Please be advised that Act 2151 of the 85th General Assembly requires that all local school boards be made up of an odd number of five (5) or seven (7) (or possibly nine (9) for those school districts with more than 24,000 students) board members. The only allowed exception is when a school district is under a federal court order specifically requiring some other configuration or number of board members.
All school districts currently made up of an even number of board members or an odd number of board members other than specified above shall petition the State Board of Education to change the configuration of the board to either a five (5) or seven (7) member board. This change shall go into effect with the September 2005 school election. Attached are the relevant changes in law for review.
The Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) will be requiring superintendents of school districts with some board configuration other than five (5) or seven (7) board members to verify that either the district has made the change required by law or that the district is otherwise under a federal court order controlling the makeup of the board and, therefore, is exempt from the required change in law.
Questions or comments should be directed to Scott Smith, General Counsel, at 501-682-4227.