(a) The Department of Education in consultation with the Attorney General shall hire consultants on the following basis:
(1) The consultants shall be qualified as experts in public school district desegregation;
(2) The purposes for employing the consultants are to determine whether and in what respects any of the three (3) Pulaski County school districts:
(A)
(i) Are unitary.
(ii) If a school district has been declared unitary or has been declared unitary in some respects, the consultants shall not examine the school district on those issues; and
(B) Have complied with their respective consent decrees; and
(3) The consultants shall understand and acknowledge in their work and research that their testimony in court may be required.
(b) The department shall not pay the consultant fees or expenses from moneys appropriated and available for the reimbursement of attorney's fees to the three (3) Pulaski County school districts under § 6-20-416.
(c)
(1) The department and the Attorney General also may hire consultants with expertise in the fields of auditing and forensic accounting to provide oversight and management of the three (3) Pulaski County school districts' finances with an emphasis on desegregation funding.
(2) The consultants hired by the department and the Attorney General shall have full authority to examine any documents and software and shall be allowed full access to any persons necessary to discharge the consultants' duties as directed by the department and the Attorney General.
(3) In addition to the authority otherwise granted to the State Board of Education and the department by law, the department may require a school district to modify, update, or change the school district's financial oversight or management policies, procedures, or practices in response to the recommendations of the consultants.
(4) A school district that fails to comply with the requirements of the department under this subsection shall be identified by the department as being in fiscal distress and subject to the applicable enforcement provisions as provided by law.
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