The 311-student Strong-Huttig School District in Union County on Thursday became the first district in the state to receive a reprieve from an Arkansas law requiring a minimum 350-student enrollment to exist.
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The Arkansas Board of Education voted unanimously for the waiver to the district, relying on Act 377 of 2015, which allows the board to relax the minimum requirement set by Act 60.
Act 60 was passed in a partial response to a state Supreme Court decision finding the state public education system was inadequate and inequitable and, as a result, unconstitutional. Act 60 has been responsible for dozens of school district consolidations.
The Education Board approved the waiver at a meeting in which it also approved waivers of some state laws and rules for the Hope and Kirby school districts.
The Strong-Huttig district -- a district formed by the Act 60 consolidation of the formerly separate Strong and Huttig districts in 2006 -- is projected to continue to lose enrollment in the coming years. The district's projected enrollment for 2021 is 244 and 224 in 2025-26.
Strong-Huttig Superintendent Jeff Alphin requested the 350-student minimum waiver, telling the Education Board that the district meets the necessary legal requirements.
He said the district has a strong record of graduates who have gone on to successful careers.
"Our small community wants to continue to contribute," Alphin said. "As long as the school district is viable, we want to keep it open," he also said, adding that the district leaders know that their "backs are up against the wall" and that they must work to improve student achievement as well as attract enrollment.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-13-1602 requires the state Department of Education to publish by Jan. 1 each year a list of the school districts in which the average enrollment fell below 350 in the two preceding school years. A related statute, 6-13-1603, requires school districts on that state list to be annexed to or consolidated with one or more other districts unless the school district has been granted a waiver -- the result of last year's Act 377.
To receive the waiver, district leaders must assure the Education Board that the school district is not in academic, financial or facility distress, nor is it on probation for violating state accreditation standards. Additionally, the district's school facilities must be "adequate."
Alphin told the board the district has bus rides of up to an hour for students and it would add 30 minutes to take the students to the nearby districts of El Dorado, Crossett or Hermitage.
Rep. John Baine, D-El Dorado, urged the Education Board to approve the waiver, noting that the 2015 act was approved unanimously by both the House and Senate because they wanted to provide for small districts and communities that are making good-faith efforts to educate students.
"The bottom line is that the Arkansas General Assembly believes broadband will be the great equalizer" between rural and urban schools, he said.