House Bill 1199, sponsored by Joshua Bryant, District 32, cleared the Senate Education Committee after extended questioning about how the repeal would interact with existing federal desegregation court orders.

Bryant told the committee the bill removes language from state code that required all board members of both the sending and receiving districts to sign affidavits before certain transfers could proceed. “Prior to us having school choice...both boards could vote unanimously. But if they had one member withhold the affidavit, they could not effectuate the transfer,” Bryant said, describing the statute as an additional state-level veto over transfers.

Several senators pressed for specificity about which statutes would remain in force once the language is removed. Senator Murdock asked, “When you strike out a total statute...what are we left with?” Secretary of Education Diego Oliva and representatives of the Arkansas Public School Resource Center said the broader transfer statutes remain: the witnesses cited the transfer statutes identified in the hearing as 6-18-307 (transfer of a school district to an adjoining district) and 6-18-316 (transfer on petition of a student). Scott Smith of the Arkansas Public School Resource Center told the committee the federal court orders already carry supremacy and that the state affidavit requirement was “unnecessary” and confusing.

Committee members asked for a list of districts still subject to desegregation orders. Secretary Oliva said two districts remain required to report to the Department of Education (Camden-Fairview and El Dorado) and offered to provide copies of the court orders to senators for review.

Proponents said the bill would allow districts to participate in open enrollment and choice transfers without an individual board member veto unrelated to the content of a federal court order. Opponents and some committee members warned the court orders themselves vary by district and may include transfer-specific restrictions; they asked staff to research whether each federal desegregation order contains transfer provisions. The sponsor closed and made a motion to pass; the committee voted by voice and the bill was passed out of committee.

The committee did not adopt technical amendments during the hearing. Staff agreed to provide the specific code citations and copies of the remaining court orders to senators who requested them.