School-transfer denial voided

The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday overturned a decision by a school district to deny a request for the incoming transfer of two students.

The unanimous vote was the first time -- out of 31 appeals -- the board has reversed a school district's decision under the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2013.

Heber Springs mother Candyce Allen appealed to the state board after Heber Springs School District Superintendent Russell Hester said the special needs of 6-year-old siblings Kenneth and Chloe could cause a financial burden on the district.

Lawmakers who support giving parents broad authority to transfer their children between school districts approved the 2013 act to repeal and replace a 1989 version of the law, which a federal court struck down in 2012.

Section 4.04.4 of the act specifically prohibits school districts from denying a school transfer on the basis of a disability. Hester, however, told the board that he made his decision using the exception in Section 4.03 that says the act does not require a school district to add teachers, staff members or classrooms to accommodate out-of-district transfers.

Allowing the transfer of disabled children would require extra expenditures that the district cannot afford, Hester said. He added that the district has relied on the exception to deny numerous transfers of disabled students in the past seven years.

"It is our policy from the district not to accept students from other districts with special needs," Hester wrote in a May 12 email to Allen.

The district received 29 transfer requests for the 2014-15 school year. Of those, 12 were denied. When asked in a telephone interview after the meeting, Hester said he estimates that about six of the 12 denials were based on the special needs of the children.

Hester insisted to the board that the denials were not "personal" but were "strictly financial."

Allen and her husband, Greg Allen, live in the Pangburn School District. The couple also owns a furniture store in Heber Springs. Candyce Allen emphasized to the board that the store pays taxes to the Heber Springs School District.

Kenneth and Chloe Allen and their deceased sister, Cara, were born 25 weeks premature and have extensive medical histories. Kenneth and Chloe require therapy, which Candyce Allen said they receive at 4 p.m. each day, after the school day has ended.

Candyce Allen told the board that she does not foresee the need for special education or extra assistance during school hours, but that it is unfair she has to prove it to anyone, "because the law says you cannot deny based on disability."

"We should not have to make it seem like our children are just like every other child. They're not. And we're proud that they're not," she said. "They've had to prove that they are worthy of everything they've ever achieved in their life. They shouldn't have to prove their worth to get an education at the school of their choice just because they have issues."

Hester did not provide documentation to the board proving that accepting the transfer of disabled children would overburden the school district. In response to questions from the board at one point, Hester simply said, "You will have to take my word for it."

Board member Diane Zook pointed out to Hester that school districts also get extra funding based on special-needs children.

When questioned by board member Jay Barth about how the district knew the students requesting transfers to the districts were disabled, Hester replied that his assistant would call the resident school districts to inquire if the students had special needs or had required special services in the past.

"No offense, but that sounds like discrimination on the basis of disability," Barth said.

When contacted after the meeting, Hester said that the district followed the law in its decisions. He added, however, that in light of Thursday's reversal by the state board, he would ask the district's School Board to review the existing policy.

"We've lived by faith on that policy for seven years. I feel pretty confident on what we've done," he said.

When asked if denying the transfers based on extra costs associated with children of special needs would expose the school district to possible litigation, Hester said he doesn't "think so."

"Even from the very get-go, it was nothing about personalities or families. It was about numbers and expenditures," Hester said.

Jeremy Lasiter, general counsel for the Arkansas Department of Education, said after the meeting that the department would not initiate a review of the students denied a transfer to Heber Springs School District based on a disability.

"It is up to the parents to file an appeal," he said.

Candyce Allen said after the meeting that Hester was just following the law and doing what he felt was best for his district.

"The thing is that the law is skewered. You can't deny someone based on their disabilities, yet you can deny them if it costs extra money," she said. "The law needs to be fixed."

Lasiter said the department does not have any plans to draft a new Public School Choice Act but would assist the General Assembly if it was determined a revision was necessary.

In another school choice appeal Thursday, the board affirmed a decision by the Parkers Chapel School District to deny the transfer request of a kindergarten student from the Junction City School District.

The Parkers Chapel district denied the request because the Junction City School District had declared itself exempt from the law.

The Public School Choice Act requires school districts to apply for an exemption to the law by April 1 of each year. In an appeal to the state board, Kaci Winters said her son should be allowed to attend school in the Parkers Chapel School District because the Junction City district did not file for an exemption until May 16.

Despite the late submission, the state granted the exemption status to the Junction City District on the basis that the district is under a federal desegregation order.

The state board urged Winters to seek a legal transfer for her son. Legal transfers are a more narrow and restrictive method under which the school boards of the sending and receiving districts both approve transfer requests from individual students who typically have special reasons for asking to switch schools.

Winters requested the transfer because she said her son had attended preschool in the Parkers Chapel School District and had developed social relationships.

Metro on 07/11/2014