Seven organizations have submitted letters of intent to apply for state-issued charters to enable them to operate eight open-enrollment charter schools starting in the 2022-23 school year.
Six of the eight proposed schools would be in Pulaski County, according to the letters of intent sent to the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Another would be in Hope and another in Fort Smith.
Planners of the proposed schools include a state educational service cooperative, an organization that currently operates several charter schools in the state and still other organizations that have submitted letters of intent in past years but didn't get to the point of opening schools.
One proposed school for 2022-23 would focus on serving students who have suffered trauma. Another proposal would offer a JROTC/emergency responder-themed curriculum.
Some of the letters of intent are from out-of-state school planners who already have established schools elsewhere.
"Central Arkansas has a vibrant and active community of civic, education, and policy leaders who have made clear that they want high-quality K-12 schools available to every child," Daniel Fishman Sr., vice president of Growth for IDEA Public Schools, said about his organization's interest in establishing two kindergarten-through-12th-grade campuses in Pulaski County.
The IDEA organization, based in Austin, Texas, was started more than 20 years ago and operates 120 schools serving 63,000 students in Texas and Louisiana.
Fishman said Arkansas has set up a chartering system that allows charter networks like his to establish themselves and "to run high caliber schools" in a state where the "academic data reveals tremendous need for more high quality, free public schools."
Paul Vallas said he and his colleagues initially proposed the opening of a military academy charter school in Arkansas last year but pulled back because of the coronavirus pandemic. The group has opened 11 such schools in four states "and all have experienced great success," he said. " The schools are popular, broadly representative of the community and academically successful."
Vallas complimented Arkansas for keeping school campuses open this year and providing students with "crucial in-class interaction with a teacher."
"We believe the role of Arkansas as an educational leader will be further enhanced with the establishment of a high-quality military academy high school which will be unique to your geographic region," Vallas said in an email.
Baskerville Squared Inc., based in Texas, is proposing Legacy Leadership Academy to be housed in the former Park Hill Elementary School in North Little Rock.
"We will not be part of an already existing network of similar charter schools," Chief Executive Officer Marcus Baskerville said about his interest in Arkansas. "We believe we will bring innovative ideas to the area if given the opportunity. What has attracted us to central Arkansas was the need for quality school choice options."
Open-enrollment charter schools are taxpayer-funded campuses that are operated by not-for-profit organizations other than traditional public school districts. The school planners can seek and obtain waivers from some state laws and rules that apply to traditional districts. In return, charters are to be held to a stricter level of accountability for student learning.
Arkansas has eight open-enrollment charters available to award for the 2022-23 school year, dependent on the Board of Education approval of the applications.
State law established the original cap for open-enrollment charters at 24 schools.
Arkansas Code Annotated 6-23-304, enacted later, allows for an automatic increase of five charters each time the number of open-enrollment charters is within two of the existing limitation or cap.
In March 2020, the cap was set at 34 open-enrollment charters. Currently, there are 24 active open-enrollment charters and two more have been approved to open in the coming 2021-22 school year. As a result, the limit on the number of charters available for this new open-enrollment charter cycle will not increase and will remain at 34, according to an annual memorandum last issued in February by state Education Secretary Johnny Key
The full applications for new charter schools are due July 15, Kimberly Mundell, a spokeswoman for the Elementary and Secondary Education Division said Tuesday. Typically, not all of the school planners who submit letters of intent follow up with applications.
The letters of intent envision the following schools:
• Bakari Learning Charter School of Little Rock to serve as many as 900 students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grades in southwest Little Rock. Andrea Willis is the executive director and contact person for the school, which would develop individual learning plans for each student as well as teach social and behavioral skills and initiatives to assist student families.
• IDEA Public Schools Arkansas to serve as many as 3,400 students in kindergarten-through-12th grades at two campuses -- each housing a kindergarten through fifth-grade building and a sixth-through-12th grade building -- at sites to be determined in Pulaski County.
• Inspire Academy Charter to serve kindergarten through third graders initially and expand to 12th grade in Hope. The Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative would be the sponsor of the school, which would focus on students who have experienced trauma. Nine districts are members of the cooperative. The school would limit class size to 12 students, starting with a total enrollment of no more than 48 and growing to a maximum of 156.
• Little Rock Military Academy to serve as many as 600 students in ninth through 12th grades at an as yet unannounced site in Pulaski County. Vallas is the contact for the school that would feature the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps and emergency first responders curriculum.
• Legacy Leadership Academy, which would serve up to 450 pupils in kindergarten through eighth grades at 3801 John F. Kennedy Blvd., in North Little Rock. Baskerville said the school's focus would be on academic performance, student attendance, student behavior and promotion rates.
• Premier High School of Fort Smith, which would provide a ninth-through-12th-grade program for up to 300 who have dropped out or are in jeopardy of dropping out of schools. Steven Gast is the Arkansas superintendent and contact for the school, which is proposed by Responsive Education Solutions of Texas, the operator of four schools in Arkansas with a fifth one to open later this year in Springdale.
• Southwest Innovation Leadership Academy to serve up to 300 sixth through eighth graders in southwest Little Rock. Ronald Wilkerson, on behalf of the Ministry of Intercession and doing business as Bridge-2-Success Youth Center, is the executive director and contact for the school that would have as its mission the academic strengthening of students who are from underserved communities and who are at risk of school failure.