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Committee hears detailed report on waiver pathways and widespread waiver use in Arkansas schools
Summary
BLR told the committee Arkansas had 11,427 active waivers in 2021 across 813 schools; common waivers related to teacher licensure, superintendent rules, class size and instructional day, prompting questions about whether statutes need revision.
Julie Holt presented the committee’s waiver report, tracing waiver authority from early charter and conversion provisions in 1995 through successive expansions that now include five primary pathways: conversion charters, open‑enrollment charters, schools/districts of innovation, Act 1240/Act 815 pathways and digital‑learning waivers. "Waivers have been in use in Arkansas since the early 2000s," Holt said, and she walked the committee through the growth of waiver use and the 2021 snapshot.
Key figures in the presentation: BLR identified 11,427 waivers in use in 2021, covering 813 schools located in 195 of 235 districts and enrolling about 78% of Arkansas students. The most frequent waivers…
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