In Forum, Governor Candidates Differ On Vouchers, URT Issue

The state’s candidates for governor disagreed about vouchers for private schools Tuesday in a cordial forum about education issues at the Hot Springs Convention Center.

Former U.S. Rep. Mike Ross, the only Democratic candidate, and former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, the presumed Republican frontrunner, both said they were opposed to vouchers. The other Republican candidates, state Rep. Debra Hobbs, R-Rogers, and businessman Curtis Coleman said they supported the concept.

In response to a question about vouchers from Lake Hamilton Superintendent Steve Anderson, Ross said, “Let me be very, very clear: I’m opposed to private school vouchers. … For 22 years, I’ve been voting against private school vouchers, and that’s something that I would continue to be against as governor of this state.” He said he does believe in public school choice.

Hutchinson said, “I have consistently opposed in my public career the vouchers that would go from public education dollars to the private sector, and I haven’t seen a model that works in Arkansas. And so we’ll see whether any of that can make sense at some unknown point in the future, but I have not supported that in my public career.”

The other candidates supported vouchers. Coleman said state money should follow the students and called for less government interference in public schools. Hobbs pointed to the good results her son with special needs had received while attending the private Academy at Riverdale school and said other students should have that chance.

Candidates disagreed along party lines over how the state’s uniform rate of taxation should be distributed. Under state law, 25 mills had been levied in each school district, sent to the state, increased with other funds, and then redistributed to all districts to ensure each met a minimum per-pupil level of funding.

Several districts, however, collected more than the foundation amount with that 25 mills even without the infusion of extra state funds. They were required to send the excess to the state until the Supreme Court ruled in a court case last year that they could keep the excess.

Ross said the first 25 mills are the state’s. The three Republicans said they are local taxes that should remain in the district.

The candidates all supported Attorney General Dustin McDaniel’s efforts to reach a settlement that would end the Pulaski County desegregation case. They all agreed that schools should offer more opportunities for vocational training. Hutchinson said computer sciences should be recognized as a core credit for graduating from high school.

The candidates were asked by Academics Plus Charter School Executive Director Rob McGill about changing the law to provide state funds for facilities for charter schools, which are public schools granted more freedom from certain regulations.

Ross said he would work with McGill but said it would be challenging because tax cuts enacted by the Legislature this year will reduce the state surplus, and his first priority will be to balance the budget. Hutchinson said he would like more support given to charter schools for facilities. Hobbs said she was open to the idea. Coleman said charter schools and traditional public schools should be equally funded and added that traditional schools should have equal freedom from regulations.

The forum was sponsored by the Arkansas Public School Resource Center.