SCHOOL SUIT MAY IMPACT DISTRICTS

By Wes Clement/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF

Financial hardships may be in store for some area school districts while others may see a boost resulting from a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas’ School Choice law.

“If the state is forced to end school choice, there will be right at $700,000 that leaves the district with the students,” said Dr. Larry Smith, superintendent of White Hall School District.

The district has 118 school choice students who may be forced to return to their original school districts if the efforts of a group of parents in Hot Spring County bring about a ruling that the law is unconstitutional.

“If they had to go, we would lose about 250 students,” said Superintendent Danny Hazelwood of Watson Chapel School District.

Calculated at about $6,000 in state funding per student, the district stands to lose about $1.5 million in annual funding. “That would be pretty devastating,” he said.

Other districts, such as Pine Bluff and Dollarway school districts could possibly see an increase in students and funding if school choice students are required to return to the districts in which they live. Pine Bluff schools Superintendent Frank Anthony and Dollarway schools Superintendent Thomas Gathen were not available for comment Friday.

A student may apply for a transfer to a school outside of the district he or she lives in, according to Arkansas’ school choice law, but to prevent racial segregation, there are restrictions. The law does not allow a student to transfer to a district where the percentage of that student’s race is more than his or her home district. Some exceptions exist.

The parents of about 45 white students enrolled in four school districts bordering Malvern School District filed a federal lawsuit in October challenging the school choice law.

The suit was filed in federal district court at Hot Springs following news from Malvern school administrators that their children had been attending the wrong schools and were to transfer to schools within the Malvern district.

The lawsuit stated the School Choice Act is unconstitutional because it makes a student’s race the sole factor in determining if he or she can transfer. A federal judge refused Thursday to issue an injunction for the Hot Spring parents attempting to keep their kids in the mostly white districts.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 school choice plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle were unconstitutional because of their reliance on race-based criteria.

Hazelwood said he thought the financial blow would not come all at once.

“I don’t think they would do anything about sending them back. If they totally abolish school choice, I think they would give the students the option to stay and not allow any new (school choice) transfers,” he said.

Arkansas Department of Education spokesperson Julie Thompson said she does not yet know if students would be sent back to their home districts.

“We have really been in wait-and-see mode. There are a number of scenarios that could play out based on how the legislature approaches it,” she said.

Smith said losing 118 students would not justify a significant decrease in teaching staff to balance the loss of funding. He said the loss would be offset for one year by a declining balance fund.

A motion to dismiss the Hot Spring County parents’ lawsuit will be heard in the federal district court Jan. 5.