Little Rock - The annual meeting of the Arkansas Activities Association governing body was held on Monday, July 27 at the Statehouse Convention Center in downtown Little Rock.

The member schools of the association gathered to voted on 13 proposals submitted from activity districts and the AAA Board of Directors. Any new rule change or edit must be voted on by the member schools of the AAA. The AAA staff, nor the Board of Directors, can make any change without the governing body voting to approve.

Proposal 1 - Intradistrict Participation

Any 7th or 8th grade student at the discretion of the administration, shall be eligible to attend any class, academic program, or participate in any extracurricular activity or program offered by another school in the district or system (at the same level of competition), if the school in which the student attends does not offer the same or similar class, academic program, or extracurricular activity or program.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 83-13

Proposal 2 - Years of Eligibility
A student may be eligible for only one calendar year in grade 7 and for only one calendar year in grade 8, beginning with the student's initial enrollment in each grade. Any student attending a AAA member school who repeats 7th or 8th grade shall not be eligible until they have reached the next higher grade. Upon entering the 9th grade for the first time, a student may be eligible for interscholastic competition for four consecutive calendar years.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 268-4

Proposal 3 - Dead Weeks
Summer Dead Period: All AAA member schools will observe an annual mandatory two-week athletic dead period running the week prior to July 4th and the week of July 4th. During this time, coaches (licensed teacher coaches and registered volunteers) shall be prohibited from engaging in any type of activity involving student-athletes, whether it be practice, training, weight lifting, competition, or travel. Further, school athletic facilities will be closed to everyone during this period. Schools that have the only baseball, softball fields, and track in the community may allow the community to use the school fields and track during the dead period, as long as no school teams are playing and no school coaches are coaching the teams.

Christmas Dead Period: All AAA member schools will observe a 3-consecutive-day athletic dead period during Christmas Break. Member schools shall select 3 consecutive days from December 23 – 27 to observe the 3-day Christmas dead period. During this time, licensed teacher coaches and registered volunteers shall be prohibited from engaging in any type of activity involving student-athletes, whether it is practice, training, weightlifting, competition, or travel. Further, school athletic facilities will be closed to everyone during this period.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 271-1

Proposal 4 - JV Volleyball Event Limitations
Senior high varsity teams may play 30 regular season matches and JV 20. All matches played other than district, region, or state tournament matches count towards the match limit. Junior high varsity teams shall be limited to 20 matches and two invitational tournaments or 18 matches and three invitational tournaments. Middle schools are limited to 18 matches.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 172-3

Proposal 5 - Volleyball Season Limitations
One benefit event for the AAA Catastrophe Insurance Fund may be played between varsity teams only during weeks #6 through #16. Week 7, volleyball events begin.
Requires 2/3 vote
Result: Pass 170-3

Proposal 6 - AAA Handbook Rewrite - Bylaws
The purpose of modernizing the handbook is to: align with current laws/rules; clean up outdated language; protect against litigation; capture original intent; simplify; clarify; provide consistency; reflect actual practice; make the handbook more user-friendly; and allow for more precise referencing and structure.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 271-1

Proposal 7 - AAA Handbook Rewrite - Constitution
The purpose of modernizing the handbook is to: align with current laws/rules; clean up outdated language; protect against litigation; capture original intent; simplify; clarify; provide consistency; reflect actual practice; make the handbook more user-friendly; and allow for more precise referencing and structure.
Requires 2/3 vote
Result: Pass 268-1

Proposal 8 - Ejection Policy - Fighting Penalty
If ejected for fighting for the first time - the next two comparable events or 8 consecutive football quarters.  If ejected for fighting for the second time - the next four comparable events or 16 consecutive football quarters. This would double the previous penalty.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 236-39

Proposal 9 - Ejection Policy - Seniors
Seniors who are ejected for fighting in their last event of a sport will serve their ejection penalty in the next sport participated in during the school year.
Requires majority vote
Result: Pass 254-7

Proposal 10 - Competitive Equity - Football Public Schools
In the sport of football, schools with a winning percentage of 20%  or less in three of the last four years in conference play will be given the OPTION to play down one classification. To remain in this lower classification, schools must have had a winning percentage lower than 30% in either year of the two-year block and cannot have won a state playoff game.
Requires 2/3 vote
Result: Fail 58-117

Proposal 11 - Act 91 Participation
In Compliance with Act 91 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003 – ATTENDING CLASSES AND PROGRAMS NOT OFFERED BY AN ASSIGNED SCHOOL - Any student who is enrolled in a public school in a school district that is administratively consolidated by Act 60 of the Second Extraordinary Session of 2003 may, at the discretion of the local school board, be eligible to attend any class or academic program or participate in any extracurricular activity or program offered by another school in the administratively consolidated district, if the public school to which the student is assigned does not offer the same or similar class, academic program, or extracurricular activity or program. This allowance for participation under Act 91 shall continue pursuant to Act 919 of the 2025 Regular Session - Formation of an Isolated District - thereby permitting students of a newly separated school district to continue participation with the previously administratively consolidated school district, so long as all other eligibility requirements are met.
Requires majority vote
Result: Fail 72-194

Proposal 12 - 6A Other Sports Conferences
6A - In classifications or sports where conferences have an uneven number of member schools, the number of qualifying teams advancing to state tournaments shall be determined by maintaining an equitable percentage of total conference participants advancing to postseason play. Would impact the 6A conference certification procedure in the team sports of baseball, basketball, soccer, softball, and volleyball.
Requires 2/3 vote
Result: Fail 7-10

Proposal 13 - Competitive Equity Football Point Totals

Each non-public FB program that was adjusted by more than one classification due to application of the competitive equity adjustment would move down one classification for the 2027, 2028 and 2029 classification years unless the non-public FB program earned an appearance in the 2026 state playoff semi-finals. All other non-public FB programs will remain where they are assigned in the 2026 classification year for 2027 and then be reclassified per enrollment and competitive equity for the 2028 and 2029 classification years.