(a)

(1) To enhance the public's access to public school performance indicators and to better measure the benefits of the increasing public investment in Arkansas's schools, the General Assembly finds that a Division of Public School Accountability of the Department of Education should be established under the direct operational control of the Commissioner of Education.

(2) The foremost obligation of the division shall be to administer all monitoring and compliance activities dealing with academic and fiscal accountability for each school or school district and to report academic progress.

(b) There is created the Division of Public School Accountability of the Department of Education.

(c) The division shall be under the supervision of the commissioner.

(d) (1) (A) The commissioner shall select an individual to serve as the assistant commissioner of the division, and the assistant commissioner shall serve at the pleasure of the commissioner.

(B) The commissioner may reassign as necessary appropriate staff for the division sufficient to fulfill all obligations for monitoring and reporting in the division.

(2) The person selected as the assistant commissioner shall:

(A) Be a person of good moral character and qualified technically and by experience to direct the work of the division;

(B) Hold a master's degree or a higher level degree from an accredited institution; and

(C) Have ten (10) years of experience in an administrative, supervisory, or management position.

(3) No person who is related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity to any member of the State Board of Education or to the commissioner shall be eligible to serve as the assistant commissioner.

(e) With guidance and approval from the commissioner, the assistant commissioner shall be responsible for hiring all employees of the division.

(f) The division shall have the following responsibilities:

(1) To monitor schools for compliance with:

(A) State and federal regulations;

(B) Legislative acts and court-ordered mandates;

(C) All standards of learning and accreditation as established by the state board; and

(D) All rules and regulations as established by the state board;

(2) To coordinate the analysis, dissemination, and reporting of all state-mandated assessment information;

(3) To coordinate the implementation and administration of:

(A) Longitudinal tracking and trend data collection as established by the state board for the purposes of improving student and school performance, ensuring mastery of the curriculum, and providing comparisons between students within Arkansas and with students in other states;

(B) Value-added assessments as established by the state board; and

(C) The annual school performance reports as established by the state board;

(4) To administer all monitoring and compliance activities dealing with academic and fiscal accountability as established by the state board; and

(5) To work with program approval and licensure sections of the Department of Education, the Department of Higher Education, the Department of Career Education, and the individual colleges to provide information that will contribute to reasonable, equitable, and excellent preparation of licensed personnel in public and private institutions of higher education.

(g)

(1) The division shall provide annual reports of school performance or compliance to the Joint Interim Oversight Committee on Education Reform, the House Committee on Education, and the Senate Committee on Education.

(2) A preliminary report shall be provided by January 1 of each year, and a follow-up report that includes information regarding on-site visits shall be filed by June 1 of each year.