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Legislature likely to revisit school choice law in 2009 Wednesday, Jun 18, 2008 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - Reworking Arkansas' school choice law may be high on the state Legislature's agenda when the 2009 regular session convenes in January, lawmakers said Tuesday. The constitutionality of the state law has been in doubt since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last summer that school choice plans in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., were unconstitutional because of their reliance on race-based criteria. Arkansas' law allows a student to apply for a transfer to a school district outside of the district in which he or she lives, but as a safeguard against racial segregation the law prohibits a student from transferring to a district where the percentage of enrollment of that student's race exceeds the percentage in the student's home district, with some exceptions. "I know I've been in some conversations that, it's one of the first things or one of several things we do need to address when we do go into session," state Sen. Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, said Tuesday. Broadway was speaking at a meeting of a legislative subcommittee overseeing desegregation litigation involving three school districts in Pulaski County. Lawmakers quizzed the district's superintendents about their plans for dealing with an expected phasing out of desegregation funding from the state, which totals more than $60 million a year. Some legislators complained that the districts do not appear to have specific plans in place. Chris Heller, a lawyer for the Little Rock School District, said planning is difficult because, among other things, it is unclear what the Legislature will do about the school choice law. About 3,800 students who live in the Little Rock School District attend magnet schools, and about 1,000 have received transfers to other districts, Heller said. "That decision the Legislature is going to make is going to have a tremendous effect on whether or not we can maintain anything like the magnet schools," he said. Sen. Shawn Womack, R-Mountain Home, co-chairman of the panel, said he believed the law could be made constitutional by removing the race-based restriction but keeping a provision allowing students to transfer out of their home districts. "Right now we're kind of in limbo because no one has challenged our law, but as soon as it gets challenged, most likely that race-based provision is going to get dropped," he said. Co-Chairman Rep. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, said she believed the Supreme Court ruling meant that race could not be the primary factor in a school choice law, but it could be a factor. "If we say that we can consider race, socioeconomic status, we can consider learning abilities, etc., etc., then race can be one of those factors, is that not correct?" she asked. "Absolutely," Heller said. U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr. ruled in February 2007 that the Little Rock School District had achieved unitary, or desegregated, status. The ruling has been appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Wilson has said he will not schedule hearings on the status of the North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special districts until after the 8th Circuit rules on the Little Rock appeal. |
