Charter's future put on agenda for June
The Arkansas Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday to consider at its June 11 meeting the possibility of revoking or taking other action against the charter for Covenant Keepers College Preparatory school in southwest Little Rock.
The school, which serves about 190 sixth- through eighth- graders, is classified by the state Department of Education as academically distressed because fewer than 50 percent of its students scored at proficient levels on state math and literacy exams over the three-year period of 2011-13 and again for 2012-14.
The school is one of 22 in the state to be so classified. The Little Rock School District, in which Covenant Keepers sits, was taken over by the state and its School Board dismissed in January because six of its 48 schools were classified as academically distressed.
Education Board member Vicki Saviers of Little Rock made the motion Thursday to conduct a hearing on the school. Board member Jay Barth, also of Little Rock, seconded the motion.
The state's Charter Authorizing Panel, made up of top level Department of Education staff members, voted 3-1 to take no action against the publicly financed but independently operated charter school. That vote came after the school's founder, Valerie Tatum, and members of her staff described for the panel the efforts underway to raise student achievement at the school that serves a relatively high proportion of Hispanic students and students whose families move in and out of the area.
Panel members voted to forgo action against the school, noting that its charter would be up for a renewal hearing in early 2016.
Saviers asked Thursday whether most of the pupils at Covenant Keepers would otherwise be assigned to Cloverdale Middle School, a Little Rock School District school that also is labeled as academically distressed.
"This is what I struggle with," Saviers said. "I've been concerned for a long time. I was one of the ones that requested a [Charter Authorizing Panel] review. "
Board member Kim Davis of Fayetteville told Tatum that she was asking the board "to accept a different expectation" for the school's students.
She said she was not asking for concessions but for the board to recognize achievement growth for students who first arrive at the school achieving at a very low level.
Maynard schools labeled distressed
The Maynard School District, a rural district of 436 students near the Arkansas-Missouri border, is the latest district to be classified by the state Board of Education as fiscally distressed and subject to obtaining state approval for expenditures.
The Education Board tabled until its June meeting a decision on whether to classify the Guy-Perkins School District as fiscally distressed, to give the district and Education Department officials who are new to their jobs the opportunity to meet and review the district's finances.
The state board voted unanimously to reject the Maynard district's appeal of the distress designation but commended district leaders for having "a tremendous attitude" and working knowledgeably together.
The Maynard district's net legal balances have declined from $654,000 in 2010-11 to $405,121 in 2013-14, according to Education Department records.
Maynard School Board President Steve Bounds said the district is subject to enrollment and funding fluctuations and had resisted cutting staff positions before it was absolutely necessary, all the while planning for funding decreases. Positions are being reduced now through retirements and resignations, he said, and without staff layoffs.
Bounds said the district is projected to end this school year with a surplus and will not have to draw from reserves as it did the past two years.
Eric Saunders, the Education Department's assistant commissioner for financial services, said Maynard is going to see revenue losses in different categories in the coming school year. It will lose $100,000 because of declining enrollment, he said. It also will see an increase in the payments it must make on bond debt, from $2,500 this year to $86,000 next year.
Metro on 05/15/2015