House rejects school takeover transparency bill

Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, presents House Bill 1605, which failed in the state House of Representatives on Friday.
Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, presents House Bill 1605, which failed in the state House of Representatives on Friday.

A bill that would require transparency of private contracts when a school district has been taken over by the state failed Friday in the Arkansas House.

House Bill 1605, sponsored by Rep. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, failed on a 38-32 vote.

The bill would make school documents related to any third-party entities with which the state contracts releasable under the state's Freedom of Information Act.

Tucker said the bill would make only those private entities' documents related to the school takeover available to the public since those same documents at the Arkansas Department of Education related to school district operations are public.

"There is no education policy in the bill; all it says is if your district is being managed by the state, your community has the right to know what's happening with your school district," Tucker said. "This provides clarity for the public about the information that they have a right to know about."

The bill would require the state to alert the chairmen of the House and Senate education committees and each representative lawmaker when a supervised school district enters a contract with a third party.

No one spoke for or against the bill.

HB1605 passed the House Committee on Education on Thursday after failing once in that committee.

See Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full coverage.

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