School Choice Fix A Question Of Rights, Race

Editor’s note: This article is part of a continuing series focused on upcoming education issues that will be addressed by the 89th General Assembly.

Unless there is an appeals court reversal, the upcoming General Assembly must rewrite the state’s school choice law. In the process, legislators will have to consider both parental rights and fears of possible racial resegregation.

On June 8, District Judge Robert Dawson ruled the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 1989 to be unconstitutional because of its race-based provisions. The act allowed students to transfer to another district without moving there, but, in an effort to prevent resegregation, only if the district had a lower percentage of students who were of the transferring student’s race.

The ruling is under appeal, but a decision is not expected until spring 2013. That means the Legislature can’t wait to see if there is a reversal, said Sen. Johnny Key (R-Mountain Home), chairman of the Senate Education Committee. “I think the likelihood of that being overturned is not great, so as it stands now, we have an unconstitutional school choice law that we need to fix,” he said.

What that fix will look like is still up in the air.

Rep. Ann Clemmer (R-Benton), who is the House Republicans’ point person on education issues, said the caucus is waiting to see what the Department of Education proposes before drafting legislation. Rep. Bruce Westerman (R-Hot Springs), the House majority leader, said his research has shown states must create systems that offer either totally open or totally closed enrollments.

Many fear a completely open enrollment system would lead to resegregated schools. Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock), a former teacher who also sits on the Education Committee, said that preventing such an occurrence should be a priority.

“It’s not essential that our kids go to school with others who are racially and ethnically and culturally different from them,” she said. “It’s not essential, but it is uber-important that they do. And that’s why I think this is such a big issue facing us for our kids going forward. You and I may be OK without it, but our kids and our grandkids are going to be in a very, very different kind of world.”

Key is not convinced that Arkansas would resegregate under an open enrollment system because some districts still have much to offer students. For example, he said, El Dorado students eligible for college scholarships thanks to a gift from Murphy Oil are unlikely to transfer.

Divisions over the issue, Westerman said, will fall more along regional than party lines. “I would see that more as a rural area-urban area issue than a Republican-Democrat issue,” he said. “I think you’ll see people on both sides of it in both parties, would be my guess.”