Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore gets raise and praise from School Board

Bump first in 6 years, puts salary at $270,000

Little Rock School District Superintendent Mike Poore is shown in this file photo.
Little Rock School District Superintendent Mike Poore is shown in this file photo.

Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore is getting a pay raise, a rare occurrence since his becoming superintendent of the capital city system in 2016.

The Little Rock School Board voted 7-0, with two members absent, Thursday night to make Poore's annual salary $270,000 retroactive to July 1.

The new salary constitutes a 15% increase for the district's chief executive officer, board member Greg Adams said after making the motion for the increase.

District records show that Poore currently earns $234,000 a year plus a $12,000 car allowance.

The motion came after the board met in an executive session that was closed to the public for just over an hour.

Adams said the raise "is not an unreasonable amount" considering the six-year time period in which Poore went without an increase and in light of what Adams said were significant achievements. Those included a pay raise for all district employees last month, he said, and voter approval earlier this month of an extended levy of debt service tax mills to finance $300 million in new schools and school renovations.

"It would also put the superintendent's salary among the top salaries in the state," he said, "which would be proportionate and appropriate for this school district that is the second-largest and, I would submit, probably the most complicated school district to manage in this state."

Poore, now 60, was superintendent of the Bentonville School District when he was selected in 2016 for the Little Rock job by Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key.

At that time, Key was acting in lieu of an elected school board in what was then the state-controlled Little Rock district. Key angered a large swath of the district supporters when he appointed Poore to replace Baker Kurrus, a former longtime School Board member and an attorney, who had been appointed to the job the year before.

The 21,000-student district was released from state control -- under Poore's leadership -- last year. A nine-member board also was elected in late 2020.

Board member Ali Noland said the newly elected School Board was fortunate to have someone at the helm of the district who last year was named the state's Superintendent of the Year by the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators.

"We are very appreciative of the work you have put in," Noland told Poore. "For six years you have had to really prove yourself over and over and over again. We are to the point where people who were detractors initially have come out publicly and said 'This is the best superintendent I've ever seen in Little Rock.' I personally thank you very much."

"Mr. Poore, you are special," board member Norma Johnson said. "Not everybody can do what you do. You are very attentive. I can ask you a question, and you are Johnny-on-the-spot. You have been here six years, and you have been through a lot. I thank you for your service."

Johnson and Adams were on the School Board that was dismissed in 2015.

Board member Michael Mason told Poore that he has been "continually on top of your game."

Mason also said that former administrators in the district tell him that they wish they had worked in a Poore administration.

Board member Sandrekkia Morning told Poore that she appreciated his attention to detail and his ability to make people feel included.

"Something I like about you is that you are emotional," Morning also told Poore, who was visibly moved Thursday by the board comments.

Vicki Hatter, the board's president, noted that she had known Poore since his appointment to the Little Rock job and that they have covered a lot of ground together in regard to school district operations. They weren't always on the same side, she said, but they had the same mission of a strong, stable district that provides students with world-class educational programs.

Hatter was an outspoken critic of state officials for taking over the district.

"This is a token" of the board's appreciation of Poore's work and his "not crushing under the pressure, because there has been some real pressure, y'all," Hatter said.

Voting for the raise were Hatter, Adams, Johnson, Morning, Noland, Mason and Leigh Ann Wilson. Present earlier in Thursday's regular meeting but absent at the time of the salary vote were Evelyn Callaway and Jeff Wood.


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