The Arkansas Board of Education voted Thursday to release the state-controlled, 415-student Earle School District from the state's fiscal distress classification and, in a separate vote, established a limited-authority School Board for the coming school year.
The state Education Board took the actions at a special meeting held on the Earle campus in Crittenden County.
"This is a celebration day," Stacy Smith, a deputy commissioner for the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, told the board and audience.
The state Education Board had assumed authority over the school district — removing the superintendent and suspending the elected school board — in November 2017 because of fiscal distress.
In May 2019, the district was classified as needing Level 5-intensive support — the most critical level of support in the state's school accountability system — because of poor student achievement.
Since 2017, Smith said, the district has corrected its budgeting and spending practices. The district is making regular payments on a $650,000 state loan that was necessary because of misuse of federal funding. The district also has used a voter-approved millage plan to improve what were once considered dangerous school building conditions.
"They are still operating on a very limited cash flow," Smith said. "While things are better, they are still very tight," she said, noting that one-time federal covid-19 relief funds helped the district.
The establishment of a limited-authority board in Earle is similar to what the state has set up in Pine Bluff, Smith said. The limited authority board will meet monthly and make decisions that will be sent to Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva for confirmation. The limited-authority board will provide time over the next year for board training and for making decisions on how to set up an election for a board.
The limited-authority board will be made up of four people who served on the School Board that was suspended in 2017. A fifth member of that board has since died. Applications for appointment to that seat will be sought and a selection made on the state level.
Smith said the district has increased to 70% its percentage of teachers who are state-licensed. It it has acquired high-quality instructional materials and uses professional learning communities to address student needs, and students have shown academic growth on state exams.
But Smith said the district continues to need state-level support for classroom instruction and student time on task. This district is not out of the woods in terms of consolidation and or annexation, she said, adding she could not recommend that full authority be immediately returned to the board.
One member of the audience questioned the wisdom of retaining the board members who had served at the time of the state's takeover of the Earle district.
Other audience members asked that steps be taken to retain teachers at the campus and attract the several teachers who have left the system.