Committee adopts amendment to allow single-occupancy sleeping quarters on overnight school trips

The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday adopted an amendment to House Bill 1156 that clarifies students on school overnight trips may, when necessary, be provided single-occupancy sleeping quarters.

State Representative Mary Bentley, who presented the amendment on behalf of Senator Jimmy Hickey, said the change simply "provides for single occupancy sleeping quarters for a student on an overnight trip" and reflected requests from Arkansas superintendents. She told the committee the amendment makes clear a student "can share sleeping quarters with a member of the same [sex] if necessary, multiple members, or it's provided a single occupancy sleeping quarters." Bentley said local school leaders told her the accommodation keeps students safer.

Opponents and public witnesses pressed the committee on whether the policy would harm transgender students. Senator Ledding cited a national study he described as a Harvard report suggesting such policies increase risk of sexual assault for transgender students and asked how the sponsor would respond. Bentley replied that her superintendents had told her the change made students safer and cited parents' texts and district experiences, including an account she summarized of a student who assaulted classmates.

Public witnesses included Jessica (Jess) Disney of Conway, who said the bill "seeks to take away the right for transgender students to use the bathroom in accordance to their gender identity" and cited a 2018 University of California, Los Angeles School of Law review and Trevor Project research showing transgender youth face higher rates of depression and suicidality. Sarah Everett, policy director at ACLU of Arkansas, told the committee many schools lack sufficient single-stall facilities and argued the bill would not address reported assaults in locker rooms; Everett also cited federal appeals court rulings finding similar policies discriminatory under Title IX.

A trans, nonbinary student who identified as Kaye M. O'Connell described being targeted in bathrooms and said relying on a single nurse-office stall is impractical and stigmatizing. Several speakers raised concerns about district funding and whether additional single-occupancy facilities would actually be built.

After discussion the committee voted to adopt the amendment; the clerk recorded that the "ayes have it." The sponsor thanked the panel and closed by saying the amendment was a clarifying, safety-focused change requested by district leaders.

What happens next: The amendment was adopted in committee; any further floor action will follow the Senate’s schedule.