SOMETIMES a body can almost feel the winds of change. And sometimes that change is as pleasant as any other cool breeze on a warm day. Give us more, give us more. Hallelujah, give us more.
What was the more surprising news out of the last Pulaski County school board meeting? That those in charge of educating Pulaski County's kids voted to open its district borders to student transfers--as the law insists?
Or that the vote, which breaks with past practice, was 7-0?
Or that the people serving on the board sound not world-weary and defeated, but happy to do it? Optimistic. Upbeat. Bullish on the future.
Come the 2018-19 school year, the Pulaski County Special School District will indeed allow students to transfer out of its district. The school board didn't request another exemption to the law.
But what is most encouraging is that the school board might not look at it that way. The members of the school board aren't opening up borders to let kids go.
They want them to flow in.
"Our goal is to attract" students, said the board's president, Linda Remele.
What is this? A school board relying on its teachers and principals to improve the schools? And thus create such wonderful classrooms and courses and an overwhelming curriculum that students and their families are rushing the doors?
Sure, with this decision, students living inside Pulaski County School District's borders can apply to attend other schools. Which is yet another way that the state of Arkansas is bringing more choice to families, at least when it comes to public education.
But students living outside the district can apply to transfer to Sylvan Hills, or Mills High, or Robinson Middle, too, depending on how well those schools are doing, and will do. Talk about betting on yourself, the school board for the Pulaski County Special School District is doing just that.
President Remele also told the press that the district is converting its four high schools into "schools of innovation" that will feature a mix of traditional and online learning, plus flexible scheduling. Which may attract even more students. ( A cynical inky wretch might ruin the mood by noting that all schools should be schools of innovation, but why go there? Let's concentrate on this week's very good news.)
There were 15 Arkansas school districts this school year that claimed an exemption to the transfer law, for one reason or another. Those numbers are falling each year. And this next year that number will fall by at least one district: PulCo Special. The school district now joins Little Rock and North Little Rock to allow transfers.
"The good news is that the three biggies in Pulaski County get it," said Gary Newton, executive director and guiding light of Arkansas Learns. "And students and families and economies of their areas will be the beneficiaries."
Another beneficiary: Competition. And the theory that if public schools get better, the public will come back.
Now let us praise the Arkansas legislature. For years, school districts around the state had tip-toed around various laws and legislative initiatives by claiming to be under various deseg orders. Even if they couldn't necessarily put their hands on those orders. And even if those orders preceded Rock 'n' Roll and the Gemini Program.
Earlier this year, the Ledge revised the law. The books now say that districts that want to claim exemptions from these laws must submit proof that an active desegregation order or plan "explicitly limits the transfer of students between school districts." In other words, a current and sitting judge should have something to do with it, not an old piece of paper from the 1950s.
The news keeps getting better.
So too, one suspects, will public education in Arkansas.
Editorial on 12/16/2017