HB1602

House Bill 1602 amends Arkansas law to grant public school districts greater flexibility in determining their school week schedules. It authorizes school boards to implement school weeks that are not limited to the traditional five-day format, provided they still meet the total annual instructional hours required by state accreditation standards. The bill allows districts to achieve these hour requirements by extending the length of the school day or the total number of school days in the academic year. It also mandates that the State Board of Education establish guidelines for determining average daily membership and distributing state aid to districts adopting non-traditional schedules. Crucially, the bill ensures that districts operating on such schedules do not receive more state financial aid than they would have received under a standard five-day model. Additionally, it provides an exemption for these districts from mandatory holiday observances that would otherwise interfere with the total required instructional hours.