Can an Arkansas school district buy land in a neighboring district and build a school on it?

Plain-English summary

Representative Jim Dotson asked the AG to revisit Op. Att'y Gen. 2001-098, which had concluded that an Arkansas school district could purchase real property outside its own boundaries and build a school on it. He wanted to know whether the answer had changed after the Arkansas Supreme Court's 2002 Lake View decision and the legislative overhaul of school facilities oversight that followed.

AG Dustin McDaniel's answer: the underlying law is materially the same, so the conclusion still holds. A school board can buy land in another district and put a school on it. The board's discretion is now more closely supervised, but the basic power was not stripped.

What changed since 2001 was the oversight machinery. Several statutes the 2001 opinion cited were amended or repealed, but the substance survived through other provisions (notably A.C.A. § 6-20-1407, which still requires approval before any public school facility is built, added to, or renovated). Approval authority now sits with the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, advised by the Academic Facilities Oversight Committee. The Minimum Schoolhouse Construction Standards that the 2001 opinion referenced have been superseded.

The AG found no blanket prohibition, from the Division or any other entity, that would foreclose a district from buying property and building a school in another district. The board still operates within a zone of discretion, but every new construction project runs the Division's facility-approval gauntlet.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2015. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Why would a school district want to buy property in another district?
A border-area district might find a better site for a new school just across the line, or a fast-growing district might pick up property where its students actually live. The opinion did not police the underlying purpose; it confirmed only that there was no per se ban.

Who approves the construction itself?
The Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, within the Arkansas Department of Education. A.C.A. § 6-20-1407(b) bars building, adding to, or renovating any public school facility except in accordance with the Division-approved plan, and subsection (c) requires that approved plans and specifications be on file with the Commission before construction begins.

Did the Lake View decision affect this?
Lake View struck down the state's K-12 system as unconstitutional under the educational article (Ark. Const. art. 14, § 1) and equal protection provisions, which prompted statewide reform of facilities oversight. The reforms added approval layers but did not change the underlying answer about extraterritorial purchases.

Is there a statute that directly authorizes buying property in another district?
Not explicitly, in either the 2001 or 2015 analysis. The AG's view was that no statute forbids it, and a school board's general discretion to acquire facilities reaches across district lines, subject to the Division's project-approval authority over new construction.

Background and statutory framework

The 2001 predecessor opinion (Op. Att'y Gen. 2001-098) had concluded a school district could buy real property outside its own boundaries and build on it, citing the State Board of Education's then-extant construction-approval rules.

The post-Lake View legislative reforms reshaped that oversight scheme. A.C.A. § 6-21-112 (Repl. 2013) created the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, and A.C.A. § 6-13-131 (Repl. 2013) placed the Division under the Department of Education. The construction-approval rule moved into A.C.A. § 6-20-1407. The Academic Facilities Oversight Committee was tasked with the legislative oversight role of monitoring implementation, appointing the Advisory Committee, recommending policy, overseeing expenditures, and using the Lake View opinions as guiding precedent (A.C.A. § 10-3-2202).

The AG read the changes as machinery-level, not authority-stripping. The school board's discretion to acquire property and locate facilities survived. The new oversight just channels how that discretion gets exercised in practice.

Citations

• A.C.A. § 6-13-131 (Repl. 2013) (Division placement under Department of Education)
• A.C.A. § 6-13-620 (Repl. 2013) (school district board powers and duties)
• A.C.A. § 6-20-1407 (Repl. 2013) (construction approval requirement)
• A.C.A. § 6-21-112 (Repl. 2013) (creating the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation)
• A.C.A. § 10-3-2202 (Repl. 2012) (Academic Facilities Oversight Committee duties)
• Ark. Const. art. 14, § 1 (educational article)
• Ark. Const. art. 2, §§ 2, 3, 18 (equal protection)
• Lake View School District v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31, 91 S.W.3d 472 (2002)
• Op. Att'y Gen. 2001-098 (predecessor opinion answering the same questions)

Source

• Landing page: https://arkansasag.gov/divisions/opinions-foia/attorney-general-opinions-search/

Official summary

Can a school district purchase real property in another school district? Q2) If so, can the school district that purchased the real property build a school on that property for use by students in its district?

RESPONSE: For reasons set forth in Op. Att'y Gen. 2001-098, the answer to both questions is "yes," subject to the conditions discussed in the opinion.

Original opinion text

STATE OF ARKANSAS

THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Dustin McDaniel

Opinion No. 2014-136

January 5, 2015

The Honorable Jim Dotson
State Representative
Post Office Box 651
Bentonville, Arkansas 72712-0651

Dear Mr. Dotson:

I am writing in response to your request for my opinion on the following questions:

1. Can a school district purchase real property in another school district?

2. If so, can the school district that purchased the real property build a school on that property for use by students in its district?

As noted in your request, one of my predecessors addressed identical questions in Op. Att'y Gen. 2001-098, answering both in the affirmative, subject to certain qualifications. You are concerned to know, however, whether the answers offered by my predecessor "have changed based on current law" adopted in the wake of the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision in Lake View School District v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31, 91 S.W.3d 472 (2002).

RESPONSE

In my opinion, the pertinent law is materially unchanged, meaning that the answer to each of your questions remains "yes," subject to what you accurately characterize as my predecessor's "caveats."

I need not here reproduce my predecessor's analysis, which remains materially accurate. Although the statutes recited by my predecessor have been amended since 2001, none of these amendments warrants changing my predecessor's basic conclusions.

The Lake View decision, which declared unconstitutional the state's system of public education, has prompted legislation that provides for state oversight regarding the location and construction of academic facilities. Issues regarding proposed construction and transportation now fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Education's Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. Assisting this body in an advisory capacity is the Academic Facilities Oversight Committee, which is statutorily mandated to do the following:

(a)(1) Oversee development and implementation of state statutory requirements with regard to providing constitutionally appropriate public school academic facilities and related equipment for all public schools in the State of Arkansas as necessary to provide an equal opportunity for an adequate education for all public school students in Arkansas;

(2) Appoint members of the Advisory Committee on Public School Academic Facilities established to assist the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation;

(3) Review and recommend policies and criteria for the repair, maintenance, renovation, remodeling, replacement, and construction of public school academic facilities;

(4) Oversee local and state expenditures related to providing constitutionally appropriate public school academic facilities and related equipment; ... and

(7) Use the opinions of the Supreme Court in the matter of Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31, 91 S.W.3d 472 (2002) and other legal precedent relevant to public school academic facilities.

(b)(3) When feasible, the Academic Facilities Oversight Committee shall propose plans, measures, and initiatives as recommendations for legislation or regulation.

In my opinion, subject to the oversight outlined above, school boards continue to operate within the bounds of the discretion referenced in my predecessor's 2001 opinion. A school-district board's ability to purchase property outside the district and to build facilities thereon remains subject to both this discretion, the exercise of which is monitored by applicable regulations. I am unaware of any blanket proscription issued by the Division or any other entity that would foreclose a school district from purchasing property and constructing a school in another district.

Assistant Attorney General Jack Druff prepared the foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve.

Sincerely,

DUSTIN McDANIEL
Attorney General

DM/JHD:cyh