To rephrase George Santayana, "Those who misstate the past condemn those who don't know better."
For decades, the most historically significant school district in America has only seemed to interest national media when said media seek to conflate whatever is happening in public education in Arkansas with 1957.
Further, Little Rock School District locals committed to the central control of government monopoly, regardless of where their children and grandchildren attend(ed) school, demean history by equating everything in education with which they disagree to 1957.
For those with discernment, however, here's a factual primer on some of the most significant events in Little Rock School District history:
1957: A higher level of government (Republican president of the United States) intervenes to ensure a lower level of government (Democrat governor of Arkansas) follows federal law, as initiated by a lower level of government--Little Rock School Board, ensuring school choice for nine Black students.
1982: A local level of government (Little Rock School Board) sues two other local governments (North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts) and a higher level of government (state of Arkansas), resulting in an even higher level of government (U.S. District Court) controlling LRSD and NLRSD for the next 32 years and Pulaski County Special and Jacksonville/North Pulaski County school districts to this day.
2004: The first open-enrollment public charter school (LISA Academy) is approved and located within the Little Rock School District boundaries, affording families a no-cost choice for public education, while intra- and inter-district school choice is controlled and limited by the U.S. District Court.
2014: Desegregation settlement ends race-based choice and "federal court order" exemption for inter-district school choice for Little Rock and North Little Rock School District residents.
2015: A higher level of government (Arkansas Board of Education, all members of which were appointed by the Democrat former governor) votes to take over the Little Rock School District for what was then termed Academic Distress.
2015-2020: A dissolved local government resists state control, while a higher level of government (Republican governor and state Department of Education) squanders the opportunity to meaningfully reform the Little Rock School District, and after five years, returns it to local control without correcting academic deficiencies.
2023: Arkansas LEARNS Education Freedom Account provides funding for some private and homeschool students, specifically those with special needs, foster children, children of active-duty military personnel, those previously enrolled in an F-rated school, and those enrolling in kindergarten for the first time.
2024: Arkansas LEARNS Education Freedom Account remains available to all students eligible in 2023, as well as those previously enrolled in a D-rated school and children of military veterans, first responders, and/or law enforcement officers.
2025: Arkansas LEARNS Education Freedom Account becomes available to all Arkansas students.
2026: Little Rock School District projects to open Little Rock West High School, finally providing proximate, traditional K-12 education in all areas of the district.
Throughout history, those of means have always had access to school choice. It is only when choice was made available to the poor and middle class via inter-district choice, open-enrollment public charter schools, and Education Freedom Accounts that the status quo lost its collective mind, as it was no longer enabled by government monopoly.
And what does modern-day government do when its control is threatened? It and its complicit media accuse and project "racism." In Little Rock and Arkansas, that means calling everything with which central control disagrees "just like 1957."
The Little Rock School District is the richest local government in Arkansas. Though school board elections are allegedly nonpartisan, the district is arguably the largest and richest government in Arkansas controlled by Democrats. All of its actions, as well as those of its apologists, are best understood when viewed through a political lens, as leaders of both parties have been complicit in the district's chronic dysfunction.
Imagine what Little Rock, the region, and even the state would look like today had the district built upon its hard-won equal access for all success of 1957 instead of constantly blaming others (the state, other districts, private schools, charter schools, Arkansas LEARNS, etc.) for its ills.
While many have checked out long ago, believing the district "unfixable," the optimists among us--particularly those supportive of the competitive and empowering advantages of choice--still believe the district can transform into a catalyst for, instead of an inhibitor of, the city's, region's, and state's success.
But that can only happen if the district takes responsibility for its own present and future, instead of allowing the latest "1957" blame narrative to give it a pass.
Gary Newton is the president and CEO of Arkansas Learns, the voice of consumers for student focus, transparency, accountability, rewards, and choice in education. For more information, visit ArkansasLearns.org.