Tuesday's election of a Little Rock School Board -- the first election in nearly six years -- heralds the impending return of the state-controlled district to conditional local governance.
The election is also the first for a nine-member Little Rock board, the 19 candidates for which are coming from newly reconfigured election zones.
And it is the first Little Rock School Board election to be held in conjunction with a general election -- a high-profile November presidential election, no less.
Gary Newton, chief executive officer of the Arkansas Learns school choice advocacy organization, said last week that he anticipates 50,000 to 75,000 voters in this election.
The voter numbers ensure "that the district and its leadership will finally be reflective of the entire community," he said.
"We are the organization responsible for getting school board elections moved from the obscure, employee-dominated third Tuesday in September to when people actually vote -- the primary or general elections and their off-year equivalents," Newton added. "As a result ... the district will return to exponentially more 'local control' than when it left."
Candidates for the the Little Rock board seats have raised upward of $140,000, according to preelection Campaign Contribution and Expenditure Reports posted on the Pulaski County clerk's office website.
Ali Noland, a candidate for the board's Zone 5 seat, reported the largest total contributions of $46,545 in her race with Stuart Mackey, who reported the second highest amount of $20,502.
As of Friday, 13 of the candidates in six contested elections had filed the preelection reports that were due Tuesday. Candidates who receive $500 or less or are unopposed are not legally required to file preelection contribution reports.
Final campaign contribution and expenditure reports are due after the election and after any runoff election if one is necessary in the Zone 3 or Zone 6 race.
Noland, 39, an attorney, and Mackey, 55, a commercial real estate agent, are running for election from a north-central part of the city that encompasses the Pulaski Heights and Hillcrest neighborhoods.
"I am thrilled that so many people care enough about the future of our public schools that they're willing to personally contribute to my campaign and spend their time volunteering," said Noland who also received $672.50 of in-kind donations. "It means that Little Rock is much more engaged in what's happening with our school district than ever before."
Noland said she had more than 400 individual donors. She also had two donations from two groups, one of which she said she returned upon learning that the Little Rock Education Association did not have a state-registered political action committee, which is legally necessary for an organization to contribute to a candidate.
Newton this past week filed four complaints to the Arkansas Ethics Commission about the Little Rock Education Association contributions to as many as four candidates.
Teresa Knapp Gordon, president of the employee union, said Friday that the association's committee "is now approved and registered.
"All candidates returned the original checks and we will re-issue them now that we are registered again," Gordon said.
Of his more than $20,00o in contributions, Mackey reported two donations of $2,000 or more -- one of $2,000 from himself and one of $2,500 from Ronald Cameron, chief executive officer of Mountaire Corp. Virtually all of the donations Mackey reported were of $500 or less, and many of those from fellow real estate professionals.
"The support and respect I have received from across the district is humbling," Mackey said. "I am excited about challenging our kids, empowering our teachers and involving our community in delivering a quality education for all our children. The chance to be part of an election, to provide a choice in this race, has been a great honor and I look forward to working to make LRSD a stronger school district."
In Little Rock's northwest Zone 9 where Jeff Wood and Kieng Vang-Dings are vying for a board seat, Vang-Dings reported contributions through Oct. 24 of $6,113.05 plus a $352 loan to herself. The contributions were in various amounts of up to $500 with Tim Jackson, Vang-Dings' campaign chairman/treasurer, providing the $500.
Included in her contributors was $300 from PAWPAC.
Wood, who operates his own law firm and Pinnacle Licensing Solutions, has raised total contributions of $19,351, he said in his pre-election campaign contribution report.
Wood's donors include Newton; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who previously worked for President Donald Trump before returning to live in her home state; former Arkansas Board of Education Chairman Diane Zook; philanthropist Lisenne Rockefeller; Dillards Inc. Senior Vice President Bill Dillard III; Mountaire Corp. Chief Executive Officer Ronald Cameron; and Wood's fellow Community Advisory Board members LaShannon Spencer and Melanie Fox.
Additionally, Wood received donations from Scott Copas, an executive at Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. and Pulaski County Special School District Board member Brian Maune. Wood's contributions from political action committees included $2,800 from each of Arkansas Learns, Progress Political Action Committee and HuckPAC. Others were ARPAC, and J-PAC.
Zone 8
In the contest between Greg Adams and Benjamin Coleman Jr. to represent a north-central section of the district that includes the Sturbridge and Leawood neighborhoods, Adams reported contributions of $18,115 through Oct. 24 to Coleman's $7,785.
Adams, 58, is program coordinator for the Center for Good Mourning and Staff Bereavement Support at Arkansas Children's Hospital. A former Little Rock School Board member in 2010- 2015, Adams is making his third run for the School Board but the first with an opponent.
Adams' largest donations came from the Progress Political Action Committee, Lisenne Rockefeller, Nan Ellen East, and ARPAC, which is a Little Rock Realtors organization.
Coleman, 41, a real estate professional, lists $ 1,590 in loans to himself, in addition to the donations of others.
Zone 3
The fundraising in other zones hasn't been quite as large.
In the four-person race for Zone 3 seat, Tommy Branch Jr. reported a $26,129 deficit between the money he has received and his expenditures.
Branch, adult development director for Friendship Community Care, reported total monetary contributions of $8,900 and expenditures of $35,029.
His contributors include Arkansas Learns, which donated $2,900, according to the report on file. Some of the other donors to Branch were Lisenne Rockefeller, Gene and Linda Pfeifer, Ronald Cameron, and Marion Humphrey.
Branch reported spending $35,029 as of Oct. 1 with McLarty Consulting LLC of Little Rock for direct mail, management service, radio buy/production and text messaging.
In addition to the financial deficit, Branch has another issue -- a pending driving-while-intoxicated charge for which he has a plea and arraignment date of Dec. 2 in Little Rock district court.
Arkansas State Police records show that Branch was stopped at 3:39 a.m., Sept. 20 at Interstates 30-East and Interstate 430. A breath sample resulted in a test result of 0.18%.
Zone 3 candidate Monica Wiley, 50, an administrative specialist at the Arkansas Department of Health, listed four contributions totaling $250 through Oct. 16, and advertising-related expenditures of $938.57, creating a deficit of almost $689.
Evelyn Hemphill Callaway, 69, a retired, Little Rock district teacher, listed itemized contributions of $1,050, which excludes $1,000 from the Little Rock Education Association that she said she was returning.
Michael Sanders, 47, community resource manager for Little Rock's Department of Community Programs, did not have campaign contribution reports posted on the Pulaski County clerk's website.
Zone 6
Vicki Hatter, 42, who works for a fleet management firm, initially reported $2,550 in contributions but said at midweek she was returning $1,000 of that to the Little Rock Education Association.
The contribution report for Chris Kingsby, 20, a part-time college student, is stamped as received by the clerk's office on Sept. 15 and lists no contributions.
Candidate FranSha' Anderson, 54, chief executive officer of the Arkansas State Independent Living Council and adjunct professor at Webster University, showed donations of $8,800 and two loans to herself that total $1,200. Her largest contributions were from Arkansas Learns, $2,800; Ronald Cameron, $2,500 and Lisenne Rockefeller, $1,000.
Lou Jackson, 64, a retired teacher and principal, has no campaign contribution report posted on the Pulaski County clerk's website.
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Zone 7
Norma J. Johnson, 61, permits technician for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, a former Marine and a Little Rock School Board member from 2011-2014, reported contributions of $3,400, including $2,200 from Newton and Arkansas Learns; $500 from Community Advisory Board member Melanie Fox; and $500 from herself.
Ryan D. Davis, 39, director of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock-Children International, has no pre-election campaign contribution report posted on the Pulaski County Clerk's website for his campaign for the school board's Zone 7 seat.
There are three people running unopposed for board seats.
Michael D. Mason, 62, is running alone from Zone 1. He is an equal opportunity specialist for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. He is a Little Rock School District Community Advisory Board member.
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Sandrekkia Morning, 27, is unopposed for the board's Zone 2 seat. She is arts in education program manager for the Arkansas Arts Council. Like Mason, Morning is a Little Rock School District Community Advisory Board member -- an appointment made by the state in September.
Leigh Ann Wilson, 35, is unopposed for the board's Zone 4 seat. Wilson is a licensed clinical social worker with the Adult Sickle Cell Clinical Program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.