§ 6-18-213 - Attendance records and reports generally. - Arkansas Statutes

6-18-213. Attendance records and reports generally.

(a) (1) A record of pupil attendance shall be kept by each school district of the state in a format prescribed by the Department of Education.

(2) This basic record, showing the daily attendance and absence of each student for the school year, shall be kept by a teacher or other officially designated person who visually notes the physical presence or absence of each student on a daily basis.

(3) The attendance for resident and nonresident students shall be kept separately.

(4) The basic attendance records of each district shall be kept on file in electronic form by the district for a period of three (3) years and shall be audited as required by the State Board of Education.

(b) (1) The official reporting period for attendance shall be quarterly with the actual number of days counted in each period to be no less than forty (40) nor more than fifty (50).

(2) A waiver of this subsection may be granted by the department upon petition by a school district.

(c) This attendance record in each of the school districts of the state as reflected by the combined reports for the first three (3) quarters of the school year shall be the official data used in computing certain types of state aid for the following year.

(d) (1) Any district that fails to file by April 15 of any given year reports for the first three (3) quarters of that year, as required by subsection (c) of this section, shall have the remainder of its state foundation funding withheld and placed in escrow, to be released when the reports are received.

(2) A waiver of this subsection may be granted by the department upon petition by a school district.

(e) The department may analyze and inspect the attendance records of any school, school district, or open-enrollment public charter school to verify that a school, school district, or open-enrollment public charter school is correctly and accurately reporting attendance.

(f) (1) Except for those circumstances otherwise allowed by rule, any student who is absent from daily attendance for more than ten (10) consecutive school days shall be dismissed or dropped from the attendance records of the school, school district, or open-enrollment public charter school.

(2) Any student who fails to attend school by the tenth regular school day of the semester shall be retroactively dropped from the attendance records from the first day of the school semester.

(g) The state board shall promulgate rules, regulations, and procedures as may be required to implement the intent of this section.