§ 6-11-128 - Arkansas Public School Computer Network. - Arkansas Statutes

6-11-128. Arkansas Public School Computer Network.

(a) (1) As used in this section, "Arkansas Public School Computer Network" or "APSCN" means the Department of Education's computer network system for public school district reporting of financial management data and student management data to the Department of Education.

(2) All school districts and education service cooperatives shall, as a minimum, use the following financial management systems applications of the Arkansas Public School Computer Network:

(A) Fund accounting, including all activity funds;

(B) Budget preparation;

(C) Human resources; and

(D) Fixed assets.

(b) After approval by the Department of Education, a school district may use a different software system at the school district level if:

(1) The Department of Education determines that the school district's software meets the minimum reporting requirements provided by the Arkansas Public School Computer Network; and

(2) The school district supplies all school district transaction information to the Arkansas Public School Computer Network in a compatible format and in sufficient detail as required by the Department of Education.

(c) The Department of Education shall implement the use of policies, procedures, and personnel to provide for data quality and security with the Arkansas Public School Computer Network, including without limitation the following:

(1) Periodically conducting a thorough security review and security risk assessment for all information, including without limitation personally identifiable employee and student information, that originates in the school districts and terminates on Department of Information Systems and Arkansas Public School Computer Network servers;

(2) Creating security plans, policies, and procedures;

(3) Monitoring the mechanism for the network's end-to-end, enterprise-wide financial and student information systems;

(4) Creating and maintaining a process for documenting and monitoring the quality of data from its source of entry into the network to any educational data repository in the Department of Education; and

(5) Establishing standards and monitor compliance with standards for all software and data testing in the network;

(6) (A) Developing a certification program to certify:

(i) At least one (1) person in each school district as a certified APSCN financials user and trainer; and

(ii) At least one (1) person in each school district as a certified APSCN student management user and trainer.

(B) The certification process shall require an applicant for certification to successfully complete the following components, including without limitation:

(i) Courses in the application area;

(ii) Training in using the network's reporting tools; and

(iii) An examination that tests the applicant's knowledge and skills in the application area and the Arkansas Public School Computer Network's reporting tools.

(C) In a school district of five hundred (500) or fewer students, one (1) person may be certified in both financials and student management; and

(7) Developing a data quality metrics program designed to significantly reduce the number of data errors within the Arkansas Public School Computer Network's applications and data warehouse and provide reports on code changes and time availability of information, including without limitation: (A) The number of code changes made in mid-year;

(B) The percent of prime time availability of all applications that feed data into the network and data warehouse;

(C) The percent of time availability of each school district server and local area network for use with the Arkansas Public School Computer Network's availability;

(D) Corrective actions taken on the Arkansas Public School Computer Network's applications and data warehouse;

(E) Preventive actions taken to avoid downtime and data errors;

(F) Cycle data tardiness; and

(G) Number of data corrections made during each cycle submission.

(d) (1) (A) Beginning with the 2007-2008 school year, the Department of Education shall: (i) Collect data from public school districts on full-time equivalents and average teachers' salaries by July 31 of each year;

(ii) Collect actual revenue and expenditure data not later than August 31 of each year; and

(iii) Require budget reporting not earlier than September 30 of each year.

(B) The Arkansas Public School Computer Network shall have the programs necessary to collect the data in this subdivision (d)(1) available to each public school district at least fifteen (15) days before the date a public school district is required to submit the data.

(2) (A) Beginning with the 2008-2009 school year, the Department of Education shall release monthly from the Arkansas Public School Computer Network selected financial and student management data submitted by public school districts for the previous month.

(B) The General Assembly and the Department of Education shall determine by mutual agreement what financial and student management data will be selected for the monthly release.

(C) The Department of Education shall make the information available to the General Assembly in the Arkansas Public School Computer Network data warehouse by the tenth business day of each month.