§ 6-20-2303 - Definitions. - Arkansas Statutes

6-20-2303. Definitions.

As used in this subchapter:

(1) "Additional education categories" means state funds distributed to school districts for alternative learning environments, English-language learners, national school lunch students, and professional development;

(2) (A) "Alternative learning environment" means a student intervention program in compliance with 6-18-508 and 6-18-509 that seeks to eliminate traditional barriers to learning for students.

(B) The State Board of Education shall promulgate rules that explicate not only which alternative learning environment programs shall qualify for funding, but also the characteristics of students who qualify for funding because they have been placed in an alternative learning environment program;

(3) (A) "Average daily membership" means the total number of days of school attended plus the total number of days absent by students in kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12) during the first three (3) quarters of each school year divided by the number of school days actually taught in the school district during that period of time rounded up to the nearest hundredth.

(B) In those instances in which the average daily membership for less than three (3) quarters is specified, the number of days used in the calculation shall be the days in the specified period of time.

(C) As applied to this subchapter, students who may be counted for average daily membership are:

(i) Students who:

(a) Reside within the boundaries of the school district;

(b) Are enrolled in a public school operated by the school district; and

(c) Are enrolled in a curriculum that fulfills the requirements established by the state board under the Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts;

(ii) Legally transferred students living outside the school district but are:

(a) Attending a public school in the school district under a provision of the Arkansas Code; and

(b) Are enrolled in a curriculum that fulfills the requirements established by the state board under the Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts;

(iii) Open-enrollment public charter school students who are enrolled in a curriculum that fulfills the requirements established by the state board under the Standards for Accreditation of Arkansas Public Schools and School Districts; or

(iv) Students who are eligible to attend and who reside within the boundaries of a school district and are enrolled in the Arkansas National Guard Youth Challenge Program, so long as the students are participants in the program.

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

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

(E) (i) Except as otherwise provided by law, a public school district or open-enrollment public charter school that teaches a distance learning course to one (1) or more home school or private school students shall be eligible for an amount equal to one-sixth (1/6) of the state foundation funding amount per distance learning course for each private school student or home school student who is:

(a) Residing within the school district where the public school or open-enrollment public charter school is located; and

(b) Physically attending the distance learning course or courses on the campus of the public school district or open-enrollment public charter school.

(ii) However, under no circumstances shall a public school district or open-enrollment public charter school be entitled to more than the equivalent of state foundation funding for one (1) average daily membership regardless of the number of distance learning courses received by a particular home school or private school student;

(4) "Classroom teacher" means:

(A) An individual who is required to hold a teaching license from the Department of Education and who is engaged directly in instruction with students in a classroom setting for more than seventy percent (70%) of the individual's contracted time;

(B) A guidance counselor; or

(C) A librarian;

(5) "English-language learners" means students identified by the state board as not proficient in the English language based upon approved English proficiency assessment instruments administered annually in the fall of the current school year, which assessments measure oral, reading, and writing proficiency;

(6) "Foundation funding" means an amount of money specified by the General Assembly for each school year to be expended by school districts for the provision of an adequate education for each student;

(7) "Gifted and talented programs" means academic curricula, courses, and options designed to improve educational opportunities for gifted and talented students pursuant to guidelines adopted by the state board in accordance with 6-42-106;

(8) "Gifted and talented students" means those students who have been identified as meeting the criteria of the gifted program approval standards established by the state board;

(9) "Legal revenues" means those revenues received or cash balances carried forward by a school district and used to make payments from:

(A) (i) The teacher's salary fund, which means the set of accounts used to record the receipts and expenditures for payment of salaries for certified personnel, certified substitutes, tuition, and fringe benefits as defined by 6-17-908.

(ii) Certified personnel salaries from federal programs are excluded;

(B) The operating fund, which means the set of accounts used to record the receipts and expenditures for current operating expenses other than those that relate to the purposes set out for other funds; and

(C) The debt service fund, which means the set of accounts used to record local tax receipts and expenditures for the retirement of commercially bonded debt;

(10) "Millage rate" means the millage rate listed in the most recent tax ordinance approved by the county quorum court under the authority of 14-14-904 for the tax year used in a calculation made under this subchapter;

(11) (A) "Miscellaneous funds" means the average of those funds collected in the five (5) school years immediately preceding the previous school year:

(i) Consisting of:

(a) Funds received by a school district from federal forest reserves, federal grazing rights, federal mineral rights, federal impact aid, federal flood control, wildlife refuge funds, and severance taxes; and

(b) Funds received by the school district in lieu of taxes, and local sales and use taxes dedicated to education under 26-74-201 et seq., 26-74-301 et seq., 26-75-301 et seq., and the Local Government Bond Act of 1985, 14-164-301 et seq.; and

(ii) Multiplied by the ratio of the uniform rate of tax to the school district's total millage rate in effect as of January 1 of the fiscal year prior to the current funding year.

(B) If the school district did not receive funds from a source of funds listed in subdivision (11)(A) of this section during the most recent school year used to calculate the five-year average, then previous collections from that source of funds shall not be included in the five-year average.

(C) For the purpose of calculating the amount of miscellaneous funds of a school district under this subdivision (11), a school year is the period beginning on July 1 of a calendar year and ending on June 30 of the next calendar year.

(D) For the 2008-2009 school year, miscellaneous funds used to calculate the state foundation funding aid for a school district will be the same as those used to calculate the state foundation funding aid for the school district for the 2007-2008 school year;

(12) (A) "National school lunch students" means those students or the percentage of enrolled students from low socioeconomic backgrounds as indicated by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals under the National School Lunch Act as determined on October 1 of each previous school year and submitted to the Department of Education, unless the school district is identified by the Department of Education as participating in the special assistance certification and reimbursement alternative implemented under 42 U.S.C. 1759a, as interpreted in 7 C.F.R. 245.9.

(B) If the school district is participating under 42 U.S.C. 1759a, then for purposes of funding under 6-20-2305(b), such a school district's annual percentage of national school lunch students shall be equal to the percentage submitted in the base year, which means the last school year for which eligibility determinations were made and meal counts were taken by type;

(13) "Net revenues" means actual revenues generated from ad valorem taxes and distributed to a school district multiplied by the ratio derived from dividing the uniform rate of tax by the total millage rate of the school district;

(14) "Previous year" or "previous school year" means the school year immediately preceding the school year or fiscal year in which funds are allocated;

(15) (A) "Professional development" means a coordinated set of planned learning activities for teachers and administrators that are standards-based.

(B) Professional development shall result in individual, schoolwide, and systemwide improvement designed to ensure that all students demonstrate proficiency in the state academic standards;

(16) "Quarterly average daily membership" means the average daily membership for one (1) quarter of a school year used for calculating student growth funding and as determined by rule established by the Department of Education;

(17) (A) "Revenues" means the proceeds generated from ad valorem taxes and distributed to a school district by a county treasurer from January 1 through December 31 of the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year, including:

(i) The amount of the final distribution of ad valorem taxes to a school district as shown on the final tax settlement of the county under 26-39-402 for the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year;

(ii) (a) Delinquent ad valorem taxes distributed to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year.

(b) Delinquent ad valorem taxes include the penalties and interest that are distributable to a school district under existing law;

(iii) The actual amount of homestead tax credit distributed to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year;

(iv) Excess commissions distributed to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year;

(v) Interest earned on any tax funds held in trust and distributed to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year;

(vi) Ad valorem tax proceeds from land redemptions distributed to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year; and

(vii) A subtraction of all costs and commissions authorized by law relating to the collection of ad valorem taxes that the county deducted from distributions to a school district in the calendar year immediately preceding the beginning of the current school year;

(18) "School district" means a geographic area with an elected board of directors that qualifies as a taxing unit for purposes of ad valorem property taxes under Title 26 of the Arkansas Code, which board of directors conducts the daily affairs of public schools pursuant to the supervisory authority vested in it by the General Assembly and this title;

(19) "Secondary vocational area center" means a public secondary vocational institution organized for the specific purpose of educating high school students in specific occupational or vocational areas and serving students from more than one (1) participating school district;

(20) "Special education catastrophic occurrences" means individual cases in which special education and related services required by the individualized education program of a particular student with disabilities are unduly expensive, extraordinary, or beyond the routine and normal costs associated with special education and related services provided by a school district and funding is pursuant to rules promulgated by the state board;

(21) "State foundation funding aid" means the amount of state financial aid provided to each school district and computed as the difference between the foundation funding amount established by the General Assembly and the sum of ninety-eight percent (98%) of the uniform rate of tax multiplied by the property assessment of the school district plus the miscellaneous funds of the school district;

(22) "Student growth funding" means the amount of state financial aid provided to each school district from funds made available for the growth in the average daily membership for the school district;

(23) "Teachers of the gifted and talented" means individuals certified by the state board to teach gifted and talented students;

(24) "Technology" means any equipment for instructional purposes that is electronic in nature, including, but not limited to, computer hardware, computer software, Internet connectivity, and distance learning; and

(25) "Uniform rate of tax" means a uniform rate of ad valorem property tax of twenty-five (25) mills to be levied on the assessed value of all taxable real, personal, utility, and regulated carrier property in the state to be used solely for the maintenance and operation of the public schools as required by Arkansas Constitution, Article 14, 3, as amended by Arkansas Constitution, Amendments 11, 40, and 74.