Arkansas Department of Education; Johnny Key

Summary

The court held that the circuit court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over the parents' Administrative Procedure Act claim because it challenged allegedly missing district-specific criteria rather than a rule of general applicability. It also held that the parents failed to plead facts showing that the State Board acted illegally or ultra vires by imposing limitations on the reconstituted school board, so sovereign immunity barred those claims. The court allowed the statutory unconstitutional-delegation claim to proceed past the sovereign-immunity stage and remanded for further proceedings on that claim.