The Arkansas Board of Education at a special meeting Tuesday granted appeals made by six families who were earlier denied in their efforts to send their children to schools in districts in which they don't reside.
The Education Board voted 4-3 to deny the appeal of a seventh family.
At the appeal hearings, parents sought transfers to the Bentonville, Quitman, Glen Rose, Bismarck and Wynne districts from the Gravette, Pea Ridge, Guy-Perkins, Malvern and Forrest City districts.
The transfer appeals come at a time when the number of school-choice transfers is climbing. The Arkansas Department of Education reported that there were 4,693 first-time school-choice transfers in the 2018-19 school year among the state's 478,318 public school students, compared with 4,310 first-time school-choice transfers the year before and 3,643 in 2016-17. There were a total of 15,152 students exercising school choice to traditional public schools in 2018-19, according to the Education Department's website.
Arkansas law permits families to apply for and receive interdistrict school transfers for their children -- subject to some restrictions.
Transfers can be denied, for example, if they would cause a district to violate a federal court-ordered racial desegregation plan or order.
They also can be denied if the enrollment rate in the desired district, grade or program is at 90% or more of its student capacity or if additional staff members must be hired to serve transfer students. Additionally, transfer applications can be denied once the percentage of student transfers from a district reaches a net 3% annual cap.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-18-1901 through 1908 also allows a family that has been denied a transfer by either the resident or receiving district to appeal to the state Education Board to reverse that rejection.
THE FAMILIES
The Education Board granted appeals by two families to attend Bentonville School District schools despite Tanya Sharp, the district's executive director of student services, saying that the desired elementary and middle school grades in Bentonville are more than 90% full, though the high school grades have available space.
The Brandon family, who live in the Gravette School District and are building a house in Decatur, appealed to have their three children go to the Bentonville system where they had attended in the past -- based on property they own in the district but on which they did not reside.
The Puck family, who had lived within the Bentonville district, sought to continue to send their two children to Bentonville schools despite the family's move to the Pea Ridge School District to help aging family members with their business operations.
Education Board Chairman Diane Zook of Melbourne told attendees that the board's unanimous vote for those transfers were not meant as endorsements of one district over another.
"I want to be sure that the audience understands that we as a board are not choosing between districts," she said. "All of these districts offer good, solid educational opportunities for the children they serve. It's just circumstances alter cases, and that is why we are hearing these particular appeals."
Three of the families seeking interdistrict transfers were from the Malvern School District. Two of those families -- the Fites and Pences -- have children in the Bismarck School District and want them to continue to attend those schools. The third Malvern family sought and received approval to send three children to the Glen Rose School District, where they had lived before a move prompted by a family member's health.
The two families approved for the Bismarck district had believed that they lived within the school system until they learned otherwise when a new family moved into the rural area. That new family was told by school officials that they lived in the Malvern district rather than Bismarck, which raised questions about the school assignments for their neighbors.
Malvern district leaders had denied the transfer requests for the district residents because the net percentage of students transferring out of Malvern had reached the 3% cap. Student transfers are granted on a first come, first served basis until the percentage of students exiting a system equals 3% of the district's enrollment. That cap is about 60 in Malvern.
Chad Pekron of Bryant, the Education Board's newest member, questioned at different points in Tuesday's meeting the reasons for the relatively high student-exit percentages from districts and whether the Arkansas Department of Education staff investigates such districts to determine their need for additional support and resources.
Pekron represents parents in the Lafayette County and Junction City school districts in south Arkansas who are supporting a state challenge in federal appeals court to a January district court ruling that prevents student transfers in and out of those two districts because of their desegregation obligations.
Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key said the 3% cap is not a trigger for a state agency investigation or support, but he added that if districts want state help, they can ask for it.
"To my knowledge, that hasn't occurred in any of the 3% cases," Key said.
Also on Tuesday, the state Education Board approved an assignment to the Wynne district for a 9-year-old who lives with his siblings and grandmother in the Forrest City district. The decision came despite the objections of a Wynne district representative who said the child will require the district to employ an aide to help the child compensate for emotional and behavioral disabilities. The child's siblings already attend the Wynne district.
Representatives for the boy's family argued to the Education Board that the need for a full-time aide was speculative and not part of the student's special education plan.
Education Board member Charisse Dean of Little Rock made the motion to allow the transfer, noting that the siblings already attend the Wynne district and the lack of timely evaluation of the student's support needs.
"I don't see any reason not to grant the transfer," she said.
APPEAL DENIAL
The board denied an appeal for a transfer by the Harris family from the Guy-Perkins School District to the Quitman School District. Emily Harris, a third-grade teacher in the Guy-Perkins system, said that her two school-aged children were not getting what they need in terms of academics, school safety and activities, including sports, in their current district. She noted that the district had had four superintendents in as little as five years.
"Guy's great but not right for our girls," she said.
The tiny Guy-Perkins district, with an enrollment of under 350, had denied the transfer because it had previously reached the exit cap of 3% -- about 10 students.
Board member Ouida Newton of Poyen expressed concerns about sports being a reason for an interdistrict transfer. Board member Kathy McFetridge of Springdale said she had confidence in the district's current superintendent.
Newton, McFetridge, Dean and Brett Williamson of El Dorado voted against granting the appeal. Those favoring the appeal were Pekron, Sarah Moore of Stuttgart, and Fitz Hill of Little Rock.
The Education Board's agenda included four additional appeals, but Education Department attorney Jennifer Dedman said those disputes were resolved before Tuesday's meeting, allowing students to make school district transfers. Two of those were from the Edwards and Fooster families who live in the Pine Bluff School District, which is classified as a district in Level 5 intensive support. The two others concerned the Howard and Martin families who live in Malvern.
Metro on 07/31/2019