Arkansas Legislative Council Approves Changes for School Districts, EFAs, and More

The Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC) and its subcommittees met this week.

ALC is one of the most important legislative committees that meet in the interim between legislative sessions. Through its various subcommittees, it provides legislative oversight of the executive branch of government.

The Hospital, Medicaid, and Developmental Disabilities Study Subcommittee met Monday morning. Members reviewed presentations related to Workforce Implementation, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, an overview of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and more.

That afternoon, the Administrative Rules Committee met to review and discuss changes to rules in the Arkansas Children’s Education Freedom Account (EFA) Program.

The changes include requiring parents to receive pre-approval from the Department of Education for any purchases that are not considered core educational expenses.

The rules make fees for some community or homeschool athletic leagues reimbursable while restricting expenditures for sports that limit participation based on tryouts. Equipment or travel costs would also not be considered eligible expenses.

The new rules also cut the amount of EFA funds that can be carried over from year to year, from $20,000 to $8,500.

Tuesday morning, the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Subcommittee (PEER) reviewed various temporary appropriation requests from the Maternal Health Outreach Media Campaign, Wynne High School, the State Police, and more. Members also reviewed federal grant appropriation requests, fund transfers, and various other items.

That afternoon, the ALC Review subcommittee reviewed methods of finance, discretionary grants, reports, and service contracts for state universities and departments.

The ALC Lottery Oversight Subcommittee reviewed the proposed budget for the Arkansas Lottery for fiscal year 2027.

On Wednesday, the State Insurance Programs Oversight Committee reviewed and approved contracts from the Employee Benefits Division and Office of Property Risk.

The Personnel Subcommittee reviewed and approved requests from the Office of Personnel Management and the Department of Military, among others.

On Thursday, five Arkansas Legislative Council subcommittees met to review items ranging from a “one door” model to allow Arkansans to access employment, job training, and social services from a single framework to asbestos abatement programs and law enforcement standards and training.

The Executive Committee reviewed rules pertaining to consolidation and annexation of school districts and approved $2 million in funding so that parent districts are not financially harmed when a campus forms a new district. Four isolated school districts in the state are leaving parent districts for the upcoming school year. Umpire is detaching from the Cossatot River School District. Kingston will separate from the Jasper School District, and Timbo and Rural Special are separating from the Mountain View School District.

Legislators were also updated on the construction of the new Arkansas State Crime Laboratory and new technologies and methods that the lab is using to improve turnaround times.

The reports of this week’s ALC subcommittees were reviewed and approved in the full ALC meeting on Friday.

After ALC adjourned, the Senate met in chamber to approve recent gubernatorial appointments to state commissions and boards.

You can watch the full meetings on demand and download related documents at https://arkleg.state.ar.us/.