Judge tosses lawsuit; Little Rock School District will hold school board elections in 2 of its 9 zones

FILE — Little Rock School District headquarters are shown in this 2019 file photo.
FILE — Little Rock School District headquarters are shown in this 2019 file photo.


Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright has thrown out a lawsuit that would have forced the Little Rock School District to hold citywide school board elections, allowing the school system to move forward with its plans to hold elections in two of its nine zones in the fall.

Hours after hearing arguments in the case Thursday, Wright issued his three-page ruling in favor of the district, rejecting claims by two voters who argued that the school system had not met federal voting-rights protocols, a failure that meant every school board seat must be turned out in November.

"The board is exempt from holding the elections demanded by Plaintiffs," the judge wrote.

Wright agreed with the district's lawyer, who argued that all the school system had to do in the litigation was prove that its nine board zones are drawn to reflect population shifts in the capital city as established by the 2020 Census.

The plaintiffs conceded the board zones had been redrawn but disputed the new zones met the federal voting requirements and had called on the judge to make the district show more proof that they did.

"LRSD argues that it is undisputed that it is a school district that has a zoned board of directors meeting the requirements of the federal Voting Rights Act," Wright's ruling states. "LRSD argues that this issue is dispositive -- that if there is no substantial disagreement regarding this point, then the exception applies, and LRSD is exempt from holding elections. The Court ... finds that the LRSD has provided adequate proof in showing that it is a school district with a zoned board of directors."

Little Rock School Board member Ali Noland announced the outcome of the lawsuit at the conclusion of a School Board meeting late Thursday night.

"I think our attorneys were right on the law, and I think the board was right in following the attorneys' decisions," Noland said about the ruling.

Noland, who is a lawyer, acknowledged she had previously favored opening all nine seats for election this year.

"I had a policy difference ... but I think our attorneys and Judge Wright and the board were fully within the law to make the decision that they did," she said.

After the meeting, School Board President Greg Adams said board members were notified just before the meeting of Wright's decision and were supplied with a copy of the court order.

"We are really pleased that that came in," Adams said about the decision.

Adams holds the board's Zone 8 seat that will be open for election this year, regardless of how the judge ruled. He has already announced that he plans to file as a candidate for re-election to represent a part of northwest Little Rock.

Jeff Wood holds the board's Zone 9 seat that will be open for election in November. The weeklong candidate filing period begins Wednesday. The district's plan is to hold elections for Zones 5 and 6 in 2023, Zones 3 and 4 in 2024 and Zones 1, 2 and 7 in 2025.

The plaintiffs were Clarissa McWherter and Aaron Agnew, voters who had been moved into new school zones when the district redrew its nine zones based on the results of the 2020 Census.

They claimed the district had failed to prove the new zones met federal voting rights standards so the school system should be required to hold full elections. They also complained that being moved into new zones effectively disenfranchised them since they are now being represented by board members they had never gotten a chance to vote for and would not get the opportunity to vote for a school-board member of their choice for as long as four years.

School officials say only about 1.3 percent of the district's 189,000 residents -- about 2,400 voters -- are similarly affected.

The district responded to the suit by asserting that since its board zones were redrawn to reflect population shifts described in the Census, the school system was exempt under the law the plaintiffs cited from conducting a full election. The district's lawyers said the school system has been conducting post-Census elections the same way since the 1980s following its shift to single-member zoned representation.


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