Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-18-201(a) states:
“Under penalty for noncompliance as shall be set by law, every parent, guardian, or other person residing within the State of Arkansas having custody or charge of any child ages five (5) through seventeen (17) on or before September 15 of that year shall enroll and send the child to a public, private, or parochial school or provide a home school for the child, as described in §6-15-501 et. seq., …” Further, the law allows a school district to grant a waiver of the attendance requirement for any student age sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) to enroll in an adult education program only after meeting certain requirements concerning test scores, hours of class attendance and instruction, conduct, etc. as per described in Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-18-201(b) and (c).
Arkansas Code Annotated § 6-18-201(e) mandates a school district and an adult education program must negotiate a contract that includes (1)(A) Financial consideration for serving the students age sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) enrolled in public school districts; and (B) Accountability measures to ensure monitoring of student progress and attendance.
The law specifically states:
“(3) Any student served by an adult education program under a contractual arrangement as described in this subsection shall not be counted in any enrollment numbers reported by the adult education programs for state or federal funding.”
Therefore, students age sixteen (16) or seventeen (17) with a negotiated contract as described in Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-201(e) attending an adult education program may be included in a school district’s Average Daily Membership (ADM) for funding purposes. Any child older than age seventeen or without a valid negotiated contract shall not be included in a public school district’s ADM.