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.
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1 State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S4/7/25 H4/14/25
2 95th General Assembly
A Bill
3 Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 619
4
5 By: Senator Irvin
6 By: Representative Walker
7
8 For An Act To Be Entitled
9 AN ACT CONCERNING THE FORMATION OF AN ISOLATED SCHOOL
10 DISTRICT; TO ESTABLISH THE MEMBERSHIP OF AN ISOLATED
11 SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS; TO CREATE A
12 FUNDING MECHANISM FOR A NEWLY FORMED ISOLATED SCHOOL
13 DISTRICT; TO DIRECT OWNERSHIP OF FACILITIES AND
14 PROPERTY OF ISOLATED SCHOOLS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
15
16
17 Subtitle
18 CONCERNING THE FORMATION OF AN ISOLATED
19 SCHOOL DISTRICT.
20
21 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:
22
23 SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 13, is amended to add an
24 additional subchapter to read as follows:
25 Subchapter 18 -- Isolated School Districts
26
27 6-13-1801. Isolated school district -- Formation.
28 (a)(1) An isolated school may detach from a resulting or receiving
29 district if the isolated school submits a petition to the resulting or
30 receiving school district board of directors that states the intent to
31 reestablish the original isolated school and that contains the signatures of:
32 (A) No less than three hundred fifty (350) registered
33 voters who reside within the boundaries of the isolated school; or
34 (B) No less than fifty-one percent (51%) of the registered
35 voters who reside within the boundaries of the isolated school.
36 (2)(A) The resulting or receiving school district board of
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1 directors shall request the county clerk of the county in which the resulting
2 or receiving school district is located to verify the signatures submitted in
3 a petition under subdivision (a)(1) of this section within five (5) business
4 days of receipt of a petition under subdivision (a)(1) of this section.
5 (B) Upon request, a county clerk of the county in which
6 the resulting or receiving school district is located shall verify the
7 signatures within five (5) days of receipt of a request from the resulting or
8 receiving school district board of directors under subdivision (a)(2)(A) of
9 this section.
10 (3) The resulting or receiving school district board of
11 directors shall review a petition submitted under subdivision (a)(1) of this
12 section and call an election to be held for the voters who reside within the
13 school district boundaries of the isolated school before it consolidated with
14 the resulting or receiving district on the issue of an isolated school
15 detaching from a resulting or receiving district at the next annual school
16 election.
17 (b)(1) An isolated school district may be formed from an isolated
18 school within a resulting or receiving district that was annexed or
19 consolidated with another school district under the Public Education
20 Reorganization Act, � 6-13-1601 et seq., following the submission and
21 approval of a petition under subsection (a) of this section., following the
22 submission and approval of a petition under subsection (a) of this section.
23 (2) In order to qualify as an isolated school district, the
24 isolated school within a resulting or receiving district that was annexed or
25 consolidated with another school district under the Public Education
26 Reorganization Act, � 6-13-1601 et seq., shall have been in operation for
27 kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) within two (2) years of the date on
28 which the isolated school applies under this subchapter.
29 (b) The minimum school enrollment to establish a new public school
30 district shall not apply when forming an isolated school district under this
31 subchapter.
32
33 6-13-1802. Isolated school district board of directors.
34 (a) An isolated school district shall be governed by a board of
35 directors that consists of five (5) members who live within the boundaries of
36 the isolated school district.
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1 (b) The members of an isolated school district board of directors
2 shall be elected by eligible voters residing within the boundaries of the
3 isolated school district.
4 (c) Each member of an isolated school district board of directors
5 shall initially draw lots for two-year or four-year terms in isolated school
6 districts with four-year terms or two-year, four-year, or six-year terms in
7 isolated school districts with six-year terms so that, as nearly as possible,
8 an equal number of positions are filled in each subsequent election for an
9 isolated school board no longer than:
10 (1) Two (2) isolated school board elections for those with four-
11 year terms; or
12 (2) Three (3) isolated school board elections for those with
13 six-year terms.
14 6-13-1803. Funding.
15 (a) An election within the boundaries of an isolated school district
16 shall be held to establish the millage rate for the isolated school district
17 as required under � 26-80-111.
18 (b) For purposes of funding calculations that utilize prior-year
19 average daily membership, state funding aid for the first year of operation
20 of an isolated school district shall be based on the:
21 (1) Prior-year first three-quarters average daily membership of
22 the public school now proposed to operate as an isolated school district; or
23 (2) The average daily membership from two (2) years prior if the
24 public school proposed to operate as an isolated school district ceases
25 operations two (2) years before the isolated school district is formed.
26 (c) If an isolated school district begins operations at the beginning
27 of the following school year after detaching from a local public school
28 under which the proposed isolated school district currently operates, the
29 prior-year average daily membership of the isolated school shall be
30 subtracted from the prior-year average daily membership of the public school
31 district under which the isolated school previously operated.
32 (d) An isolated school district shall be eligible for funding awarded
33 under � 6-20-601 et seq. and any additional funds based on a school
34 district's isolated status.
35 (e) An isolated school district shall be eligible for any current
36 state funding available for public school districts and open-enrollment
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1 public charter schools.
2
3 6-13-1804. Facilities and property.
4 (a)(1) A local public school district under which a proposed isolated
5 school district currently operates shall agree to release ownership of the
6 isolated school's facilities and any accompanying debt on the facilities to
7 the isolated school district.
8 (2) The written release form required under subdivision (a)(1)
9 of this section shall be signed by the president of the school district board
10 of directors of the local public school district under which the proposed
11 isolated school district currently operates and shall be included in the
12 application submitted by the proposed isolated school district.
13 (b) Ownership of a school bus acquired with isolated school funds in
14 the previous two (2) school years shall be transferred to the resulting
15 isolated school district.
16 (c) Isolated school funds received by the local public school district
17 under which the proposed isolated school district currently operates within
18 four (4) months of the end of the public school district's fiscal year on
19 June 30 shall be transferred to the resulting isolated school district.
20 (d) Ownership of all furnishings, equipment, textbooks, computers,
21 technology, phone systems, audio-video systems, athletic equipment, and
22 machinery at an isolated school currently operating within a local school
23 district shall be transferred to the resulting isolated school district.
24
25 6-13-1805. Management.
26 An isolated school district shall be managed by:
27 (1) A director hired by the isolated school district;
28 (2) A director appointed by the Division of Elementary and
29 Secondary Education to oversee operations of all isolated school districts in
30 the state; or
31 (3) Any other director or superintendent the division appoints
32 to the isolated school district.
33
34 /s/Irvin
35
36
4 04-14-2025 09:26:30 TNL394Every fact on this page links to its source, starting with the official bill record.