Many parents in Arkansas, if dissatisfied with local public schools, have the option of putting their children in another district.
But school choice isn't an option in 18 districts involved in desegregation cases, including the Blytheville School District, where the debate goes on even after the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in that district's favor in August. The suit was filed by parents who wanted to transfer their children out of Blytheville's poorly performing public schools to better ones in neighboring communities.
But the town's school choice advocates triumphed in mid-September, narrowly unseating an incumbent school board member in an election that saw higher-than-normal turnout.
The new school board member, Erin Langston Carrington, defeated businesswoman Lori Hixon, 213 to 211.
School choice was a major issue in the election. Carrington favors allowing transfers; Hixon opposed them.
The middle school and high school in this city of 15,120 both have been classified by the state as "academically distressed," a category shared by only 20 other schools statewide.
The Public School Choice Act of 2015, passed by the Arkansas Legislature earlier this year, allows parents to send their children to schools outside the district where they reside. But there's an exemption for districts that are "subject to the desegregation order or mandate of a federal court or agency remedying the effects of past racial segregation."
Blytheville Superintendent Richard Atwill says he's not opposed to letting parents pick their children's schools, but that the law has tied his hands.
"We don't have a choice," Atwill said in an interview Tuesday. "We're in a minefield between federal judges and crazy state laws."
When it comes to school choice, "we want it, too, but we're legally bound. ... We don't have a choice," he said.
Most of the state's 234 districts allow school choice.
But 18 districts, including Blytheville, say they cannot legally participate, citing "active desegregation orders or active court-approved desegregation plans," according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
They include Pulaski County Special School District, which has been involved in an ongoing desegregation lawsuit since 1982.
And seven Garland County school districts are currently answering to a federal judge: Hot Springs, Fountain Lake, Jessieville, Lakeside, Mountain Pine, Lake Hamilton and Cutter Morning Star.
Other districts claiming that the school choice law conflicts with their desegregation obligations include Forrest City, Camden Fairview, El Dorado, Hope, Junction City, Lafayette County, Brinkley, Dollarway and Texarkana.
In some of these districts, there hasn't been active court oversight for years -- or ever. A few say they can't allow school choice because of promises they made to the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare -- an agency that no longer exists in that form -- in the 1970s.
Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, a Little Rock Republican, says districts shouldn't be able to side-step school choice so easily.
The lieutenant governor, who backed school choice when he was in the U.S. House, traveled to Blytheville on Friday and met with roughly 25 people to talk about education; he promised to lobby for legislation that would make it harder for districts like Blytheville to opt out.
"If a school does not want to participate or doesn't believe it can participate, then I would put the onus on that district to demonstrate with specificity where the federal order conflicts with the state law," Griffin said in an interview this week.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson shares that assessment. "I concur that the current law needs to be strengthened with specifics and higher standards before a school can claim exemption," Hutchinson said in an email. The Arkansas Department of Education "is encouraging a closer review of the assertion of the school districts that opt out because of a 40-year-old decree."
Blytheville schools operate under a 1971 federal court ruling that resulted from a lawsuit brought by parents of minority children.
In the district, 78.7 percent of the students are black. Seventy-nine percent are classified as low income. Twelve percent are eligible to receive special education.
In middle school, only 49.4 percent of students score proficient or better in math and literacy. By high school, only 42.7 percent can achieve proficiency.
In that city, advocates say school choice isn't only an educational issue.
"I think it is important for economic development," said Clif Chitwood, the Mississippi County economic developer.
The city, just south of Missouri state line and slightly west of the Tennessee state line, has a lot to offer newcomers, Chitwood says.
Steel plants are drawing people to that corner of Arkansas.
"Blytheville is the largest community in Mississippi County. It does have the most amenities, restaurants and a movie theater, a very nice public golf course and a great new baseball field," Chitwood said.
The low test scores scare off some newcomers. "When people are moving into a new place, they make their decisions largely based upon the school scores, which they can find on the internet," he said. "They won't put their children in what they perceive as a less-than-optimal environment."
The Greater Blytheville Area Chamber of Commerce also backs school choice.
"It's important to us from a growth perspective," said the group's executive director, Liz Smith. She says her organization supports the area's public schools. But when school choice isn't available, "it's one more obstacle that we do not need in our way for growth," she added.
The Legislature passed school choice legislation in 2013 after Arkansas' previous school choice law was struck down by the courts.
Under the 2013 legislation, Blytheville had the option to either allow school choice or prevent it.
Hixon, who lost her seat on the school board last month, voted then to prevent out-of-district transfers.
She says she feared there'd be a substantial exodus if parents were free to move their children. "If we'd chosen to be a part of school choice, they were lined up to leave the district," Hixon said.
After the board's vote, a group of parents challenged the decision, taking their case -- twice -- to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The federal judges sided with the district both times.
This year, state Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, sponsored the act that amended the 2013 law.
The 2013 law allowed school boards in districts under desegregation orders to opt out of school choice. The intention of the 2015 law was to require those districts to submit proof of those court orders.
"It was supposed to fix the problem ... with the schools that claimed they have a desegregation order and don't have one," Clark said.
Hixon, the former Blytheville school board member, is married to the high school's golf coach and athletic director. She said she made her decision because she thought it was best for Blytheville. "I understand economic development. I own a business on Main Street. ... I want our town to progress as much as any other but I don't think school choice alone is going to make it happen."
She sees school choice activists' work as counterproductive. "If they spent their time, their energy, their effort on the school we've got right here, there's no telling what we could do," she said.
Although Blytheville is a holdout, school choice is available in a lot more communities today than it was prior to passage of new school choice laws.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, a former state senator who led the effort to pass the 2013 law, says the state Education Board has heard appeals from many frustrated parents who can't transfer their kids because school districts are blocking the move.
Currently, the board doesn't have the power to second-guess a district when it presents evidence that it is operating under a desegregation plan or order that's been approved by a federal judge or a federal agency.
The 2015 law has "created some quirks that probably do need to be looked at in the next legislative session," Key said.
One option would be to require school districts to show that school option isn't an option. "If they can't clearly establish that they have a valid order that our school choice law would invalidate, then I'd like to see the default be that they allow choice."
Some school choice supporters would like to see legislation passed prior to the 2017 regular session.
Hutchinson hasn't set a time line. "This is an important issue, and we will keep all options open as to when it will be addressed," he said. "Parents should have the ability to choose where their children get an education."
Cynthia Howell of the Democrat-Gazette contributed to this report.
NW News on 10/08/2015