Arkansas Expands School Choice with New Intra-District Transfers

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas lawmakers in 2025 delivered a major boost to school choice by passing SB 624 and HB 1945, sponsored by Sen. Breanne Davis and Rep. Austin McCollum. The measures expand public school choice laws, allowing greater flexibility for families to transfer students to different schools inside their home district. Signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the bills eliminate artificial barriers, empowering parents in cities like Little Rock and rural areas alike to find better fits for their children. This intra-district expansion builds directly on the 2023 Arkansas LEARNS Act, which introduced Education Freedom Accounts providing vouchers for private schools, homeschooling and other options. LEARNS aimed to rescue students from failing schools, where only 35% of third graders read at grade level, by offering tutoring, pre-K improvements and parental notification tools. The 2025 reforms complement these by focusing on public school mobility, supported by the Transportation Modernization Grant Program to overcome access hurdles. Not all agree on the path forward. Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, is pushing a 2026 fiscal session bill to cap school choice vouchers at $5,000 per year, limit them to students not already in private schools and require academic performance standards. King calls the current program fiscally irresponsible amid spending concerns. Meanwhile, other 2025 wins include the Arkansas ACCESS Act (SB 246) by Sen. Jonathan Dismang and Rep. Matthew Shepherd, aligning K-12 with workforce needs, and Sen. Tyler Dees' "Bell to Bell, No Cell" Act (SB 142) mandating phone-free classrooms statewide.