Monday is the final day to cast an early vote in the annual school elections in the Little Rock and North Little Rock school districts in a year in which the polling places will not be open in those districts on school election day Tuesday.
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The school elections in Little Rock and North Little Rock are being conducted only through early and absentee voting, which is permitted by state law when there is no proposed change to a school district's property tax rate and no contested school board races. The school election in the Pulaski County Special School District will take place Nov. 8. The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District held a millage election in February and will not have another election this year.
In most Arkansas school districts, elections for school board members and on existing or changing property tax rates will be Tuesday.
Bryan Poe, director of elections in Pulaski County, has said this year's school election season in Pulaski County is distinctive from those in the past.
"It is kind of unusual because this is the first time in my recollection that we are going to have no voting on election day for the school election," Poe said. "The only way to vote in this election is early voting or absentee. There will be no election day polling locations open. If you want to vote in person, there is just one place to do it -- and that is at our office."
Early voting for both districts will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday at the Pulaski County Regional Building, 501 W. Markham St. in Little Rock.
Early voting started Tuesday. In the four days of early voting last week, a total of 40 people had voted in the two districts as of the close of business Friday.
In the Little Rock School District, the only item on the ballot is the district's current tax rate of 46.4 mills. There is no proposed change in the rate but, regardless, the Arkansas Constitution requires school tax rates to be on the ballot annually. The Little Rock district has been operating under state control since January 2015 and has no elected school board.
In North Little Rock, incumbent School Board member Dorothy "Dot" Williams is running unopposed for the Zone 1 seat on the board. Taniesha Richardson-Wiley is running unopposed for the North Little Rock district's Zone 4 seat on the board.
The district's current 48.3-mill property tax is also on the ballot, as required by the state constitution, even though there is no proposed change in the rate.
On Nov. 8, the Pulaski County Special School District is holding its School Board elections and a vote on its existing 40.7-mill property tax rate.
The Nov. 8 election is in conjunction with the state and national general election.
Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key ordered the Nov. 8 election for the district, which is exiting the state's fiscal distress program this year and will elect a School Board for the first time since September 2010. The state took control of the district for fiscal distress the following June and immediately dismissed both the superintendent and the local school board.
On Feb. 16, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District held a special election on a 7.6-mill tax increase. That election -- in which the tax was approved -- meets the district's obligation to have an annual vote on the school tax rate for the year. The district's tax rate is 48.3 mills.
All seven of the School Board members in the new Jacksonville district were elected in September 2015. Board members subsequently drew lots for lengths of School Board terms, and two of the seven seats will be open for election in September 2017.
Both candidates running unopposed for the North Little Rock School Board currently serve on the board.
Williams, a retired North Little Rock School District teacher and administrator, has been on the board since her appointment in January 2006 to fill an unexpired term. She was elected to the board in September 2006, and was re-elected to three-year terms in 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Richardson-Wiley came on the scene earlier this year. She was selected by the board members from a pool of about a half-dozen applicants who sought to fill the board's Zone 4 vacancy created by the May 30 death of School Board member Ron Treat.
Richardson-Wiley, the mother of two young children, is a section chief at the Arkansas Department of Health where she has worked since 1999. She has a master's of public health in health policy and management from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a bachelor's in health education from the University of Central Arkansas.
North Little Rock School Board terms are for three years and are unpaid.
Millage rates have to be on the ballot at least once a year in every Arkansas school district, regardless of whether a district is seeking any change in its rate. That's required under Article 14, Section 3 of the Arkansas Constitution.
If a district is seeking no change in its tax rate, residents vote on the current tax rate. No matter how the vote turns out, the existing millage rate will remain at the current level.
Metro on 09/18/2016