Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
Act 781 of the Regular Session
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State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S3/30/23 1
94th General Assembly A Bill 2
Regular Session, 2023 SENATE BILL 512 3
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By: Senators Irvin, J. English 5
By: Representative G. Hodges 6
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For An Act To Be Entitled 8
AN ACT CONCERNING SC HOOL DISTRICT PERSON NEL POLICIES; 9
TO REQUIRE PERSONNEL POLICIES TO INCLUDE RULES AND 10
PROCEDURES CONCERNIN G A COMMITTEE ON PER SONNEL 11
POLICIES; TO AMEND T HE MEANS BY WHICH A CLASSROOM 12
TEACHER IS ELECTED T O SERVE ON A SCHOOL DISTRICT 13
COMMITTEE ON PERSONN EL POLICIES; TO AMEN D THE DATE BY 14
WHICH CHANGES OR ADD ITIONS TO PERSONNEL POLICIES MAY 15
TAKE EFFECT; TO REQU IRE MINUTES OF A COM MITTEE ON 16
PERSONNEL POLICIES A ND AMENDMENTS TO SCH OOL DISTRICT 17
PERSONNEL POLICIES T O BE DIGITALLY AVAIL ABLE; AND FOR 18
OTHER PURPOSES. 19
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Subtitle 22
CONCERNING SCHOOL DISTRICT PERSONNEL 23
POLICIES; AND CONCERNING A SCHOOL 24
DISTRICT COMMITTEE ON PERSONNEL POLICIES. 25
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 28
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SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 6 -13-620(5)(A), concerning the powers and 30
duties of a school district board of directors, is amended to read as 31
follows: 32
(5)(A) Employ staff, including: 33
(i)(a) A superintendent of schools to ov ersee the 34
day-to-day operations of the school district. 35
(b) A superintendent shall be evaluated 36 As Engrossed: S3/30/23 SB512
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annually or no less often than before any extension of his or her employment 1
contract. 2
(c) Superintendents and assistant 3
superintendents may be empl oyed under contract terms and conditions that 4
incorporate all elements prescribed by the State Board of Education; and 5
(ii)(a) School district employees under initial 6
written employment contracts in the form prescribed by the State Board of 7
Education, not including day-to-day substitutes. 8
(b) The employment contract shall: 9
(1) State the duration of employment, 10
specific duties of the employee and the annual salary or hourly wage of the 11
employee and projected annual earnings in the case of n onexempt employees 12
under applicable state and federal law; and 13
(2) Incorporate all personnel policies 14
adopted by June 30 to be in effect on July 1 of the following employee 15
contract year, subject to the requirements and exceptions contained in §§ 6 -16
17-204 and 6-17-205. 17
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SECTION 2. Arkansas Code § 6 -17-201(c), concerning the terms and 19
conditions included in school district personnel policies, is amended to read 20
as follows: 21
(c) The personnel policies shall include, but are not limited to, the 22
following terms and conditions of employment: 23
(1) Benefits; 24
(2) Compensation; 25
(3) Designation of workdays; 26
(4) Holidays and noninstructional days; 27
(5) The annual calendar; 28
(6) Methods of evaluations; 29
(7) Extra duties; 30
(8) Leave; 31
(9) Grievances; 32
(10) Dismissal or nonrenewal; 33
(11) Reduction in force; and 34
(12) Assignment of teacher aides ; and 35
(13) Bylaws, rules, and procedures concerning a committee on 36 As Engrossed: S3/30/23 SB512
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personnel policies. 1
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SECTION 3. Arkansas Code § 6 -17-203 is amended to read as follows: 3
6-17-203. Committee for each school district. 4
(a) Each school district shall have a committee on personnel policies , 5
which shall consist of no fewer than five (5) classroom teachers and no more 6
than three (3) administrators, one (1) of which may be the superintendent. 7
(b)(1) The classroom teacher members of each school district's 8
committee on personnel policies shall be elected by a majority of the vote of 9
classroom teachers voting by secret ballot following the rules and procedures 10
established in each school district's written personnel policies, as required 11
under § 6-17-201. 12
(2) The election shall be solely and exclusively conducted by 13
the classroom teachers, including the distribution of ballots to all 14
classroom teachers Election announcements and results shall be placed on the 15
website of a school district . 16
(c)(1) An election under this section shall be conducted annually no 17
later than October 15. 18
(2) If the classroom teacher members of a school district's 19
committee on personn el policies fail to conduct an election by October 15 as 20
required under subdivision (c)(1) of this section, the school district board 21
of directors may appoint a classroom teacher in order to fill any vacancy on 22
the school district's committee on personnel policies. 23
(d) The administrator members of each school district's committee on 24
personnel policies shall be appointed by the school district board of 25
directors or its designee. 26
(e) Each meeting of a committee on personnel policies shall be audio 27
recorded and made publicly available to ensure transparency. 28
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SECTION 4. Arkansas Code § 6 -17-204 is amended to read as follows: 30
6-17-204. Incorporation into teachers' contracts. 31
(a) The personnel policies of all school districts shall be 32
considered: 33
(1) Considered to be incorporated as terms of the licensed 34
personnel contracts; and shall be binding 35
(2) Binding on the licensed personnel and the school district. 36 As Engrossed: S3/30/23 SB512
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(b)(1) Any changes or additions to the personnel policies shall not be 1
considered a part of licensed personnel contracts until adopted by a school 2
district board of directors may take effect before the next fiscal year. 3
(2)(A) Any changes or additions to the personnel policies may 4
take effect before the next fiscal year only if the changes o r additions are 5
approved by a majority of the licensed personnel employed by the school 6
district voting by secret ballot a school district committee on personnel 7
policies. 8
(B) The voting and counting shall be conducted by the 9
personnel policy committee. 10
(3) All changes or additions to the personnel policies or new 11
personnel policies shall be made in accordance with this subchapter. 12
(c)(1) Notwithstanding subsection (b) of this section, a change or 13
addition to the personnel policies that is necessary to ensure compliance 14
with a state rule or federal regulation, a state law enacted during a 15
legislative session, or a federal law that is adopted by the school district 16
board of directors each year by the later of June 30 or ninety (90) days 17
after the effective date of a change to a state rule or federal regulation, a 18
state law enacted during a legislative session, or a federal law giving rise 19
to the specific policy change or addition shall be considered a part of 20
licensed personnel contracts on J uly 1 of the same calendar year or upon the 21
date of adoption if adopted after June 30. 22
(2) Any changes or additions to the personnel policies adopted 23
by the school district board of directors between May 1 and June 30 each year 24
that are not required to ensure compliance with state law or rule or federal 25
law or regulation shall be considered a part of licensed personnel contracts 26
on July 1 of the same calendar year if: 27
(A) A notice of the change is sent no later than five (5) 28
working days after final board action by first class letter to the electronic 29
mail address on record in the personnel file of each affected employee; and 30
(B) The notice of change includes: 31
(i)(a) The new or modified policy. 32
(b) A modified policy shall be provided in a 33
form that clearly shows additions underlined and deletions stricken; and 34
(ii)(a) A provision that states that due to 35
the policy change, each continuing employee under contract shall have the 36 As Engrossed: S3/30/23 SB512
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power to unilaterally exercise the power of rescission w ithin a period of 1
thirty (30) days after the school district board of directors takes final 2
action by providing to the school district board of directors a notice of 3
rescission in the form of a letter of resignation during the period of thirty 4
(30) days. 5
(b) For continuing contract employees covered 6
under The Teacher Fair Dismissal Act of 1983, § 6 -17-1501 et seq., the power 7
of rescission in this section shall be in addition to the power of rescission 8
provided under § 6-17-1506. 9
(d)(1) A school dist rict shall adopt, in accordance with this 10
subchapter, a supplement to the salary schedule for those licensed staff 11
employed longer than the period covered by the salary schedule and for duties 12
in addition to licensed employees' regular teaching assignments . 13
(2) Compensation policies approved by the personnel policy 14
committee shall not apply to the chief administrator who is charged with 15
administration of salary policy for all employees. 16
(3) A licensed employee may not waive payment according to the 17
salary schedule. 18
(e) Under § 6-5-307(a) and § 6-20-412 a school district is not 19
prohibited from paying a licensed employee additional salary increases as a 20
supplement to the salary schedule even though the licensed employee is not 21
employed an additional time period longer than the period covered by the 22
salary schedule or required to perform duties in addition to the licensed 23
employee's regular teaching assignments. 24
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SECTION 5. Arkansas Code § 6 -17-205(a)(3), concerning the recording 26
and distribution of minutes of a meeting held by a school district committee 27
on personnel policies, is amended to read as follows: 28
(3) Minutes of the a school district committee on personnel 29
policies meetings shall be promptly reported and distributed to members of 30
the board of directors and posted in the buildings of the school district, 31
including the administrative offices placed on the website of a school 32
district. 33
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SECTION 6. Arkansas Code § 6 -17-206 is amended to read as follows: 35
6-17-206. Copies furnished teachers and administrators. 36 As Engrossed: S3/30/23 SB512
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(a)(1) Each teacher or administrator being employed by a school 1
district for the first time shall be given a digital copy of the school 2
district's personnel policies in effect at the time of his or her employment. 3
(2) A digital copy provided to an employee or an online copy 4
that is accessible by internet or intranet will meet the requirements of 5
subdivision (a)(1) of this section. 6
(3) A hard copy of all policies shall be available to review at 7
each location. 8
(4) A hard copy shall be given to the individual employee upon 9
request of the employee. 10
(b)(1) Each teacher or administrator shall be furnished a digital copy 11
of any amendments to the personnel policies of the school district in which 12
they are employed within thirty (30) days after approval of the amendments by 13
the board of directors of the school district. 14
(2) A digital copy provided to an employee or an online copy 15
that is accessible by internet or intranet will meet the requirements of 16
subdivision (b)(1) of this section. 17
(3) A hard copy of all amendments shall be available for review 18
at each location. 19
(4) A hard copy shall be given to the individual employee upon 20
request of the employee. 21
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/s/Irvin 23
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APPROVED: 4/12/23 26
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