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House Education Committee approves pathway for designated isolated rural schools to re-form as independent districts
Summary
The committee approved Senate Bill 619 to allow already‑designated isolated schools to create their own school districts and elect local boards; sponsors and local leaders said the change would preserve small schools and their communities without a new state fiscal burden.
Senate Bill 619, which creates a process for already‑designated isolated schools to form independent school districts, cleared the Arkansas House Education Committee after extended testimony from sponsors, local officials and residents.
Sponsor Sen. Missy Irvin, R‑District 24, said the bill would return local control to small communities where a single school is a central part of local life and the local economy. “This bill creates an isolated school district,” Irvin told the committee, and it “is about local governance. It’s about allowing people to stand on their own two feet and be able to support that community and that school.”
Committee members heard more than an hour of testimony from rural residents, school leaders and community officials who said the measure would let small campuses that were consolidated under earlier…
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