Act 1382 of 1999 provides that effective at the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year, all teachers must be fully licensed for any subject that they are assigned to teach.
In addition, the law requires that effective this school year, 1999-2000, any substitute teacher used by a district for more than thirty (30) consecutive school days in the same class during a school year must be licensed to teach by the State of Arkansas or must have been awarded a bachelor's degree by an accredited college or university. The law does not apply to substitutes for non-degreed vocational-technical teachers.
The law does provide for a waiver if this requirement imposes an undue hardship on a school district. The State Board of Education will develop these rules and regulations for granting the waiver. The law further requires, however, that any district granted a waiver shall be identified in that district's annual school district report card.
If a district has questions regarding this licensing requirement, please contact Dr. Charity Smith at (501) 682-4207.