Pulaski County Special School District board vote backs pupil transfers

The School Board for the Pulaski County Special School District on Tuesday affirmed its decision from months ago to open up its borders for the first time in 2018-19 to interdistrict student transfers under the state's School Choice Act.

As a result of the board's 7-0 vote to break with past practice, students residing in the Pulaski County Special district can apply to attend school in another district if the desired school has room. Conversely, students living outside the district can apply to transfer into the Pulaski County Special system schools that have adequate capacity for them.

The district is at risk of losing up to 3 percent or 360 of its 12,000-student body and the accompanying state aid for those students, an amount of up to $2.4 million, interim Superintendent Janice Warren said in a short presentation. On the other hand, the district could mitigate any losses by drawing in transfer students.

"Our goal is to attract," board President Linda Remele said after board member Mike Kemp made the motion at the board's regular monthly business meeting to participate in the state's interdistrict transfer program.

Remele has previously noted that the district is converting its four high schools into schools of innovation that will feature a mix of traditional and online learning and flexible scheduling. Additionally, the district will be opening two new school buildings -- Mills High and Robinson Middle -- and expanding Sylvan Hills High.

Aaron Winger, a father of two school-aged children living in the district, welcomed the vote that removes a roadblock to the possibility of his oldest son attending Little Rock Central High next year for its slate of gifted program and Advanced Placement courses.

"I'm very happy to see the work they are putting into improving the schools here," Winger said. "I just don't think a lot of it is going to be done in time for them to really be able to compete academically on an equal footing with Central High in the time frame we need for our older son.

"But our younger son is in PCSSD schools right now," he added. "We are hoping by the time he is getting ready to go to high school, there will be a much tougher choice to make. If Robinson High is able to bring that game, as it were, I'd much rather have my kid go to school two minutes away rather than 30 minutes away," he said.

The Pulaski County Special district is among 15 of the state's districts in this 2017-18 school year to claim an exemption from participating in the School Choice Act transfers for reasons related to federal school desegregation cases.

The 15 districts, which include El Dorado, Camden-Fairview, Hot Springs and Jacksonville/North Pulaski, must notify the state by Jan. 1 of their intentions for the coming 2018-19 school year under what has become a stricter state law on exemptions.

The Pulaski County Special district has claimed the exemption up to now because of a 2014 settlement agreement in a 35-year-old federal school desegregation lawsuit. As part of that, the state and district agreed that the district would comply with a 2013 version of the School Choice Act, the terms of which allowed districts operating under federal court desegregation orders or court-approved school desegregation plans to be exempt from the student transfers.

As recently as August 2016, a federal judge presiding in the Pulaski County school desegregation lawsuit said the 2014 settlement agreement "obligates the state Board of Education to honor exemptions from the School Choice Act claimed by the Pulaski County Special School District and the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District through the 2018-19 school year."

Leaders of the Jacksonville district said earlier this month that the 4,000-student system will claim the exemption for another year. The seven districts in Garland County -- including Hot Springs -- also will claim exemptions to the School Choice Act as it is now written. Those districts are obligated by federal school desegregation orders to comply with the School Choice Act as it was written in 1989.

The School Board for the Pulaski County district voted in March against participating in School Choice Act transfers in the current school year but also said then that it would reverse that position for 2018-19, a decision affirmed by Tuesday's vote.

The Pulaski County Special district joins the Little Rock and North Little Rock districts in Pulaski County in permitting interdistrict student transfers under the state law.

Gary Newton, executive director of the Arkansas Learns organization that advocates for parents to have choice in selecting schools for their children, was delighted with the Pulaski County Special board's vote.

"It signals a new day not only for that district but for Pulaski County in general since all three of the original school districts will participate in choice. It sets a vivid example for Jacksonville, because Jacksonville is the progeny of the Pulaski County Special district."

Newton has argued that while the state can't tell the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district -- which was carved out of the Pulaski Special District and began operating independently in 2016 -- to allow interdistrict transfers, the district can choose to do so on its own.

"The good news is that the three biggies in Pulaski County get it, and students and families and the economies of their areas will be the beneficiaries," Newton said.

In districts that participate in the School Choice Act transfers, parents submit an application for their child to transfer to the nonresident school system on a state-approved form. That form must be postmarked by May 1 for the following fall semester. The nonresident district, which is responsible for notifying the home district of the transfer request, must determine whether any limitations apply -- such as space availability.

The law does not require a school district to add teachers, staff members or classrooms or exceed state standards in any way to accommodate a transfer student. A district can claim a lack of capacity as a reason to disapprove a transfer application -- but only if the desired school has reached 90 percent of its maximum capacity.

The nonresident district must notify the applicant family by July 1 if the transfer application is accepted.

Act 1066 passed by lawmakers earlier this year set the Jan. 1 date for claiming a conflict between the state law with an enforceable desegregation court order or desegregation plan.

The act -- a revision of school-choice laws passed in 1989, 2013 and 2015 -- calls for districts to submit proof that an active desegregation order or desegregation plan "explicitly limits the transfer of students between school districts."

"Within 30 calendar days of receipt of proof, the department shall notify the school district whether it is required to participate in the school choice provisions of this sub-chapter," the new language in the law states.

"The department may reject incomplete submissions," it also says. "If the department does not provide a written exemption to the school district, then the school district shall be required to participate in the school choice provisions."

The state Board of Education may review an Education Department decision on a school-choice law exemption -- if petitioned to do so by a school district. The state board can affirm or reverse the decision of the department, the law says.

While the Pulaski County Special district has not participated in the School Choice Act, it has allowed what are known as "legal transfers" of students, which require School Board approval by both the home district and the receiving district and are considered by school boards on a case-by-case basis.

Warren, the interim superintendent, told the board that 26 students have exited the Pulaski County district this year at a cost of about $175,000, but the district gained 12 students, generating some $80,000 in state aid.

According to data compiled by the Arkansas Department of Education, 14,125 students statewide have exercised some form of school-choice opportunities in the current 2017-18 school year, which is an increase from 13,656 the previous year.

The North Little Rock district is reported as having 248 students exercising choice options, while the Little Rock district is reported as having 21 students exercising school-choice opportunities.

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