HOT SPRINGS - Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Ross and Republican candidate Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday that they’ve consistently opposed creating vouchers for private schools, while GOP candidates Curtis Coleman and Debra Hobbs said they favor them.
The four responded to questions on several education-related topics at the Arkansas Public School Resource Center’s fall conference at the Hot Springs Convention Center.
Ross said he agrees with Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe that last year’s state Supreme Court ruling that prevents the state Department of Education from redistributing property tax revenue from school districts with unusually high property tax revenue was wrong, but the three Republican candidates said they agreed with the court’s 4-3 ruling.
The four candidates said they hope Democratic Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is able to successfully negotiate an end to the federal school desegregation lawsuit in Pulaski County.
Ross of Little Rock said he favors public school choice and charter schools, and he’s voted against private school vouchers for 22 years in the state Senate and Congress, and he’ll continue to oppose them as the state’s governor.
“Too many times people are choosing private school over public school because of problems that they perceive within the public school,” he said. “We are not going to make those problems any better by taking money out of the public schools. For those that want to send their kids to private school, they are more than free to do that; just don’t expect to take public school money with you.”
Hutchinson of Rogers, a former 3rd District congressman, said he’s a strong advocate for public schools and charter schools, and he has consistently opposed vouchers that would send public education dollars to the private sector.
“I have not seen a model that works in Arkansas, and so we’ll see whether any of that can make sense at some unknown point in the future, But I have not supported that in my public career,” he said.
Coleman of Little Rock, a businessman, said he believes that the best education happens when parents are allowed to choose where their children attend school and choose what their children are taught, and the money is allowed to follow the student to the school of the parents’ choice.
“I think we need to back the state off the back of our public schools,” he said. “Let public school do what we asked them to, educate our children with a lot less interference from the state and federal government.”
Hobbs of Rogers, a state representative, said she supports private school vouchers after her son, who has Down syndrome, attended the Academy at Riverdale, a private school for students with special needs, and he gained more academically in his first week there than he did in his last few years of high school.
But many families, particularly with children with special needs, can’t afford to send their children to private schools, she said. The private schools receiving vouchers should meet certain standards and be accountable, she said.
In a 4-3 ruling a year ago, the state Supreme Court ruled that the state can’t take property tax revenue from school districts with unusually high property tax revenue to redistribute to other school districts. That prompted Beebe and McDaniel to warn that it could lead to the unraveling of the school funding system.
Every school district in the state is required by the constitution to levy a property tax of at least 25 mills. The money is sent to the state and returned to the schools.
Most districts receive additional money from the state to achieve “equal foundation funding” - $6,393 per pupil in 2013-14. It’s the single biggest source of funds for Arkansas schools.
But the Armorel, Eureka Springs, Fountain Lake, Mineral Springs, Nemo Vista, South Side, Quitman and West Side school districts collect more than the minimum amount.
In last month’s special legislative session, a bill that would allow the state Department of Education to redistribute several million dollars of millage funds from these districts that have much higher than average property tax revenue failed to clear the House Education Committee.
Ross said there are parts of Arkansas that have “a huge tax base,” and there are parts that don’t have a huge tax base, “but we are all in this together.
“We want to make sure that we are spending the same amount of money on every child in the state whether they live in Benton County or Chicot County, and the legislative intent was the first 25 mills go to the state,” he said.
“I think the Supreme Court was wrong, and I think it needs to be fixed,” he said.
Hutchinson said he supports the state Supreme Court’s ruling.
“It is the law that we have in Arkansas, and so I don’t think the legislative grab to take that money from the small local school district is appropriate or consistent with the Supreme Court decision,” he said.
Asked about what parameters should be placed on a settlement of the Pulaski County desegregation lawsuit, Ross said the “settlement should include no future lawsuits or civil actions on this. It should put an end to it once and for all.
“It will free up millions of dollars over time of state money that can then be equally and fairly distributed to all of our public schools in Arkansas,” he said.
Hutchinson praised McDaniel for initiating and pushing the settlement negotiations.
Hobbs said the settlement “is about 20-something years overdue.”
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 11/14/2013