Arkansas school visitor management law
Arkansas requires all public and private schools to keep exterior doors closed and locked during school hours, except at transition times.
Every fact checked against the official source by an independent reviewer · Last verified October 26, 2026
What does the Arkansas law require?
All public and private schools and all educational institutions must keep all exterior doors closed and locked during school hours, except at transition times. The state education department's school safety rule repeats this for public school districts. The same rule says no one may at any time be kept from getting out of a building, in line with the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code. Act 787 of 2023, which added the locked-door rule, was approved on April 12, 2023.
Who is covered?
The locked-door law covers all public and private schools and all educational institutions. In the state school safety rule, "public school district" includes open-enrollment public charter schools.
What about entrances and access control?
Each public school district must carry out a comprehensive school safety assessment at least once every three years, covering the safety, security, accessibility and emergency preparedness of its buildings and grounds. The assessment must include site and exterior security and access control. Before a new public school facility is built, the district must have a school safety expert review and advise on the architectural plans. The state rule lists setting up systems that let schools communicate directly with local law enforcement. The accreditation standards require each public school and district to keep appropriate materials and expertise to reasonably ensure the safety of students, employees and visitors, without saying how.
How can schools pay for it?
Act 1010 of 2025 appropriates $50,000,000 for School Safety Grants for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026. Act 156 of the 2026 Fiscal Session, approved May 1, 2026, appropriates another $50,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2027. Under the state rule, the grants should be available to each public district, open-enrollment charter school and private school with at least 50 students. Eligible expenses include materials, equipment or services that meet the recommendations of the Arkansas School Safety Commission. Grant money is paid back to schools after they spend it on eligible expenses in that fiscal year.
How can QuickSecure help?
Visitors sign themselves in at an iPad kiosk in your front office by scanning their driver's license or state ID.
Each visitor gets a printed badge, and checks out by scanning the badge's code on the way out.
Visitors are checked against the sex-offender registry and your school's own block list before they're let in.
When a visitor needs a second look, front-office staff get an alert and approve or deny entry from their phones.
Only guardians and contacts your school has authorized can pick up a student. A one-time exception needs an administrator's approval, and it's logged.
Every visit is kept in a log your administrators can search.
This is not a statement that any product satisfies Arkansas's requirements; that reading belongs to your district and its counsel.