LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The State Board of Education voted Thursday, October 10, to pass a motion that returns full local control to the Little Rock School District.
Mayor Frank Scott Jr. released a statement about the vote saying:
"Thursday our community won our schools back. I am heartened at how the residents of Little Rock came together to fight for full, local control of the Little Rock School District. I appreciate the State Board of Education and Secretary of Education Johnny Key for listening to Little Rock residents and passing an amendment, which included tenets of the plan from the Little Rock Board of Directors and our administration. This is in the best interest of our most precious assets, our children.
While I am excited about our future that includes a fully unified school district, with no tiered and divided schools, I am disappointed that the decision to decertify the Little Rock Education Association was not left up to a locally elected school board.
I remain hopeful that our teachers will continue to prioritize the needs of our students, as we work to re-establish a locally-controlled school district. Through the State Board of Education's re-establishment of the Fair Dismissal Act for Little Rock School District teachers, it is our hope and expectation that the men and women who work so hard every day for our kids have access to due process."
A plan was initially proposed to retain some portion of state control of those eight schools while having the rest returned to the district.
After hearing the latest data, board member Chad Pekron proposed that the board scrap the plan that would have spelled out which schools the state would run.
After two hours of uniform opposition to anything less than a total return of local control, Pekron's motion passed with the additional proposal that the state reached a memorandum of understanding with the district over what support the state continues to provide to failing schools.
All 40 schools in the district will be returned to local control next November when an election for new school board will take place.