LITTLE ROCK — An attorney for the Little Rock School Board and School District on Monday asked a Pulaski County Circuit judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by residents seeking to halt a buyout of Superintendent Roy Brooks' contract using taxpayer funds.
The motion also asks that, if he does not dismiss the case, he instead render a summary judgment. A summary judgment is a decision made without going to trial used when no dispute existsabout the facts of the case.
The class-action suit, assigned to Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox, contends that the publicly funded buyout amounts to severance pay, which is not authorized by statute. It further argues that paying a public employee to not work violates the state constitution and amounts to an illegal exaction of taxpayer funds.
The suit follows the School Board's 4-3 vote on May 24 to exercise a clause in Brooks' contract that permits the board to unilaterally terminate the contract upon 90 days' notice to the superintendent and payment of all compensation that he would otherwise earn if he remained on the job for the remaining two years of the contract.
In a brief that accompanied the motion to dismiss, Morgan "Chip" Welch of the North Little Rock law firm Welch and Kitchens wrote that the case boiled down to a single issue, "Can a school board in Arkansas enter into a written contract with a school superintendent that includes any term other than'duration of employment, specific duties, and annual salary?'"
Welch went on to write that if the plaintiffs' claim succeeds, "School Boards could no longer do what the Little Rock School Board and school boards across the state have routinely done for decades - contract with school superintendents to provide them benefits such as severance pay, vacation days, health insurance, life insurance, car allowances, bonuses, stipends, retirement benefits, and professional liability coverage."
Arkansas, Pages 14 on 06/27/2007