In just two years, 57 of Arkansas' more than 230 school districts acquired the same waivers of state rules and laws awarded to charter schools and schools of innovation.
But they did so quickly and without all the planning or scrutiny typically given charter and innovation schools.
Members of the Arkansas Board of Education and the state Department of Education staff on Friday discussed the different ways school districts and charter organizations can get waivers of laws and rules as a way to be innovative in their operations and delivery of instruction.
Board members took no immediate action, but they voiced concerns about the process authorized by Act 1240 of 2015, which enables traditional school districts to obtain the same waivers given to any open-enrollment charter school that has admitted at least one student living in the traditional district.
"I do see some follow-up with this," said Education Board Chairman Mireya Reith of Fayetteville. "I do see us talking about this at our next work session" in February. "What can be presented to the governor's office? What can be presented in regard to schools of innovation or Act 1240? Let's start delving into the different pieces."
The Act 1240 waivers are not subject to the level of review by the Department of Education staff and the Education Board that is necessary for charter-school and school-of-innovation proposals. Additionally, the Education Department and the Education Board don't have a means to reverse or even monitor the Act 1240 waivers once they are granted.
"There's not enough there in terms of rationale, in terms of good questions to ask and in terms of control," Education Board member Jay Barth of Little Rock said about the requirements for the Act 1240 waivers.
If the state law had been eased for opening a district-operated conversion charter school, Act 1240 waivers could have been prevented, he said.
Stacy Smith, the Education Department's assistant commissioner for learning services, said it takes 12 to 18 months to receive approval for charter schools as first permitted by a 1999 law, or for schools of innovation, which were authorized by law in 2013.
Open-enrollment and conversion charter schools are subject to approval by the state Board of Education. Schools of innovation are subject to approval by the Arkansas education commissioner.
The laws specify that the charter and innovation schools must promote innovation and creativity to improve learning for students, Smith said.
"We're talking about transformation and innovation, which are not quickly done," Smith said. "Both of these require some type of collaboration and input."
The sponsoring district or organization for charter and innovation schools must submit letters of intent, participate in planning workshops, prepare detailed applications, and submit the applications for review and feedback by Education Department staff. There are also steps requiring notice in area newspapers; the hosting of community forums; and, in some cases, a show of support from councils made up of staff, members parents and students at an affected school.
Both kinds of schools are approved for a set number of years and have to be periodically renewed to continue. They are also subject to state review and revocation at any time if there are problems.
In contrast, the Act 1240 waivers can be enacted in four to six weeks, and while school districts have voluntarily set time limits for the waivers, the law allows a waiver to stand as long the open-enrollment charter school on which the waiver is based remains in operation.
The districts do have to submit a rationale for their proposed waivers to the Education Board, but there is only a legal review of the proposed waiver by the Education Department staff.
The most popular Act 1240 waivers allow flexible scheduling for student course work and hiring of teachers who do not hold state licensure. Thirty-four of the districts have been granted waivers to allow flexible course scheduling, and 27 have waivers that allow the hiring of teachers who do not have state teacher licenses. Only six have waivers of curriculum requirements.
The state has 28 district conversion charter schools. Twenty-six of those have waivers of teacher licensure requirements, 22 have waivers of class size and teacher load maximums, 20 have waivers allowing flexible course schedules, and 19 have waivers on curriculum requirements.
Of the 26 schools of innovation that have been approved to date, 20 have waivers allowing flexible scheduling, seven have teacher licensure waivers and 15 have waivers on curriculum requirements, according to Education Department data.
Mary Perry, the Education Department's coordinator for learning services, acknowledged that Act 1240 waivers can be the easiest, quickest route for changes in a school or district, and said it isn't her role to steer school districts away from the legal option.
"I can't hide the eight-ball from the public and not be transparent about those things, even though we might like to know more about [the waiver plan], how they are really going to use it and is it really what they need. There's a fine line on how much it is appropriate for me to quiz them on," Perry said.
Education Commissioner Johnny Key said legislators have been critical of the Education Board for being "too deliberative" in acting on waivers and it "should be giving them what they are asking for."
Key said the sponsors of the act intended to provide a level playing field between charter schools and traditional schools.
"But in essence, it's not," Key told board members. "Because whether it's a school of innovation, a conversion charter or an open-enrollment charter, there is a lot of planning that goes into the justification for the waivers they request from you all or from the department."
In regard to Act 1240, "there is no planning and there is no requirement for determining what the needs are and how the waivers are going to meet the needs," Key added.
"This is something I wanted you all to talk about and then we can take this to the governor's office and to the legislative chairs and legislators and say, 'Look, if we really want to talk about a level playing field, maybe we need to get into the foundational requirements that districts are asking waivers from -- the seat time requirements and instructional hours.' Those things that are in our legislative package are a start."
More waivers are being requested, he said.
Barth asked whether it would be possible to speed up the process for approving a conversion charter school plan as a way to attract more districts to that process rather than to Act 1240 waivers.
That would generate complaints of unfair treatment from open-enrollment charter schools, Key said.
Key also said that some school districts are unwilling to accept or renew conversion charter schools because of the negative connotation that charter schools have in some communities in the state. The schools of innovation allow schools and districts to do something different without the charter label, he said.
"We don't want to shut the door to changing opportunities for students," Key said. "That's what it is all about."
A Section on 01/14/2017