Greenland student transfer controversy vexes legislators
Posted on Saturday, August 18, 2007
It remains to be seen whether the Greenland Board of Education’s denial last week for 28 Winslow-area students to transfer to nearby West Fork will prompt future changes to the state’s school choice law.
Some area legislators who have been following the situation said they would be willing to look at the law to see if it needs to be changed, but they aren’t sure what will be done.
The transfer denials were the latest controversial decision pitting the Greenland School Board against Winslow patrons, a relationship strained since state consolidation requirements forced Winslow schools to join another district. Winslow picked Greenland, which has since voted to shut down the high school and elementary school in Winslow.
Originally, the patrons had applied for a school choice application to attend West Fork. Normally, residents seeking a transfer must get approval from their home district as well as the receiving district, but Arkansas’ school choice law allows students to transfer without their home district’s approval provided the application is submitted before the upcoming school year by July 1.
West Fork had to deny the school choice applications by white students this year due to a complex race clause in the school choice law. Thus, the parents had to petition Greenland for release.
However, the Greenland School Board said the transfer requests didn’t meet its own transfer policy.
Part of the race clause was changed by the legislature this year, but the regulation didn’t take effect until after the school choice deadline.
State Rep. Mark Martin of Prairie Grove, a critic of the district’s action, said the board used “ a technicality to get around the intent of the law, which is inappropriate. ”
“ Greenland’s social responsibility is going to put to test a whole system of laws, ” he said. “ I think we have the laws in place, but given the results of this, I could lean in that direction (of reform ). ”
Martin said he previously believed the school choice law had been adequate.
School funding is tied primarily to enrollment. Some of the area’s fast-growing districts, such as Farmington, have freely approved any request for a resident to transfer out because they have so much growth.
Unless the state is willing to develop an open enrollment system where students can transfer any time for any reason, districts that are not growing much, have flat enrollments or are losing students may be reticent to let residents transfer to other systems.
“ If we were busting at the seams with capacity, that’s a different consideration, but we’re not at that point, ” Greenland Board President Bill Groom said.
Following the annexation, the district operated Winslow Elementary for three years before closing it in June due to low enrollment, so it has invested much financially in those patrons, he added.
“ Are we just going to let that investment and sacrifice walk out the door ? ” he added.
If the district had granted those transfers, it could have prompted a lawsuit from a Greenland patron that the district was mismanaging its finances, Groom said.
Martin and District 97 state Rep. Mike Kenney of Siloam Springs argued money shouldn’t have been a factor, as the state funding system would have allowed Greenland to receive at least the same aid as last year. School districts with a declining enrollment can count the previous year’s enrollment for funding purposes.
“ The excuse that they were going to lose money is a shame when you consider the best interest of those children, ” Kenney said.
Martin also said the district should have adopted the approach of Bryant, a town just outside Little Rock that reportedly let Paron patrons transfer after it annexed that system.
“ His comparison of Paron and Bryant, that doesn’t have anything to do with Greenland and Winslow, ” Groom said. “ It didn’t have nearly the impact as when you’ve got one small district annexing a very small district. ”
Kenney finished his last regular session as a state representative this year due to term limits and served as chairman of the education committee. He said expanding school choice is one of the first issues he would be inclined to bring up if he were to attend another session.
“ The preferences of parents to chose the best education opportunity for their children are being ignored, or at least put on the back shelf, by local policies and procedures, ” Kenney said.
Broadening school choice does have its ramifications. The race clause was probably an attempt to address desegregation and integration, District 3 state Sen. Ruth Whitaker of Cedarville said, though recent U. S. Supreme Court rulings have leaned against using race as a factor for school attendance.
Whitaker’s district covers the city of Winslow in addition to rural Crawford and Franklin counties.
“ It’s possible we may have to look at and expand that law, ” she said, but added she didn’t know what the solution would be.
District 7 state Sen. Sue Madison of Fayetteville said she wasn’t sure if or how school choice should be expanded, but she has had a lot of concerns about school boundary lines being flawed and outdated. She has attempted to introduce bills that would have allowed greater flexibility with changing boundaries, but those efforts have usually been opposed by superintendents on the grounds that each parcel counts as collateral on district debts.
“ The status quo doesn’t always work. We’ve got to start thinking about what’s in the best interest of these children, ” Kenney said.
Most legislators seem to agree that they won’t be able to enact any changes one way or another until the next regular legislative session in 2009.
“ It’s frustrating, ” Martin said.
A Greenland Central Office secretary didn’t have any information on how many of the 28 students who were denied transfer requests had gone ahead and enrolled in school. Superintendent Ron Brawner was out of the office this week.
Winslow resident Velma Duncan said she believed many of the parents who were denied transfers were trying to obtain housing in other districts.
Groom said he wasn’t sure what Brawner’s plans were for tracking down students who do not show up on Monday when school starts, but he was confident Brawner would address the matter.
Greenland would likely get a records request from students who move to other districts once they enroll at their new schools. Parents who opt to home-school have to register with their district of residence.
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