Arkansas 2025 Regular Session

Arkansas Senate Bill SB303 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1	1		Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
2		-	Act 644 of the Regular Session
3		-	TNL210 03-06-2025 14:13:48 TNL210
4		-
5		-	State of Arkansas As Engrossed: S3/6/25 1
	2	+	TNL210 02/25/2025 2:07:56 PM TNL210
	3	+	State of Arkansas 1
6	4		95th General Assembly A Bill 2
7	5		Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 303 3
8	6		4
9	7		By: Senator Dees 5
10	8		By: Representative Torres 6
11	9		7
12	10		For An Act To Be Entitled 8
13	11		AN ACT TO ALLOW A RESIDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT TO PERMIT 9
14	12		A PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE IN AN 10
15	13		INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITY AT THE RESIDENT SCHOOL 11
16	14		DISTRICT UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS; AND FOR OTHER 12
17	15		PURPOSES. 13
18	16		14
19	17		15
20	18		Subtitle 16
21	19		TO ALLOW A RESIDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT TO 17
22	20		PERMIT A PRIVATE SCHOOL STUDENT TO 18
23	21		PARTICIPATE IN AN INTERSCHOLASTIC 19
24	22		ACTIVITY AT THE RESIDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 20
25	23		UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS. 21
26	24		22
27	25		BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 23
28	26		24
29	27		SECTION 1. Arkansas Code Title 6, Chapter 18, Subchapter 2, is amended 25
30	28		to add an additional section to read as follows: 26
31	29		6-18-237. Participation of private school students in interscholastic 27
32	30		activities at public schools — Definitions. 28
33	31		(a) As used in this section: 29
34	32		(1) “Athletic activity” means a varsity sport or another 30
35	33		competitive sports-related contest, game, event, or exhibition that involves 31
36	34		an individual student or teams of students either among schools within a 32
37	35		resident school district or between schools outside of the resident school 33
38	36		district; 34
39	37		(2) “Interscholastic activity” means an activity between schools 35
40		-	subject to rules of the Arkansas Activities Association that is: 36 ~~As Engrossed: S3/6/25~~ SB303
	38	+	subject to rules of the Arkansas Activities Association that is: 36 SB303
41	39
42		-	2 03-06-2025 14:13:48 TNL210
43		-
44		-
	40	+	2 02/25/2025 2:07:56 PM TNL210
45	41		(A) Outside the regular curriculum of a public school 1
46	42		district, including without limitation an athletic activity, a fine arts 2
47	43		program, or a special interest club or group; and 3
48	44		(B) Taught by an individual with a minimum of a high 4
49	45		school diploma; 5
50	46		(3) "Parent" means a parent, legal guardian, or person standing 6
51	47		in loco parentis to a child; 7
52	48		(4) "Private school" means a nonpublic elementary or secondary 8
53	49		school that is: 9
54	50		(A) A registered nonprofit; and 10
55	51		(B) Accredited or licensed by an accrediting association 11
56	52		recognized by the State Board of Education; 12
57		-	(5) "Resident school" means: 13
58		-	(A) A public school to which a student would be assigned 14
59		-	by the student's resident school district; or 15
60		-	(B) An open-enrollment public charter school with a campus 16
61		-	located within the student's resident school district; and 17
62		-	(6) “Resident school district” means a public school district in 18
63		-	which a private school student's parent resides as determined under § 6 -18-19
64		-	202. 20
65		-	(b) A resident school district or an open-enrollment public charter 21
66		-	school may permit a private school student to pursue participation in an 22
67		-	interscholastic activity at the resident school if the private school in 23
68		-	which the student is enrolled does not have the interscholastic activity in 24
69		-	which the private school student seeks to participate approved by the 25
70		-	Arkansas Activities Association. 26
71		-	(c) A private school student who participates in an interscholastic 27
72		-	activity that does not occur during a designated class period at his or her 28
73		-	resident school shall be enrolled in a nonacademic class period in his or her 29
74		-	resident school that coincides with the interscholastic activity that does 30
75		-	not occur during a designated class period in which the private school 31
76		-	student participates in order for the resident school district to receive an 32
77		-	amount equal to one-sixth (1/6) of the state foundation funding amount 33
78		-	provided under § 6-20-2305 for the duration of the private school student's 34
79		-	enrollment in the resident school district. 35
80		-	36 As Engrossed: S3/6/25 SB303
81		-
82		-	3 03-06-2025 14:13:48 TNL210
83		-
84		-
85		-	/s/Dees 1
86		-	2
87		-	3
88		-	APPROVED: 4/16/25 4
89		-	5
90		-	6
91		-	7
92		-	8
93		-	9
94		-	10
95		-	11
96		-	12
97		-	13
98		-	14
99		-	15
100		-	16
101		-	17
102		-	18
103		-	19
104		-	20
105		-	21
106		-	22
	53	+	(5) “Resident school” is a public school to which a student 13
	54	+	would be assigned by the student's resident school district; and 14
	55	+	(6) “Resident school district” means a public school district in 15
	56	+	which a private school student's parent resides as determined under § 6 -18-16
	57	+	202. 17
	58	+	(b) A resident school district may permit a private school student to 18
	59	+	pursue participation in an interscholastic activity at the resident school 19
	60	+	district if the private school in which the student is enrolled does not have 20
	61	+	the interscholastic activity in which the private school student seeks to 21
	62	+	participate approved by the Arkansas Activities Association. 22
107	63		23
108	64		24
109	65		25
110	66		26
111	67		27
112	68		28
113	69		29
114	70		30
115	71		31
116	72		32
117	73		33
118	74		34
119	75		35
120	76		36