6 CAR § 274-105 – Equity status

(a) All school districts submitting loan or bond applications to fund a proposed facility project, excluding maintenance and operation facilities, transportation facilities, and other noninstructional facilities, shall submit written documentation showing that the:
1. (1)
  1. (A) Proposed facility project is necessary to meet an important educational goal of the district.
  2. (B) Completion of the proposed project should enable the applying district to provide a better quality desegregated education necessary to meet the needs of its present and projected population.
  3. (C) The district must provide a desegregation impact statement showing that the proposed improvements do not have a segregative effect.
  4. (D) A detailed outline or explanation of the educational goal to be met shall be included;
2. (2) Proposed facility project is necessary to comply with Department of Education rules and/or state and federal statutes and regulations; and
3. (3) Department has received a current annual Equity Compliance Report from the school district.
(b) The applying district shall have as its goal not to establish or enlarge a school unless the enrollment in such school is reasonably projected to be within a twenty-five percent (25%) range of its district-wide percentage of majority-minority students by organizational level as established in Little Rock Sch. Dist. v. Pulaski Cnty. Spec. Sch. Dist., 666 F. Supp. 159 (1987).
(c) The applying district shall submit a written Assurance Impact Statement that the facility project will not in any manner establish, continue, or ignore segregative activities within the district.
(d)
1. (1) Any school in any county contiguous to Pulaski County shall submit a written Assurance Impact Statement that the proposed facility project will not have a substantial negative impact on the ability of any district in Pulaski County to desegregate effectively.
2. (2) Upon receipt of the application, the school district shall be notified by the department or Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation that this section applies to the school district.
(e) The Loans and Bonds Committee shall not recommend approval of any application from any district not submitting the documentation required in subsections (a) and (c) of this section.
(f) The committee may recommend approval of any application from a district submitting the information in subsection (a) of this section if the committee agrees with the documentation.
(g) The State Board of Education or Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education shall not approve an application from any district not submitting the information required in subsection (a) of this section.
(h) The state board or commissioner may consider a school district’s application not approved by the committee under subsection (c) of this section after reviewing the documentation submitted by the applying district.