Corporal punishment in Arkansas schools is legal, but only when the local school district has chosen to allow it and has written specific procedures into its discipline policy. The governing law, Arkansas Code § 6-18-503, leaves the decision to each district and sets out safeguards every district that permits the practice must follow.1Justia. Arkansas Code 6-18-503 – Written Student Discipline Policies Required – Definition Some Arkansas districts allow paddling; others do not. Whether your child can be physically disciplined at school depends entirely on which district they attend.
Does Your District Allow It?
Arkansas does not require corporal punishment, and it does not forbid it. The state hands the choice to each local school board. A district that wants to permit physical discipline must build it into the written student discipline policy; a district that does not want to allow it simply leaves it out.
To find out where your district stands, read its discipline policy. Arkansas Code § 6-18-502 requires every district to notify parents and students of its discipline rules, including what behaviors can trigger discipline and what corrective measures the school may use. Districts must have a procedure for written notification and must document that families received the policies.2Justia. Arkansas Code 6-18-502 – Rules for Development of School Discipline Policies The policy is typically posted on the district’s website and included in the student handbook distributed at the start of the year.
If physical discipline is not mentioned in the policy, the district is not authorized to use it. Only “teachers” and “school administrators” as the statute defines them may deliver corporal punishment. That means someone holding a valid Arkansas teaching license, ancillary license, provisional license, technical permit, or administrator’s license, or an unlicensed classroom teacher or administrator working under a waiver.1Justia. Arkansas Code 6-18-503 – Written Student Discipline Policies Required – Definition A bus driver, cafeteria worker, or coach without one of those credentials cannot administer it.
Rules a District Must Follow
Section 6-18-503(b)(1) does not let individual teachers decide how and when to paddle. The district’s written policy must include every one of these conditions:
- The punishment responds to a specific act of misbehavior, not general attitude or ongoing frustration.
- The physical force used is reasonable in proportion to the situation.
- The student was warned before the fact that the behavior would not be tolerated.
- The person delivering the punishment is a teacher or school administrator as the statute defines those roles.
- A school administrator or the administrator’s designee is present as a witness. The designee must also be a teacher or school administrator employed by the district.
These are statutory floors. A district cannot modify or skip them.1Justia. Arkansas Code 6-18-503 – Written Student Discipline Policies Required – Definition The witness requirement tends to be the one that matters most in practice. If a teacher paddles a child alone in a room with no qualified adult present, the teacher has violated the statute regardless of how measured the force was.
Students Who Cannot Be Paddled
Some children are off-limits even in districts that permit corporal punishment. Section 6-18-503(b)(3) prohibits physical discipline of a student who is intellectually disabled, nonambulatory, nonverbal, or autistic. The protection runs further than the act itself: districts are also barred from writing any policy provision that would authorize corporal punishment on children in those categories.3Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Student Discipline Policies and Handbooks
If your child falls into one of these categories, no public school in Arkansas can legally paddle them, and no district policy can override that.
Opting Your Child Out
Many districts that allow corporal punishment also allow parents to opt their child out. Arkansas Department of Education guidance has indicated that parents may choose whether their child receives it, and districts that permit the practice typically include an opt-out form in the annual discipline packet.
If you want to opt out, do it in writing to the school district, and keep a copy. Once the school has your request on file, it must use alternative disciplinary measures for your child. If you cannot find an opt-out form, send a dated letter to the principal and the superintendent stating that you do not consent to corporal punishment for your child, and ask the office to confirm receipt in writing.
When School Discipline Crosses Into Abuse
Following the district’s policy is not the only legal limit. Arkansas Code § 12-18-103 defines certain acts as child abuse regardless of whether the person doing them is a parent, teacher, or any other caretaker, and regardless of what any discipline policy says.4Justia. Arkansas Code 12-18-103 – Definitions
Several acts count as abuse whenever they are done intentionally and cause physical injury:
- Striking a child with a closed fist
- Striking a child on the face or head
- Throwing, kicking, burning, biting, or cutting a child
- Shaking a child
A more serious category applies no matter whether the child shows a physical injury:
- Striking a child six or younger on the face or head
- Shaking a child three or younger
- Interfering with a child’s breathing
- Pinching, biting, or striking a child in the genital area
- Restraining a child by tying them to an object or binding their limbs
The abuse definition applies to anyone responsible for a child’s care, which the law defines broadly to include school employees along with parents, guardians, foster parents, and childcare workers.5Justia. Arkansas Code 9-27-303 – Definitions So if a teacher strikes a student on the face, that act meets the statutory definition of abuse even if the district’s discipline policy permits paddling in general. A policy cannot authorize what state law classifies as abuse.
What to Do If You Think the Line Was Crossed
If you believe a school employee has disciplined your child in a way that violated the statute or crossed into abuse, two tracks run at once.
First, the reporting track. Under Arkansas Code § 12-18-402, every full-time and part-time public and private school employee is a mandatory reporter of suspected child maltreatment, including teachers, counselors, coaches, and administrators. Mandatory reporters must contact the Arkansas Child Abuse Hotline immediately, and an employer cannot require them to get permission first or route the concern through a supervisor.6Justia. Arkansas Code 12-18-402 – Mandated Reporters As a parent, you can call the hotline yourself. If another teacher witnessed what happened, that teacher is independently obligated to report, not just to inform the principal.
Second, the policy track. Request a copy of the district’s written discipline policy and compare what happened against the five statutory requirements: specific misbehavior, reasonable force, prior warning, qualified administrator, and an adult witness. If any element is missing, the employee acted outside the statute. Document what your child reported, any marks or injuries, and the names of anyone present. That record matters whether you pursue a complaint through the school board, through the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, or through a civil attorney.
Private Schools Are Treated Differently
Section 6-18-503 and its procedural safeguards apply to public school districts. Arkansas does not impose a parallel statutory scheme on private schools, so a private school’s own handbook largely governs how it handles physical discipline. That does not put private schools outside the child protection laws. The abuse definition in § 12-18-103 covers agents and employees of private schools, meaning a private school teacher who crosses into statutory abuse faces the same consequences as anyone else.4Justia. Arkansas Code 12-18-103 – Definitions Private school employees are also on the mandatory reporter list.6Justia. Arkansas Code 12-18-402 – Mandated Reporters