Panel forming to guide district-charter collaboration

The Arkansas Board of Education laid the groundwork Thursday to begin building collaboration between the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts and area charter schools.

The group voted 5-3 to move forward with Education Board member Jay Barth's proposal to form a five- to seven-member stakeholder group that will guide the effort. The goal is to get a set of "data-informed recommendations" on how traditional public school districts can not only co-exist but collaborate with local competing open-enrollment charter schools.

"We need to be more thoughtful on how we, as an agency, evaluate charter schools," Barth, of Little Rock, said. "It seems that we also need to be thoughtful about when new charters are created that there is a real sense of how they fit with other traditional public education. And this can hopefully become something of a model -- how we might do this in other communities around the state that are very different."

The proposal arose out of a specially called March 31 board meeting at which the group heard from opponents of the LISA Academy and eStem Public Charter Schools Inc. expansions. Together, the two charter school systems are adding four more campuses with 3,000 seats all within the Little Rock district, which is currently under state control because of six low-performing schools.

Those opposing the expansions, including Little Rock's state-appointed Superintendent Baker Kurrus, had called upon the board to hold off on the expansions and instead put into place a long-term plan for all public education in central Arkansas.

While the board approved the two expansions, it also said it would take a look at a strategic plan for education south of the river in Pulaski County, also proposed by Barth. From there, the Hendrix College professor worked alongside state Department of Education staff, particularly legal counsel Kendra Clay, to draft Thursday's proposal.

The plan calls for the formation of a group selected by Education Commissioner Johnny Key and the chairman of the Education Board. The two will take recommendations from the charter leaders, superintendents, city officials and members of the General Assembly in south Pulaski County.

The formation of the stakeholder group would create a little distance between the planning process and the Education Department staff who, Barth said, already have a heavy workload and established roles in regard to the district and charter schools. Key, as commissioner, serves in lieu of a school board in the state-controlled Little Rock district. Top-level Education Department staff make up the Charter Authorizing Panel that evaluates and acts on applications to open and expand charter schools.

The stakeholder group would identify questions that need to be answered with a plan and select an entity to assist with the planning, be it a private consultant or a nonprofit agency.

Barth had listed a few questions in his proposal to start the research, including how every student can have access to a school that is achieving and how the schools can be most cost-effective in delivering education.

Education Board member Vicki Saviers of Little Rock said the proposal was a great way to forge ahead. Many cities across the country face the same situation, she said.

"This is happening, and for us to act like it's not happening, I think, would be a huge mistake," she said, referring to the growing number of charter schools within the district. "There is a positive way forward in a way that we can all be proud of, and it'll focus on giving a good seat for every child."

Education Board members Diane Zook of Melbourne, Brett Williamson of El Dorado and Charisse Dean of Little Rock voted against the measure. Williamson said the proposal was "really overreaching."

"I had to draw a diagram to do what your plan is here, and I still haven't figured it out," Williamson said. "I think the commissioner and his staff have enough intelligence and wherewithal to figure this stuff out."

For Zook, the point of contention was the "south of the river" focus. She said she wanted to include all Pulaski County officials, including North Little Rock School District leaders and the six senators representing those school districts.

Barth said an Education Board subcommittee studying school district lines in Pulaski County had determined that one traditional public school district south of the river was the "ultimate district." That spirit was the guide for the south-of-the-river focus, he said.

"This is my thought of how we begin in a more tangible way ... to take responsibility for that takeover and what we want accomplished in that takeover," Barth said, referring to the Little Rock district. "We don't want it just to be a takeover. We've caused a lot of angst, caused a lot of folks to do a lot of hard work and then we end up in the same spot."

Education Board member Mireya Reith of Fayetteville said the proposal wasn't excluding stakeholders from the conversation. It was more about a "specific obligation" to that area because of the Little Rock district takeover, she said, adding that the March meeting showed her the community was still just as polarized a year after that.

"I think we had a chance here to learn from it," she said. "And I think this is one of those ways we can really demonstrate to all stakeholders in the communities that we are intent on doing things differently, learning from our lessons, offering something more tangible that is about bringing everyone together for every child and so that every school is a school that is serving all of our children."

The Education Board on Thursday did not have a timeline for identifying the stakeholder group. The proposal left a projected timeline in the hands of Education Department and the planning entity, which would provide quarterly reports to the board.

Information for this article was contributed by Cynthia Howell of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Metro on 04/15/2016