An amended bill requiring more transparency from the state when taking over a school district passed a House panel Thursday after being presented for a second time.
House Bill 1605, sponsored by Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, would make school documents related to any third-party entities the state contracts releasable under the state's Freedom of Information Act.
"The intent [of HB1605] is not to address educational policy in any way…it's to provide the local community the same transparency when a school is taken over by state as when it is under local control," Tucker said.
The bill would require the state education commissioner within 10 days of a state takeover to provide reasons for the takeover and the steps needed for the district return to local control to the chairs of the House and Senate education committees, as well as each legislative member who represents the area where the taken over school is located.
The bill also states that within 10 days of entering into a contract with a third-party entity for services related to a state-controlled district, the commissioner will have to provide the identity of the third party, the financial terms of the agreement, scope of the work and related documents to those same legislators.
Erica Ivy, a Little Rock School District teacher, said she supported the bill.
"If we can work together with the board of education and discuss any moves that are going to made in terms of policy or what the community can do to help our kids [during a state takeover], that's the most important thing and we have to be transparent," Ivy said.
No one spoke against the bill.
HB1605 passed on a roll-call vote with republican Reps. Gary Deffenbaugh, Jon Eubanks and Mark Lowery voting against.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
