Ark. Code Ann. § 6-18-1901

Title — Legislative findings

Known as the Public School Choice Act

Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case Teague ex rel. T.T. v. Cooper (2013)

Most recently applied in Vincent Standridge, in His Personal Capacity as a Parent; And Minor Child, by and Through His Father and Next Friend, Vincent Standridge v. Fort Smith Public Schools; Dr. Terry Morawski, Superintendent, in His Official Capacity; Dalton Person, School Board President, in His Official Capacity; Phil Whiteaker, School Board Vice-President, in His Official Capacity; Davin Chitwood, School Board Secretary, in His Official Capacity; Matt Blaylock, Board Member, in His Official Capacity; Susan Kraft, Board Member, in Her Official Capacity; Lynnett Lott, Board Member, in Her Official Capacity; Talicia Richardson, Board Member, in Her Official Capacity; And Michael Beaumont, Director of Athletics & Activities, in His Official Capacity (April 2025)

Acts 2013, No. 1227, § 6; 2015, No. 560, § 2.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Public School Choice Act of 2015”.

(2) The General Assembly finds that: The students in Arkansas's public schools and their parents will become more informed about and involved in the public educational system if students and their parents are provided greater freedom to determine the most effective school for meeting their individual educational needs. There is no right school for every student, and permitting students to choose from among different schools with differing assets will increase the likelihood that some at-risk students will stay in school and that other, more motivated students will find their full academic potential;

(3) Giving more options to parents and students with respect to where the students attend public school will increase the responsiveness and effectiveness of the state's schools because teachers, administrators, and school district board members will have added incentive to satisfy the educational needs of the students who reside in the district; and

(4) These benefits of enhanced quality and effectiveness in our public schools justify permitting a student to apply for admission to a school in any school district beyond the school district in which the student resides, provided that the transfer by the student does not conflict with an enforceable judicial decree or court order remedying the effects of past racial segregation in the school district.

Current official text: Arkansas General Assembly. Digitized from the UniCourt Code Improvement Commission public-domain capture. Reproduced from public-domain Arkansas statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.