6 CAR § 30-304 – Appeal procedures

(a) A parent or guardian, or the student if the student is eighteen (18) years of age or older, may appeal a school district’s decision to deny admission to a nonresident school due to a lack of capacity to the State Board of Education pursuant to this part.
(b)
1. (1) The appealing party must present a written appeal to the state board via certified mail, return receipt requested, no later than ten (10) calendar days, excluding weekends and legal holidays, after the appealing party receives notice of rejection from the superintendent of the district in accordance with 6 CAR § 30-301(e).
2. (2) The written appeal should be sent to: Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Attn: Legal Services Unit Four Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201
3. (3) Contemporaneously with the filing of the written appeal with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education’s Legal Services Unit, the appealing party must also mail a copy of the written appeal to the superintendent of the school district that denied admission.
4. (4) In its written appeal, the appealing party shall state its basis for appealing the decision of the district.
5. (5) The appealing party must submit, along with its written appeal, a copy of the rejection letter from the district.
6. (6) Any request for a hearing before the state board must be made in the written appeal.
(c)
1. (1) The district may submit, in writing, any additional information, evidence, or arguments supporting its rejection of the student’s application by mailing such response via certified mail, return receipt requested to the state board no later than ten (10) days after receiving the appealing party’s written appeal.
2. (2) Any response from the nonresident district should be sent to: Division of Elementary and Secondary Education Attn: Legal Services Unit Four Capitol Mall Little Rock, AR 72201
3. (3) Contemporaneously with the filing of the written response with the unit, the district must also mail a copy of the written response to the appealing party.
4. (4) If the appealing party did not request a hearing before the state board, the district may request a hearing in its response.
(d) If a hearing is requested by either party, the state board shall schedule the hearing at or before the next regularly scheduled state board meeting in accordance with its procedures for the submission of agenda items.
(e) If no hearing is requested by either party, the state board shall consider the appeal during its next regularly scheduled state board meeting in accordance with its procedures for the submission of agenda items.
(f) State board hearing procedures shall be the same as set forth in 6 CAR § 30-206.
(g) An applicant is not permitted to request a hearing before the state board if his or her application for a transfer is rejected due to the application not being timely received by the nonresident or resident district.
(h) The deadlines under this section may be waived by the state board upon a finding that there was good cause for the failure to meet the deadline.