6-17-422. Professional Licensure
Standards Board.
(a) There is
established the Professional Licensure Standards
Board.
(b)
(1) The Professional Licensure Standards Board shall consist of
fifteen (15) members appointed by the State Board of Education as
follows:
(A) The Commissioner of Education or his or her designee, who
shall serve as a nonvoting
member;
(B)
(i) Four (4) public school classroom teachers with a valid
Arkansas teaching license who are recommended by the Arkansas Education
Association.
(ii) The four (4) public school classroom teachers shall
represent the four (4) congressional districts in Arkansas and include classroom
teachers who are licensed and teach
at:
(a) A licensure level of prekindergarten through grade four
(preK-4);
(b) A licensure level of grades four through eight
(4-8);
(c) A licensure level of grades seven through twelve (7-12);
and
(d) Any licensure level to serve in one (1) at-large
position;
(C)
(i) Four (4) persons with valid Arkansas teaching and
administrator's licenses who represent the four (4) congressional districts in
Arkansas and are recommended by the Arkansas Association of Educational
Administrators.
(ii)
(a) One (1) person shall hold a P-8 building-level leader
license and serve as a middle-level building
leader.
(b) Two (2) persons shall be public school superintendents with
valid Arkansas teaching and administrator's licenses recommended by the Arkansas
Association of School
Administrators.
(c) One (1) person shall be a public school administrator with
a valid Arkansas teaching and administrator's license recommended by the
Arkansas Association of School Personnel
Administrators;
(D) One (1) nonvoting representative designated by the
Department of Education from its offices of licensure and teacher quality
recommended by the
commissioner;
(E)
(i) Three (3) deans of education from Arkansas institutions of
higher education recommended by the Arkansas Association of Colleges for Teacher
Education.
(ii)
(a) One (1) dean shall be from a private institution of higher
education.
(b) One (1) dean shall be from a public institution of higher
education.
(c) One (1) dean who has knowledge of licensure
issues;
(F) One (1) coordinator of educational leadership recommended
by the Arkansas Professors of Educational Administration;
and
(G) One (1) curriculum program administrator recommended by the
Arkansas Association of Supervision and Curriculum
Development.
(2)
(A) The voting members of the Professional Licensure Standards
Board shall elect annually one (1) of the voting members to serve as chair for
one (1)
year.
(B) The chair shall serve as a nonvoting member during his or
her term as chair, however, the chair may vote in the case of a
tie.
(c)
(1) The State Board of Education shall consider all
recommendations under subdivision (b)(1) of this section submitted to the
secretary of the State Board of Education by June 30, 2007, for the initial
board and by June 30 of each year in which the term of a Professional Licensure
Standards Board member
expires.
(2) If a recommendation for a person qualified to fill a
position on the Professional Licensure Standards Board is not received by the
deadline, the State Board of Education may appoint any qualified person to fill
the
position.
(d)
(1)
(A) Each member of the Professional Licensure Standards Board
shall serve a term of three (3)
years.
(B) The initial members shall draw lots for staggered
terms.
(2) The State Board of Education shall appoint any qualified
person to fill a position that is vacated before the expiration of a member's
term.
(e) The appointed members of the Professional Licensure
Standards Board shall be residents of this state at the time of appointment and
throughout their
terms.
(f)
(1) The Professional Licensure Standards Board shall meet at
times and places the chair deems necessary, but no meetings shall be held
outside of this
state.
(2) A majority of the members of the Professional Licensure
Standards Board shall constitute a quorum for the purpose of transacting
business.
(3) All action of the Professional Licensure Standards Board
shall be by a majority vote of the full membership of the Professional Licensure
Standards
Board.
(g)
(1) Members of the Professional Licensure Standards Board shall
serve without
pay.
(2) Members of the Professional Licensure Standards Board may
receive expense reimbursement in accordance with § 25-16-902, to be paid by the
Department of Education to the extent money is available for that
purpose.
(h) The Professional Licensure Standards Board
shall:
(1) Develop and recommend for adoption to the State Board of
Education minimum college level preparatory and grade point average requirements
for all teachers applying for initial licensure or additional licensure after
July 1, 2007, that shall include minimum requirements
for:
(A) Course of
study;
(B) Program
approval;
(C) Range of approved hours;
and
(D) In-class teaching internships or practice teaching
hours;
(2)
(A) With the assistance of the Department of Education and the
Department of Higher Education, review the audits of the teacher education
programs offered by all institutions of higher education in the state to
determine if the institutions' teacher education programs and courses of study
are aligned as necessary to allow graduates of the teacher education program to
become licensed under this act and the rules set by the State Board of
Education.
(B)
(i)
(a) To ensure alignment with standards in university course
syllabi for licensure, the Department of Education shall conduct audits of
licensure programs of study at all Arkansas institutions of higher
education.
(b) The audits shall use state standards or national standards
for licensure programs, or a combination of
both.
(ii) The audits shall be conducted on a five-year cycle
beginning on July 1, 2007 and provided to the Professional Licensure Standards
Board.
(iii)
(a) Institutions of higher education that do not comply with
the Department of Education's audit findings and recommendations shall have one
(1) semester to bring programs into compliance with the audit recommendations
and submit documentation of compliance to the Professional Licensure Standards
Board.
(b) If the institution of higher education does not bring its
program into compliance with audit recommendations, the Professional Licensure
Standards Board shall submit a recommendation to the State Board of Education
for discontinuance of the authority of the institution to offer the licensure
program;
and
(3)
(A) Establish a code of ethics for administrators and teachers
in educational environments for students in prekindergarten through grade twelve
(preK-12).
(B) Upon the approval of the code of ethics, procedures, and
recommendations for enforcement required by this subdivision (h)(3), the valid
Arkansas teaching license of any person shall be subject to the conditions,
requirements, and mandates of the code of ethics, procedures, and
recommendations for
enforcement.
(C)
(i) The Professional Licensure Standards Board may recommend to
the State Board of Education and the State Board of Education may approve the
monetary fees to be paid by a person for the issuance, reissuance, fine, or
penalty associated with the process, procedures, or enforcement of requirements
necessary to issue or maintain an Arkansas teaching
license.
(ii) Under no circumstances shall any one (1) specific fee or
fine exceed one hundred dollars
($100).
(iii) Revenue collected by the State Board of Education from
the fees and fines under this subdivision (h)(3)(C) shall be used for the
operation of the Professional Licensure Standards
Board.
(D)
(i) The Professional Licensure Standards Board
may:
(a) Establish procedures for receiving, considering, and
investigating complaints referred by the Department of Education, a public
school district, or a public school superintendent regarding the unethical
behavior of licensed school
personnel;
(b) Make recommendations for enforcement;
and
(c) Establish an ethics subcommittee of the Professional
Licensure Standards Board with equal representation of public school teachers
and administrators as well as one (1) member from any other category of
representation on the Professional Licensure Standards
Board.
(ii) All rules, procedures, hearings, and appeals relating to
the code of ethics required by this subsection (h) are subject to the Arkansas
Administrative Procedure Act, § 25-15-201 et
seq.
(i)
(1) Except under subdivision (i)(4) of this section, all
records and all hearings, meetings, and deliberations of the Professional
Licensure Standards Board relating to an ethics complaint against an
administrator or teacher under this section are confidential and exempt from the
Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et
seq.
(2) All records pertaining to an ethics complaint under this
subsection (i) shall be open for inspection and copying by the person against
whom the complaint is
lodged.
(3) The person against whom the complaint is lodged and his or
her representative are entitled to be present at all
hearings.
(4)
(A) A hearing before the State Board of Education to consider
the possible revocation, suspension, or other sanction of an administrator's or
a teacher's license based on a recommendation of the Professional Licensure
Standards Board for enforcement of an alleged ethics violation under this
section, including without limitation an informal disposition by the State Board
of Education of an ethics complaint under this section by stipulation,
settlement, consent order, or default, is open to the
public.
(B) All records on which the State Board of Education relies at
a hearing under this subdivision (i)(4) to make its decision are subject to
public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of 1967, § 25-19-101 et
seq.
History..Acts 2007, No. 846, § 3; 2009, No. 337,
§§ 1–4; 2009, No. 376, §§ 26, 27; 2009, No. 938, § 1.