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 607
4
5 By: Senators Crowell, J. Bryant, A. Clark, Dees, Flippo, B. Johnson, M. Johnson, B. King, F. Love, R.
6 Murdock, C. Penzo, J. Petty, Rice, J. Scott, D. Wallace
7 By: Representatives Walker, J. Mayberry, S. Berry, Cozart, Eaton, Hall, Hollowell, McClure, Milligan,
8 K. Moore, Painter, Pearce, Puryear, J. Richardson, Schulz, Vaught, Wooten
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10 For An Act To Be Entitled
11 AN ACT CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT
12 IMPLEMENTS A FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL
13 WITHIN ITS DISTRICT; TO ESTABLISH THE REQUIREMENTS
14 FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT INITIATES AND
15 MAINTAINS A FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK; TO DECLARE AN
16 EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
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18
19 Subtitle
20 TO ESTABLISH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR A
21 PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT INITIATES
22 AND MAINTAINS A FOUR-DAY SCHOOL WEEK;
23 AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
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25 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
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27 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code � 6-10-117 is amended to read as follows:
28 6-10-117. Four-day school week -- Definition.
29 (a)(1) It is found and determined by the General Assembly that
30 granting local public school districts greater flexibility in scheduling
31 instructional time can reap educational benefits for the students and
32 financial rewards for the public school district.
33 (2) It is the intent of this section to authorize local public
34 school districts to initiate and maintain public school educational programs
35 on a four-day school-week basis, so long as if planned instructional time is
36 in accord with requirements established by meets the State Board of Education
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1 requirements promulgated under subsection (d) of this section.
2 (b) As used in this section, "four-day school week" means an
3 educational program in which all students attend school for four (4) days a
4 week but no fewer than the total number of hours required by the Standards
5 for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts in a five-
6 day school week.
7 (c)(1) The board of directors of any a public school district is
8 authorized to may initiate and maintain a four-day school week in any or all
9 of the public schools in the public school district.
10 (2) The state board and the Department of Education shall not
11 have the authority to approve or deny the decision of a public school
12 district board of directors to initiate and maintain a four-day school week
13 in any or all of its public schools under subdivision (c)(1) of this section.
14 (d)(1) The State Board of Education state board shall establish
15 appropriate standards, guidelines, and rules for only the following:
16 (A)(i) The determination of average daily membership of
17 school districts and for the distribution of state aid to each local public
18 school district that elects to operate any or all of the public schools of
19 its school district on a four-day school-week basis, to provide the public
20 school district with an equitable share of state aid funds.
21 (ii) The state aid funds under subdivision
22 (d)(1)(A)(i) of this section that are designated to equate a four-day school-
23 week operation by the school district to ensure the educational opportunities
24 provided by a public school district offering a four-day school week are
25 equivalent to the educational opportunities provided by a public school
26 district offering a five-day school week or a public school that follows a
27 traditional calendar;
28 (B) The requirement that each public school district that
29 initiates and maintains a four-day school week for any or all of its public
30 schools under this section shall:
31 (i)(a) Average six (6) hours of instruction per
32 school day and thirty (30) hours of instruction per school week.
33 (b) The hourly requirements under subdivision
34 (d)(1)(B)(i)(a) of this section may be met with four (4) seven-and-one-half-
35 hour school instructional days.
36 (c) A public school district that initiates
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1 and maintains a four-day school week in a public school that provides
2 instruction to students in grades nine through twelve (9-12) shall meet the
3 clock-hour equivalency of one hundred twenty (120) clock hours for a Carnegie
4 unit;
5 (ii)(a) Provide documentation to the Division of
6 Elementary and Secondary Education to determine the success of the
7 educational program.
8 (b) Assessment measures utilized by the
9 division under subdivision (d)(1)(B)(ii)(a) of this section shall include
10 without limitation state-approved criterion-referenced tests and other
11 assessment instruments required or approved by the division; and
12 (iii) Include the four-day school week on the agenda
13 for the public school district's required annual report to the public to
14 determine local support for and provide for continual community input into
15 the success and continuation of four-day school weeks; and
16 (C) The forfeiture of the ability to initiate and maintain
17 a four-day school week under this section if a public school district:
18 (i) Is classified by the state board as in need of
19 Level 5 -- Intensive support; and
20 (ii) Demonstrates persistent underperformance, as
21 defined by state benchmarks, on the state-approved criterion-referenced test
22 and other assessment instruments required or approved by the division.
23 (2) Provided, however, that a A public school district shall not
24 receive any more state financial aid for offering a four-day school week of
25 instruction than it would have received for offering a five-day school week
26 of instruction.
27 (3) The state board and the department shall not promulgate
28 rules regarding public school districts that initiate and maintain a four-day
29 school week for any or all of its public schools that are in addition to the
30 requirements under this subsection (d).
31 (4) A public school district that initiates and maintains a
32 four-day school week for any or all of its public schools under this section
33 shall:
34 (A) Demonstrate compliance with the requirements under
35 subdivision (d)(1) of this section through a state-approved electronic
36 application; and
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1 (B) Not be required to submit additional reports or
2 demonstrations of compliance with the requirements under subdivision (d)(1)
3 of this section to the state board or division.
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5 SECTION 2. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the
6 General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that school districts must
7 determine and publish their school calendars in advance of the upcoming 2025-
8 2026 school year; that school districts must have their school calendars
9 established in order to prepare appropriate staffing, operational, and
10 financial needs; that parents, students, staff members, and others associated
11 with school districts must know in advance of the upcoming school year what
12 the school calendar will be in order to make necessary arrangements; and that
13 this act is immediately necessary to ensure school districts have the
14 required information to arrange for and provide constitutionally mandated
15 education to enrolled students. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist,
16 and this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public
17 peace, health, and safety shall become effective on:
18 (1) The date of its approval by the Governor;
19 (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor,
20 the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the
21 bill; or
22 (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is
23 overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto.
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4 04/01/2025 5:34:34 PM TNL397Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.