District transfers revealed in report

Net losses, gains listed for schools

The Arkansas Department of Education released a report Friday showing the number and races of students who transferred to other school districts under the state's school-choice law for the 2013-14 school year.

But state education leaders questioned whether the simplicity of the report would provide enough information to determine if the current law is effective.

"It doesn't really get inside the black box of what's happening with the data," said Arkansas Board of Education member Jay Barth of Little Rock at a meeting Friday. "There are some pretty clear racial patterns -- mostly with some pretty disproportionate number of white students 'choosing out.' But not always. There are also African-American students moving between districts."

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A graph showing Arkansas School Choice Act Transfer details.

Lawmakers who support giving parents broad authority to transfer their children between school districts approved the 2013 act to repeal and replace a 1989 version of the school-choice law that the federal court had struck down in 2012.

The law allows students to transfer out of their home districts but limits the number to 3 percent of a district's enrollment and exempts districts with court-ordered desegregation responsibilities from participation.

Arkansas Code 6-18-1901 requires that the state Education Department collect data from schools on the number of student transfers and submit the report annually by Oct. 1 to determine the racial effect on a school district.

Board Vice Chairman Toyce Newton of Crossett questioned how the data from the report would specifically be used. Jeremy Lasiter, a state Education Department attorney, responded that the report would be used by legislators to "inform their decision making."

Arkansas Education Commissioner Tony Wood told the state board Friday that the report was "superficial," but the "original piece of legislation that gives us guidelines for doing this was specific."

"It really is just one data piece simply showing the movement by the district. It just reflects the number of children in those categories that have transferred," Wood said in an interview after the meeting.

The report shows that of the 218 districts that participated in the school-choice law, five lost or gained more than 100 students in the 2013-2014 school year.

The North Little Rock, Southside (Independence County) and Valley View school districts reported a net gain of more than 100 new students, while the Malvern and Pine Bluff districts reported a net loss of more than 100 students.

The North Little Rock School District reported the largest net gain in the state with 429 additional students transferring into the district. Of those students, 364 were white, 52 were black and 13 were other races.

Superintendent Kelly Rodgers attributed the influx of new students -- who he said transferred from all over central Arkansas including Cabot, Little Rock, Conway and Bryant -- to the district's aggressive advertising campaign as well as the district's new facilities, high test scores and strong athletic teams.

"The stars and moon have lined up well for North Little Rock. Our focus is on students, student achievement and making sure they are well prepared," Rodgers said.

Rodgers added that he expects the number of transfers to be much higher with the decision by the Little Rock School District this spring to participate in the transfer program for the 2014-15 school year, after having previously exempted itself from participation.

The Little Rock district, the state's largest system, changed its position on the transfers after a settlement in the long-running Pulaski County school-desegregation lawsuit.

The Malvern School District saw the sharpest loss of students who opted to transfer out of the district. According to the report, the district saw a net loss of 118 students. Of the number transferring out, 110 were white, one was black and seven were other races.

A telephone message left for district Superintendent Brian Golden for comment was not returned as of late Friday. Golden said in an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article last year that Malvern has a large number of private and home-school students who were included in the survey.

Wood told the board Friday that he wasn't sure how the data would affect the decisions of legislators in 2015, when the statute expires July 1.

"Without some action legislatively in January, Arkansas will have no choice [law] at all," Wood said.

He added after the meeting, however, that he is confident that legislators would not eliminate the school-choice law altogether.

A section on 08/16/2014

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