The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday said four children from two families living outside the Bentonville School District can attend Bentonville schools this school year over the objections of district leaders.
The Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2013 permits parents to transfer their children to a school in a district in which they do not reside under conditions that include whether the desired school has the capacity to accommodate the transfer student. The school board in each district can set policy on the definition of capacity.
The same law includes a process by which parents who are denied permission to transfer their children to a nonresident school can appeal the denial to the state Education Board.
In a special meeting, the state Education Board voted 4-0 to grant the appeal made by Annette and Curtis Zaage for their 11th-grade daughter to continue to attend Bentonville High.
The student has been attending Bentonville School District schools for several years, but her family moved this year from Bella Vista in the Bentonville district to the Springdale School District. Curtis Zaage told the Education Board that the family made the move believing that his daughter's application for a School Choice Act transfer to Bentonville High was a formality.
"We would not have relocated had we known the transfer request would not be approved," Zaage said.
The Bentonville School Board denied the request at a July 21 meeting because the 11th-grade enrollment was determined to be overcapacity. A school or grade level in the rapidly growing Bentonville school system is considered to be "at capacity" and not open to School Choice Act transfers when the school or grade is 80 percent full.
In response to questions from Education Board members, Tanya Sharp, executive director of student services for the Bentonville district, said the 11th-grade enrollment is about 1,100 students.
"You have the capacity to add 20 percent more kids without hiring additional staff?" Education Board Chairman Sam Ledbetter of Little Rock asked, calculating that to be just more than 200 seats.
"Yes," Sharp said.
"Do you have any evidence for us as to what the historic growth has been in the junior class over the last five years?" Ledbetter continued. "How many kids moved into the class during the school year?"
Sharp said she did not know that information.
Crystal Ballard and Jason Lewis, residents in the Decatur School District, were also denied transfers into the Bentonville School District for their two first-graders and a fourth-grader because those grades at Sugar Creek Elementary were over 80 percent capacity.
Ballard told the state Board of Education that the application process was chaotic but that she also was led to believe by district employees that the transfers would be "a go." She learned of the denial July 28, two weeks before the start of school.
At the time of the denial, the first-grade enrollment was 1,286, while 80 percent capacity was 1,080.
The fourth-grade enrollment was 1,264, which was over the 80 percent capacity mark of 1,052.
In response to questions from Education Board member Diane Zook, Sharp said there are seats available at those grades without hiring additional teachers.
The Education Board voted 3-1 to grant the appeal for the transfer of the three children. Board members Zook, Alice Mahony and Mireya Reith voted for it. Board member Jay Barth voted against it, saying that the second case differed from the first in that the Zaages' daughter was a longtime student in the district and was relatively close to graduation.
"We have seen all kinds of challenges with this law," Barth said. "I do get worried about setting a precedent that basically begins to erode any protections for schools that have tremendous growth against school choice. The first case for me was a closer call."
The School Choice Act will expire at the end of this school year. Legislators have said they intend to re-examine the rules for interdistrict student transfers in the 2015 legislative session.
Education ...
Metro on 08/22/2014