ASBA head calls for legislator accountability
Tony Prothro, executive director of the Arkansas School Boards Association, challenged the public to hold state legislators accountable for their decisions in support or opposition to public schools.
“The challenge now — and I think this is the message not only for Arkansas, but for our sister states of Louisiana and also Mississippi — I think this is a time for board members, for parents, for educators and for everyone involved, interested and concerned with public education to stand up and look at your current legislators,” Prothro said.
“Because almost everyone will say, ‘I support public education,’ but let’s start looking at their voting records. Call them out.”
Prothro addressed attendees of the Southern Region Leadership Conference Tuesday in Horner Hall of the Hot Springs Convention Center during the closing general session. The session included presentations by the executive directors of the Louisiana and Mississippi school boards associations, Scott Richard and Michael Waldrop, respectively.
The ASBA saw the 2017 legislative session as a success, especially considering the negative projections. Prothro said he and Boyce Watkins, ASBA advocacy director, began work in 2015 on a legislative packet for this year’s session.
“If we could have taken the deal, I would have taken it in January, because it came out a lot better than what we expected,” Prothro said. “We really thought we were going to come out a lot worse than what we did. I will say that many needs of our public schools were not met.”
A 1-percent increase in foundational funding fell below the cost of living adjustment. Successes of the session included the use of video evidence to prosecute drivers who pass stopped school buses, penalties for school board members who do not obtain required training and opportunities to meet requirements, lifetime teaching licenses, verification of proper school board zones and the defeat of multiple attempts to introduce a private school voucher program.
“I can tell you that board members, administrators, parents and communities stood up and said, ‘No, not even a pilot program in Arkansas,’” Prothro
“Because almost everyone will say, ‘I support public education,’ but let’s start looking at their voting records. Call them out.” —Tony Prothro, executive director of the Arkansas School Boards Association
said. “And it was defeated. Thank you for that.”
An increasingly divisive environment in the state Capitol was most disappointing for Prothro. He said his staff made pleas to little or no avail to show legislators how proposals would have detrimental effects on public schools.
“Sometimes we would get the response, ‘This is the agenda I signed on for. I have already promised this is the way I would vote. I’m sorry I can’t help you,’” Prothro said. “Many times, especially in those closed discussions, they may agree with us, but the vote had already been given away.
“That is happening more often and more often, and I do not see that changing, because many times people are signing onto a platform of things that really don’t have a lot to do with kids. It may be about abortion. It may be about gun control. It may be about a lot of other social issues that are out there and public education in that arena may be lost.”
Prothro said voters should find and support candidates for office who will truly support public education.
“We are seeing a grass roots movement at this time right in this town that we are in right here today,” Prothro said. “We are seeing people step up that are pro-public education and they are saying, ‘I am going to run against this person. I am going to run for this office and I am going to support public education.’
“Those are the people that we know we can support. They can’t do it (alone). There’s big money involved in this game. It is going to take the support of you and your families and everyone to get out — sometimes money — to get these people elected to office that are going to support public education. That’s the game-changer.”
Prothro challenged the public to study how legislators vote and hold them accountable.
“If they are not voting the way we need them to vote, if they are not representing the way we want to be represented, try to find that candidate that’s out there that will support your agenda,” Prothro said.
The Southern Region Leadership Conference was developed several years ago when the National School Boards Association began to contemplate shuttering their regional conferences. The state association boards in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi viewed their regional conference as a valuable educational and networking opportunity and an alternative to attending national event.
“Through our boards of directors from all three states and through working with the other executive directors, we came up with the people who attended most for the southern region in all of the past years being from the states of Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas,” Prothro said. “It is a lot of work to put this on.”
Early sessions were held Sunday afternoon. An opening general session was held Monday morning in Horner Hall before concurrent sessions were offered throughout the day in the convention center and on Tuesday morning.
Prothro said he believes in the importance of local school boards. He said the annual school election in September has been wonderful for the state.
“I don’t think politics should play a part in the education of children,” Prothro said. “I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
Prothro said low voter turnout for school elections meant ballots were cast by concerned and interested citizens. A new law will change the mechanisms for school elections.
Districts must choose between holding their elections with the primaries in the spring or the general election in November beginning in 2018. He said candidates and schools will face increased costs with higher turnout.
“We have already been told big money is going to be pushed behind certain candidates, sometimes in opposition,” Prothro said. “Sometimes, possibly, pushing a message that may not be there for public education in a positive manner as we know it today.”
Arkansas does not have recall elections. Prothro drew on his small town experience in opposition to recall elections.
“If you fired a cousin or if you expelled the wrong kid, the whole school board would be recalled,” Prothro joked. “‘Little Johnny didn’t mean to burn down the third-grade building.’”
Prothro said he believes the board members should be held accountable for actions as well. He said the ASBA is working to develop mechanisms to hold board members accountable and remove them in extreme cases.
The first Southern Region Leadership Conference hosted in conjunction between the Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi school boards association was held in Biloxi, Miss. The conference will return to Biloxi next year.