Summary — HB 1941 (95th Gen. Assembly, 2025)
Note on sources and status
- The package of documents provided contains mixed metadata (including an unrelated Illinois bill text clipped in) and conflicting procedural entries. The text summarized below reflects the Arkansas HB 1941 version supplied (author: Rep. Joey Carr; Sen. J. English) and the Arkansas Department of Education fiscal note. The record also contains entries indicating the bill was “Died in Committee” as well as entries that it was passed/enrolled; those procedural records appear inconsistent. The fiscal statement is dated 4/1/2025 and reports no fiscal impact.
Purpose and intent
- To reorganize and streamline certain boards/commissions within the Arkansas Department of Education and to expedite and clarify procedures for handling teacher ethics complaints — with the stated goal of protecting students by ensuring efficient disposition of ethics complaints.
Key provisions and changes
- Professional Licensure Standards Board (PLSB) membership
- Sets member terms at three years; initial members draw lots for staggered terms.
- State Board of Education appoints replacements for vacancies.
- Limits service on PLSB to a maximum of three terms.
Ethics procedure and enforcement (amendments to Ark. Code § 6-17-428)
- Requires the PLSB to establish procedures for receiving and investigating ethics complaints (electronically or in writing), enforcing the code of ethics, conducting hearings, and publicizing enforcement-related notifications.
- Directs PLSB to make recommendations on findings of fact and conclusions of law, and to impose sanctions authorized by statute.
- Creates an ethics subcommittee of the PLSB with equal representation of public school teachers and administrators plus one member from any other PLSB category.
- Requires all rules/procedures/hearings/appeals to follow the Arkansas Administrative Procedure Act.
Filing and hearing rules
- Ethics subcommittee authorizes investigations.
- Complaint forms must bear an original signature; faxed or electronically signed complaint forms are not accepted (per text).
- Subcommittee may appoint or contract hearing officers to conduct evidentiary hearings.
- State Board may resolve violations informally (stipulation, settlement, consent order, default).
Sanctions and dispositions
- Possible actions include public letters of warning/reprimand, private letters of caution, placement of conditions/restrictions, probation, suspension, revocation or denial/nonrenewal of licenses.
- For preservice teachers in supervised field or clinical experiences, sanctions may be imposed on a license at issuance.
- After a PLSB hearing, an educator may accept findings or appeal to the State Board of Education; appeals to the State Board must be filed within 30 days of receipt of the PLSB order. A PLSB order becomes effective when accepted in writing or 60 days after transmission if not appealed.
Public disclosure
- The licensure division’s public website may display, subject to statutory disclosure limits: the code standard violated, the sanctioned remedy, and copies of the settlement/agreement/order when a license was suspended, revoked, denied, or not renewed based on the ethics subcommittee’s recommendation.
School Worker Defense Program
- Amends § 6-17-1113(f) to remove a right-to-appeal to the advisory board and allows the division to promulgate rules to implement the program.
- Repeals § 6-17-1118 (School Worker Defense Program Advisory Board), eliminating the advisory board.
Fiscal impact
- Arkansas Department of Education fiscal statement (4/1/2025): No fiscal impact identified; no affected funds indicated.
Who is affected
- Educators (licensed and preservice teachers) — procedures for investigation, sanctions, public disclosure, and appeals.
- Professional Licensure Standards Board and its newly defined ethics subcommittee.
- State Board of Education (role in appointments, informal dispositions, appeals).
- School Worker Defense Program participants and formerly the advisory board (which is repealed).
Potential effects and considerations
- Faster/centralized ethics processes and clearer public disclosure could increase transparency and speed of resolution.
- Requiring original signatures and prohibiting fax/electronic signatures could affect complainant convenience and access unless alternative authenticated electronic filing is later authorized.
- Repeal of the School Worker Defense Program advisory board shifts decisionmaking/oversight responsibilities to the division and rulemaking, which may change stakeholder input.
Procedural note
- Because the procedural history in the provided record is inconsistent, confirm current enactment status with the official legislative clerk or state code database before relying on the bill as law.
