The move to carve a new Jacksonville/North Pulaski school system out of an existing larger district is being watched by civic leaders from elsewhere who think they would like to do something similar.
Jacksonville and north Pulaski County residents will decide Tuesday whether to approve the proposed detachment of the area with the Jacksonville city limits and sections north and southeast of the city from the existing Pulaski County Special School District.
Early voting, which started last week, continues from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at one site only, the Pulaski County Regional Building at 501 W. Markham St. in Little Rock. On Tuesday, regular polling places will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for registered voters who live within the area proposed for the new district. Voters must show government-issued photo identification to cast ballots in the election.
Voters living elsewhere in the Pulaski County Special School District, including Maumelle and Sherwood, are ineligible to vote on the proposed detachment, according to state law, but that doesn't mean they aren't watching with interest and even cheering on Jacksonville.
"I'm thrilled for Jacksonville," said Maumelle Alderman Preston Lewis, who is spearheading a push for a Maumelle school system that would be separate from the Pulaski County Special district. "It's a wonderful thing for their community, and I think most of Maumelle is very happy for them."
Beverly Williams, co-chairman of the Sherwood Public Education Foundation, said Jacksonville "is breaking the mold," and her foundation supports that city's efforts to gain local control of its schools.
Her organization is pushing ahead with its planning for a Sherwood district. But Sherwood and Maumelle planners are held back at least in part by a Jan. 13 federal court-approved agreement in the 31-year-old Pulaski County school desegregation case. That agreement permits only a Jacksonville district to be formed until the Pulaski County Special School District is declared unitary and released from federal court supervision of its desegregation efforts.
"We're telling our patrons that we are going to continue meeting and continue our endeavors as long as it is their desire," Williams said about Sherwood's efforts. "We're definitely going forward," she said, adding that city and foundation leaders recently met with state gubernatorial candidates to share the foundation's recently completed feasibility study on a new district and to gauge their support for a Sherwood detachment.
The Arkansas Board of Education in March ordered the Jacksonville election in response to a petition signed by more than 2,000 people. If approved by voters -- and organizers are confident of a victory -- the state Education Board will issue an order later this year forming the new district.
The new district would operate under the auspices of the Pulaski County Special district for at least the 2014-15 and possibly the 2015-16 school years. During that time, an interim, state-appointed school board and an interim superintendent or superintendent-designee for the new district would work with Pulaski County Special district leaders to apportion property, equipment, debt and personnel to the new district.
Decisions on those matters have been largely set aside in the short term.
"We've all been focused on the election and getting a successful vote," Daniel Gray, chairman of the Education Corps for a Jacksonville/North Pulaski school district, said last week.
The campaign went into high gear, using phone banks to call potential voters and distributing cards about the possible new district at the Jacksonville and North Pulaski County high school home games. The Education Corps reported to the Arkansas Ethics Commission that it had raised $7,227 and received an additional $22,500 in services from the Markham Group public relations firm that was paid for by the Jacksonville Education Foundation.
The efforts appear to be paying off.
"Everybody seems to be pretty excited," Gray said, describing the long line of voters on the first day of early voting at the Jacksonville Community Center.
By midafternoon Friday, a total of 958 people had cast early votes at the Jacksonville Community Center.
Organizers have said in the campaign that a new district would give Jacksonville-area residents a locally elected school board to make decisions on the curriculum in the area schools and on improvements to the area's school buildings. The proposed district would consist of about 100 square miles carved out of the Pulaski County Special district's 729 square miles.
The new district would take in 12 campuses, 10 of which are in use, including Jacksonville and North Pulaski high schools. The proposed district would serve about 4,000 students out of what are now about 17,300 Pulaski County Special district students.
The new district's millage rate would be 40.7 mills, the same as in the Pulaski County Special district. The millage rate is on the ballot, and voters are asked to vote for or against it, but even if a majority of voters reject it, it will stay the same.
The planners for a new district and Pulaski County Special district leaders have said the detachment will benefit the new district and the remaining Pulaski County Special district. The existing district would be relieved of upgrading the Jacksonville-area campuses.
The new district would likely be eligible for a significant amount of state funding for constructing and renovating schools, under existing state law for school construction. The Pulaski County Special district, a relatively wealthy school system based on local property values, is ineligible to receive that state Partnership Program school construction money.
"The potential for our district would be 55 to 60 percent state participation," Gray said.
"Cabot has a lot of brand-new, pretty facilities, and they get state partnership funds for up to 60 percent of that," he said. "I'm not picking on them. I'm just saying that is one of our neighbor cities, and we want to be able to participate to that magnitude, as well. That would be one of the first orders of business for a new district to make sure we make those requests and get that through the commission and Legislature. We want to make sure we don't miss any deadlines."
While Maumelle and Sherwood have looked to Jacksonville as a model for establishing a new district, Jacksonville has admired the Cabot School District as an attractive, flourishing district.
Cabot Superintendent Tony Thurmond last week applauded the Jacksonville initiative and downplayed any uptick in competition that might develop between neighboring systems.
"A detriment to Cabot? Not at all," Thurmond said. "We all need to support each other. The better everyone does, the better public education looks, and that is when kids win, and that is what is most important. Public schools shouldn't compete with each other but help each other and encourage each other."
Metro on 09/14/2014