The Returning Education to the States Waiver and Arkansas’s Vision

On July 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) granted the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) three related flexibilities: a Returning Education to the States Waiver, a revised ESEA State Plan, and the Ed-Flex Waiver. This was a broader unification effort to align funding, accountability, and assessment under a single, state-led system. The goal of these federal waivers is to reduce administrative burden to better align implementation with district priorities for student learning.

For an overview of the federal flexibilities, including the AFUA Pilot, Ed-Flex, and next steps for districts, review the Federal Flexibility Slide Deck and the Federal Waiver Flexibility Webinar .

Overview of the AFUA Pilot

Under the Returning Education to the States Waiver, ADE can expand funding flexibility, allowing more districts to direct their federal dollars where students need them most. Under the Alternative Fund Use Authority (AFUA), eligible districts can use their Title II-A and Title IV-A dollars for any allowable use under the Small, Rural School Achievement (SRSA) program, effectively turning two narrowly restricted funding streams into flexible dollars that districts can direct where they need them most, rather than planning for each funding stream.

Until now, only a limited set of small, rural districts qualified to use AFUA. The new Returning Education to the States Waiver expands eligibility to a broader group of districts and is approved as a four-year pilot covering the 2026-2027 through 2029-2030 school years for districts that meet the SRSA and/or RLIS eligibility requirement .

Participation in this pilot is optional for districts. For the 2026–2027 school year, districts will notify ADE-DESE of their intent to participate using the District Application for Federal Flexibility . For additional information on the AFUA pilot, review the District Guidance: Federal Flexibilities for 2026-2027 . For the 2027-2028 school year, ADE will embed the intent to participate as part of the AR App process.

Ed-Flex Overview

The Education Flexibility Partnership Act of 1999, reauthorized under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), allows the U.S. Secretary of Education to delegate “Ed-Flex” authority to state educational agencies. This authority allows ADE to waive certain federal requirements on behalf of districts in exchange for stronger accountability for student performance. Ed-Flex does not affect how much federal funding a district receives, only how it may be used and administered.

Determining Flexibilities

For the 2026-2027 school year, ADE will offer statewide flexibilities. These flexibilities are pre-approved by ADE for all districts, so no district-specific justification is needed to apply. For the 2027-2028 school year, ADE will also allow district-determined flexibilities as part of the AR App process. These are flexibilities a district identifies on its own and require a citation to the relevant statute, a rationale, a measurable goal, and ADE review for approval.

ADE's vision is for Ed-Flex to function as an extension of a district's existing strategic planning. Approached this way, each flexibility a district requests should connect to a strategy for improving student outcomes.

In practice, districts should determine flexibilities by working through the following steps:

1. Start with the goal. Identify the goal in the district's strategic plan that flexibility would support (for example, improving retention in high-poverty schools, or redirecting funds toward literacy interventions).
2. Identify the barrier. Determine what federal requirement — a spending restriction, a carryover limit, a documentation requirement — is currently standing in the way of that goal.
3. Check whether a statewide flexibility already solves it. Review the Approved Statewide Flexibilities table first to determine if an existing statewide flexibility addresses the barrier.

For additional information on Ed-Flex, review the District Guidance: Federal Flexibilities for 2026-2027 .