) New funding through the Revenue Stabilization Law, � 19-5-
14 101 et seq., that is actually received for salary increases shall be spent
15 exclusively for salary increases based upon the state general revenue portion
16 of total unrestricted educational and general revenue.
17 (3)(A) Funding received under this subsection shall be used for
18 no purposes other than to provide salary increases.
19 (B) Any designated funds not used for salary increases
20 under this subsection shall be recouped at the end of each fiscal year and
21 transferred by the division to the General Revenue Allotment Reserve Fund.
22
23 SECTION 8. DO NOT CODIFY. CONSTRUCTION AND LEGISLATIVE INTENT.
24 It is the intent of the General Assembly that:
25 (1) The enactment and adoption of this act shall not expressly
26 or impliedly repeal an act passed during the regular session of the Ninety-
27 Fifth General Assembly;
28 (2) To the extent that a conflict exists between an act of the
29 regular session of the Ninety-Fifth General Assembly and this act:
30 (A) The act of the regular session of the Ninety-Fifth
31 General Assembly shall be treated as a subsequent act passed by the General
32 Assembly for the purposes of:
33 (i) Giving the act of the regular session of the
34 Ninety-Fifth General Assembly its full force and effect; and
35 (ii) Amending or repealing the appropriate parts of
36 the Arkansas Code of 1987; and
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1 (B) Section 1-2-107 shall not apply; and
2 (3) This act shall make only technical, not substantive, changes
3 to the Arkansas Code of 1987.
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6 01/31/2025 10:13:14 AM TNL158Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.