Dorothy "Dot" Williams and Taniesha Richardson-Wiley were elected in uncontested races Tuesday to the North Little Rock School Board in an election conducted only by absentee and early voting.
There were 68 votes for the two unopposed candidates who were grouped together on the ballot.
Additionally, a majority of voters participating in the North Little Rock and Little Rock school district elections favored the existing property-tax millage rates in the districts.
The final but uncertified totals on the North Little Rock district's 48.3-mill tax rate were:
For 53
Against 34
The totals on the Little Rock district's 46.4-mill tax rate were:
For 262
Against 126
There were no changes proposed in the existing tax rates in either district but the Arkansas Constitution requires that school tax rates be voted on annually. Had a majority of voters opposed the tax rates in one or the other or in both districts, the tax rates would remain the same.
The Pulaski County Election Commission is to meet at 5 p.m. Thursday to certify the election results.
No polling places were open Tuesday in Pulaski County -- the annual statewide school election day -- in what Pulaski County Elections Director Bryan Poe has said is an unusual year.
All voting was done through early and absentee voting, which is permitted by state law where there is no proposed change to a school district's property tax rate and no contested school board races.
The Little Rock district had only the millage on the school election ballot because the district is operating under state control and without an elected school board. The district was taken over by the state in January 2015 because six of 48 schools were labeled as in academic distress because of chronically low student test scores.
The Pulaski County Special School District, which will exit later this year from five years of state control for fiscal distress, will elect seven new school board members in conjunction with the Nov. 8 general election. At that November election, voters also will act on the district's existing 40.7-mill property tax rate for school operations.
The Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District held a special election in February on a 7.6-mill property-tax increase for schools. That election -- in which the tax increase was approved -- met the district's obligation to have an annual vote on the school tax rate. The district's new tax rate is 48.3 mills.
The seven members of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board were elected in September 2015. They drew lots for the lengths of their terms, which range from two to four years. Two of the seven seats will be open for election in September 2017.
Both Williams and Richardson-Wiley already are serving on the North Little Rock board.
Williams, a retired North Little Rock district teacher and administrator, has been on the board's Zone 1 member since her appointment in January 2006 to fill an unexpired term. She was elected to the board in September 2006, and was re-elected to three-year terms in 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Richardson-Wiley has been on the board since June. She was selected by the board members from among applicants who sought to fill the board's Zone 4 vacancy created by the May 30 death of Ron Treat.
Richardson-Wiley, the mother of two children, is a section chief at the Arkansas Department of Health, where she has worked since 1999. She has a master's of public health in health policy and management from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and a bachelor's in health education from the University of Central Arkansas.
North Little Rock School Board terms are for three years and are unpaid.
Millage rates have to be on the ballot at least once a year in every Arkansas school district, regardless of whether a district is seeking any change in its rate. That's required under Article 14, Section 3 of the Arkansas Constitution.
If a district is seeking no change in its tax rate, residents vote on the current tax rate. No matter how the vote turns out, the existing millage rate will remain at the current level.
Metro on 09/21/2016