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School Districts Should Compete for Students, Not Trap Them

On Thursday (February 27th), the Little Rock School Board heard its attorney recommend that, with the recently approved Desegregation Settlement Agreement, the district had “no legal basis” to exempt from the Public School Choice Act of 2013. The board then voted unanimously to accept its administration and attorney’s recommendation to fully participate in choice for the 2014-15 school year.

The North Little Rock School District, which was subject to similar court orders as Little Rock, chose not to exempt from choice in 2013-14. Little Rock’s decision now leaves the state-appointed superintendent of the state-controlled Pulaski County Special School District isolated in the county in denying students the opportunity to attend the public schools which best suit their needs, even though PCSSD has been declared unitary by the District Court in regard to student assignment.

Act 1227 of 2013, sponsored by Senator Johnny Key, repealed the Public School Choice Act of 1989 and incorporated a new system of public school choice in Arkansas. Act 1227 of 2013 went into effect April 16, 2013.

Excluding Little Rock, 22 of 239 school districts in Arkansas exempted from choice for the 2013-14 school year. The act provides for exemption on the following basis:

6-18-1906. Limitations. (a) If the provisions of this subchapter conflict with a provision of an enforceable desegregation court order or a district’s court-approved desegregation plan regarding the effects of past racial segregation in student assignment, the provisions of the order or plan shall govern. (b)(1) A school district annually may declare an exemption under this section if the school district is subject to the desegregation order or mandate of a federal court or agency remedying the effects of past racial segregation.

(2) (A) An exemption declared by a board of directors under this subsection is irrevocable for one (1) year from the date the school district notifies the Department of Education of the declaration of exemption. (B) After each year of exemption, the board of directors may elect to participate in public school choice under this section if the school district’s participation does not conflict with the school district’s federal court-ordered desegregation program.

(3) A school district shall notify the department by April 1 if in the next school year the school district intends to: (A) Declare an exemption under this section; or (B) Resume participation after a period of exemption.

The question becomes: If Little Rock, which has essentially been under federal court supervision for over 50 years, has “no legal basis” to exempt, who does? Here are the districts which claimed an exemption, linked to their respective justifications, however thin, along with their rank among 251 districts and charters in Math and Literacy:

Some startling observations regarding the small minority of districts exempting from choice:

  • Nine of 22 exempting from choice have 15 Needs Improvement Priority Schools (lowest performing 42 schools Arkansas)
  • Nine of 22 exempting from choice have 18 Needs Improvement Focus Schools (next lowest performing 89 schools in Arkansas)
  • Eleven of 22 exempting from choice have 33 Needs Improvement Priority or Focus Schools (lowest 131 schools in Arkansas)
  • Seven of seven public school districts in Garland County exempt from choice (30% of total)
  • Seven of 22 exempting from choice are among 22 lowest performing districts in Arkansas
  • Two of five districts in Fiscal Distress and State Takeover exempt from choice

At the Little Rock School Board meeting, Zone 5 Member Jody Carreiro was outraged that the Pulaski County Special School District would deny its students the opportunity to enroll in Little Rock’s magnet schools. However late to the party, Mr. Carreiro is not alone. It is inexplicable to most why the Arkansas Department of Education would allow any of its appointed superintendents running state-controlled districts to unilaterally exempt from a law duly passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.

To demonstrate the absurdity of PCSSD’s continued exemption, consider:

  • Its attorneys and state-appointed superintendent unsuccessfully fought a charter initiated by Little Rock School District parents who had no secondary schools, while denying their students entry to PCSSD schools closest to their homes.
  • Its attorneys and state-appointed superintendent unsuccessfully fought renewal of Academics Plus Charter School on the basis of demographics, even though the school’s minority population exceeds that of the City of Maumelle where it is located. Then in the next breath, they admitted that with the new Desegregation Settlement, PCSSD’s Maumelle High School’s demographics will soon reflect its community. Without school choice, PCSSD is denying African-Americans and other minorities the opportunity to attend its majority white schools.
  • Speaking of the Desegregation Settlement, even thought the Attorney General said he wanted no conditions, and the LRSD and NLRSD wanted open choice, PCSSD’s state-appointed superintendent inexplicably got them to agree to only 30 legal transfers among the districts a year, capped at 150 over five years.
  • The state-appointed superintendent also wrested a condition in the Agreement that would force the State to oppose any new Districts, save the proposed Jacksonville/North Pulaski, being created from the current PCSSD (e.g. Sherwood, Maumelle).
  • The state-appointed superintendent’s previous district, Camden Fairview, also exempts from choice.

The deadline for districts to declare an exemption for the 2014-15 school year is April 1st. Parents in affected districts should insist that their respective boards compete for their students, instead of trapping them. To give voice to parents in exempting districts, please take, share the… Arkansas Learns School Choice Poll.

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