The Arkansas Charter Authorizing Panel on Wednesday approved a proposed liberal arts charter school that would serve grades five through 12 in Bentonville, but deferred action on a proposal involving Fort Smith.
The proposed Bentonville School for Advanced Studies will now go to the Arkansas Board of Education for final action.
It's the state charter panel's second approval in two days involving an open-enrollment college preparatory charter school plan with roots in Arizona. The panel on Tuesday had endorsed the Academy of Math and Science — Arkansas for a Little Rock location.
Also at Wednesday's meeting, the panel deferred action until at least November on the proposed Institute of Creative Arts. The delay is meant to give planners more time to develop the Fort Smith campus, particularly in the areas of core academics and staffing.
The Arkansas charter panel is made up of state agency employees and other interested citizens. It will meet for the third day this week at 9 a.m. Thursday to consider two additional open-enrollment charter school applications and an amendment to the existing North Little Rock Center of Excellence.
This year’s round of charter school applications comes after the Arkansas LEARNS Act, or Act 237 of 2023, eliminated any cap on the maximum number of charter schools that can be operated in the state by nonprofit organizations. The new law also streamlines the charter renewal process.