(a)

1. (1) After a public hearing, the State Board of Education shall consolidate, annex, or reconstitute the school district in fiscal distress to another school district or school districts upon a majority vote of a quorum of the members of the state board as permitted or required by:

   1. (A) The Arkansas Fiscal Assessment and Accountability Program, Arkansas Code § 6-20-1901 et seq.; and
   2. (B) This part.

2. (2) After providing thirty (30) days’ written notice via certified mail, return receipt requested, to the superintendent and the president of the school board of directors, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education may petition the state board for the consolidation, annexation, or reconstitution of a school district in fiscal distress pursuant to:

   1. (A) Arkansas Code § 6-20-1908; and
   2. (B) 6 CAR § 270-106(i).

3. (3) After providing thirty (30) days’ written notice via certified mail, return receipt requested, to the superintendent and the president of the school board of directors, the state board on its own motion may consolidate, annex, or reconstitute the school district in fiscal distress as set forth in:

   1. (A) Arkansas Code § 6-20-1910; and
   2. (B) Subdivision (a)(1) of this section.

(b) The following procedures shall apply to state board hearings concerning the consolidation, annexation, or reconstitution of a school district in fiscal distress:

1. (1) All persons wishing to testify before the state board shall first be placed under oath by the Chair of the State Board of Education;

2. (2)

   1. (A) The division shall have up to thirty (30) minutes to present its case to the state board as to why the school district classified as a district in fiscal distress should be consolidated, annexed, or reconstituted.
   2. (B) The chair may allow additional time if necessary;

3. (3)

   1. (A) School districts and citizens’ groups opposing the consolidation, annexation, or reconstitution shall have up to a combined thirty (30) minutes to present their cases to the state board as to why the school district classified as a district in fiscal distress should not be consolidated, annexed, or reconstituted.
   2. (B) The chair may allow additional time if necessary;
4. (4) The state board may pose questions to any party at any time during the hearing;
5. (5) The state board shall then discuss, deliberate, and vote upon the matter of the consolidation, annexation, or reconstitution of the school district classified as a district in fiscal distress;
6. (6) If it deems necessary, the state board may take the matter under advisement and announce its decision at a later date provided that all discussions, deliberations, and votes upon the matter take place in a public hearing;
7. (7) The state board shall issue a written order concerning the matter; and

8. (8)

   1. (A) If the state board orders the annexation or consolidation of a school district in fiscal distress, the order shall, as appropriate, dissolve existing school districts and establish receiving or resulting school districts.
   2. (B) The order shall also establish the boundary lines of the receiving or resulting school district or school districts.
   3. (C) The state board shall file the order with:

(b) (b) The county clerk shall make a permanent record of the order;

1. (ii) The Secretary of State; and

   1. (iii) The Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Office.

   2. (D) It shall be the duty of the Arkansas Geographic Information Systems Office to make changes in the maps of the school districts to properly show the boundary lines of the receiving or resulting districts.

      1. (c) The state board has exclusive jurisdiction to:
2. (1) Determine the boundary lines of the receiving or resulting school district; and

3. (2) Allocate assets and liabilities of the school district.

   1. (d) The decision of the state board shall be final with no further right of appeal except that a school district may appeal to Pulaski County Circuit Court pursuant to the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act, Arkansas Code § 25-15-201 et seq.

(e)

1. (1) If by the end of the fifth school year following the school district’s classification of fiscal distress status the school district in fiscal distress has not corrected all issues that caused the classification of fiscal distress, the state board after a public hearing shall consolidate, annex, or reconstitute the school district under:

   1. (A) Arkansas Code § 6-20-1910; and
   2. (B) This part.
2. (2) The state board may grant additional time for a public school or school district to remove itself from fiscal distress by issuing a written finding supported by a majority of the state board explaining in detail that the public school or school district could not remove itself from fiscal distress during the relevant time period due to impossibility caused by external forces beyond the control of the public school or school district.
3. (3) Nothing in Arkansas Code § 6-20-1910 or this part shall be construed to prevent the division or the state board from taking any of the actions listed in Arkansas Code § 6-20-1909 or Arkansas Code § 6-20-1910 at any time to address a school district in fiscal distress.