Help the state earn

A little over 1,400 locally elected officials govern the state’s 239 traditional public school districts, determining the return on investment of $5.3 billion in local, state and federal funding for K-12 public education in Arkansas. That includes 46 percent of all the state’s general revenue and about two-thirds of local property taxes.

Public school districts are also the largest local government entities in the state, generally dwarfing their respective city and county budgets.

And yet, because our effort at the Legislature to move school board elections to the general election was unsuccessful, the men and women who govern these districts continue to be elected on a date (the third Tuesday of September) with no other elections, and are generally decided by100 times (10,000 percent) fewer voters than the general election.

Further, these low-turnout elections are dominated by employees of the respective districts, rather than parents, employers and property-taxpaying citizens.

And what is the return on investment of this adult self-interested, insider system?

80.7 percent graduation rate

47.8 percent post-secondary remediation rate

38.7 percent four-year college graduation rate (48th in U.S.)

18.7 percent with a four-year degree (49th in U.S.)

6.7 percent with a graduate degree (50th in U.S.)

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With talent being the new driver of economic development, nothing is more important to the present and future of our families, communities and state than the delivery of excellent public education.

With nearly $150,000 invested in each student during their 13 years in the K-12 system, we must elect and re-elect leaders who demand these fundamental business principles in the governance of our public schools:

Students (customers) first focus

Accountability

Transparency

Innovation, best practices and choice

Return on investment

The filing period to run for school board opened June 9, with a deadline of noon on July 9 to file. Please consider leading your community by running for your local school board.

Here’s how: Visit the county clerk’s office to get a packet of material about running for office. June 9 was the first day candidates could circulate a petition (available from the secretary of state’s office). Candidates need 20 signatures of qualified registered voters from his/her zone on the petition.

July 2 is the first day a candidate may file a notice of candidacy(also available from the secretary of state’s office), the political practice pledge, and the affidavit of eligibility with the county clerk. July 9 at noon is the deadline for a candidate to file those documents with the county clerk.

For voters, the deadline to register to vote for the school election is August 19; deadline to register to vote for the school election runoff is September 9. The school election is Tuesday, September 17. If needed, a runoff will be held three weeks later on October 8.

To run for school board, candidates must be a qualified elector of the school district whose name has been filed and certified by the clerk of the county where the school district is registered for administrative purposes; be a U.S. citizen; be an Arkansas resident; be a resident of the district and respective electoral zone if elected from zones; not be an employee of the district served; not claim the right to vote in another county or state; not presently be adjudged mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction; and never have been convicted of embezzlement of public money, bribery, forgery, or other infamous crime.

Get involved. Lives, families and the present and future of your city, region and state depend on it.

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Gary Newton is the father of two public school sixth-graders and the president and CEO of ArkansasLearns.org.