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History

The Corrections School System (CSS) was established by the Arkansas Legislature as an entity separate and distinct from the Arkansas Department of Corrections (ADC) and the Department of Community Corrections (DCC), with the Arkansas Board of Corrections serving as the Board of Education for the CSS. It is the policy of the Board that the CSS shall provide academic, as well as career and technology education, to eligible offenders incarcerated within the ADC & the (DCC). The authority to administer, organize, manage, and supervise the daily operations of CSS is delegated by Board of Education to the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), who may further delegate this authority to staff as appropriate. Reporting to the CAO are the Superintendent of Schools, and the Director of Vocational Schools.

In July, 2005 the Arkansas State Legislature combined the Arkansas Department of Correction School District and the Riverside Vocational-Technical School to create the Correctional School System. The School District then changed it's name to Arkansas Correctional School (ACS), and the Riverside Vocational Technical School’s (RVTS) kept its name.

In 1973 the General Assembly passed Act 279 which established a school district within the Arkansas Department of Correction (ADC). The purpose as stated in the act was to provide "elementary, secondary, and vocational technical education to all persons incarcerated in the Department of Correction facilities who are not high school graduates, irrespective of age..." The ADC Board served as the school board for the School District.

In March of 2006 the CSS was accredited by the National Correctional Education Association. The ACS and the RVTS met or exceeded all 67 standards with a score of 100 percent.