5 things to know about the LRSD takeover

Jim Ross, Little Rock School District board member, holds up a graphic of test scores as he speaks to a full house during a forum meeting to discuss the possible takeover of the LRSD by the state Board of Education. The forum was held at the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center. Sam Ledbetter (facing, right) state Board of Education chairman, was also present.
Jim Ross, Little Rock School District board member, holds up a graphic of test scores as he speaks to a full house during a forum meeting to discuss the possible takeover of the LRSD by the state Board of Education. The forum was held at the Willie Hinton Neighborhood Resource Center. Sam Ledbetter (facing, right) state Board of Education chairman, was also present.

After years of trouble, the Little Rock School District is now under state control. But what does “state control” mean?

Here are five things to know about the state takeover and others like it in the nation.

1) The Arkansas Board of Education voted 5-4 to take over the Little Rock School District at a special meeting Jan. 28. The takeover removed the locally elected school board members but kept Superintendent Dexter Suggs on an interim basis. A civic advisory committee comprised of business and community leaders, parents and students will be created. Suggs, who joined the district in March 2013, will report to the Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Tony Wood.

2) Six schools in the Little Rock School District are under academic distress: Baseline Elementary School, Cloverdale Middle School, Henderson Middle School, Hall High School, J.A. Fair Systems Magnet High School and McClellan Magnet High School. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were more than 4,500 students total in these schools in the 2012-13 school year, with an 80 percent black, 14 percent Hispanic and 4 percent white student body.

3) Schools are academically distressed when 49.5 percent or less of students score proficient or advanced on standardized tests in math and literacy over the most recent three-year period, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Of the six schools, Baseline Elementary had the highest ranking at 48.251 percent and Hall High had the lowest at 40.642 percent.

4) Arkansas isn’t alone when it comes to states taking over school districts. Tennessee will take over several Shelby County schools this year, including those in Memphis. At least five of the schools will be handed over to charter school operators, which will be allowed to change the schools’ names, staff and disciplinary procedures, and determine their own curricula. New York, Indiana, California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have all taken over urban school districts due to low performance in recent years.

In Arkansas, the Pulaski County Special School District has been operating under state control due to financial problems since 2011. It has a state-appointed superintendent and no elected school board. The state also controls the Helena-West Helena School District, according to the Democrat-Gazette.

5) A state takeover does not guarantee improvement. When New Jersey took over Newark schools in 1995, the district still struggled, with students flunking standardized tests far higher than the national average. Similar takeovers such as in Emery, California, and Roosevelt, New York, have also produced mixed results. The Roosevelt School District, which was taken over in 2002, required an $8 million bailout in 2008, according to The Atlantic.

However, remaining in local hands does not guarantee failure. Memphis has seen positive results with local reforms that created its Innovation Zone schools, which have outperformed the state-run schools so far. With some under-performing schools being closed altogether, many students will be moving to I-Zone schools. Tennessee also did not take over the entire school district. Instead, it took over only the troubled schools, according to Chalkbeat Tennessee.

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