Another study shows school "choice" — private school vouchers in Washington, D.C. — didn't help the disadvantaged students it was supposed to help. In fact, it made things worse.
Opponents of an extension of 12.4 millions in Little Rock School District property taxes at a cost of $600 million or more say critical construction needs in the district can be made without a bond issue that lines the pockets of bond firms and lawyers.
Ledbetter, the former state Board of Education chair who cast the decisive vote in 2015 to take over the LRSD, writes that Education Commissioner Johnny Key "has shown time and again that he is out of touch with our community and the needs of the district." However, Ledbetter supports the May 9 vote as a positive for the district's students and staff.
As expected, the tug of war between school choice advocates and defenders of traditional public schools played out in Arkansas’s 91st General Assembly, which recently concluded its flurry of lawmaking.
The state Board of Education was scheduled to talk this week about the Little Rock School District, under state control for two years because six of its 48 schools failed to meet an arbitrary pass rate on a standardized test.
Another prominent black person has spoken out against the Little Rock School District tax proposal on a special election ballot May 9. The business establishment group pushing for approval of an $600 million in new taxes has a formula to victory that counts on a low black turnout in the majority black district.
Little Rock school czar Johnny Key won't give voters their district back, but he has given Michael Poore a contract extension as school superintendent.
Wendell Griffen, a circuit judge and Baptist pastor, has joined the opposition to the Little Rock school tax proposal May 9 with a sharply worded condemnation of the business community backing 14 more years and $600 million worth of additional property taxes.
An idea to set a date for return of local control in the Little Rock School District seems likely to founder because of resistance from Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Sen, Joyce Elliott of Little Rock, a public school champion, has posted a message on Facebook urging a NO vote on the Little Rock School District tax election May 9. She says to do otherwise is to endorse taxation without representation and give in to "tyranny."
Save Our Schools is pressing Education Commissioner Johnny Key to meet about his decision to close Little Rock schools without considering community impact. The broad group makes it pitch while Key is asking for $600 million in new tax authorization from Little Rock voters, who have been without an elected school board for two years.