Election necessary
Prevent taxation sans representation
Next year will be the most consequential and highest-voter-turnout school board elections in Arkansas history, as districts rezoned because of the 2020 census are required to hold all-new elections.
And for the first time ever, thanks to Act 910 (by Rep. Mark Lowery and Sen. Jane English) of the 91st General Assembly, the post-census rezoned elections will be held in the high-turnout primary or general elections, instead of the low-turnout third Tuesday in September long preferred and protected by the status quo.
And yet, school district-focused forces, led by the Arkansas School Boards Association (ASBA)—which has long fought holding school board elections when most people vote— are working to subvert this hard-won maximization of democracy by proposing to introduce a bill in the special session to not require the new elections—meaning it wants incumbent school board members representing people who had no opportunity to vote for them.
A similar bill was introduced late in the 93rd General Assembly, and Arkansas Learns, the voice of consumers of public education, was asked to speak against it, which we did. The bill failed to get a vote in the House Committee on Education.
For the record, Arkansas Learns supports abolishing the unconstitutional requirement for zoned school boards and offered to collaborate with the ASBA to see that bill passed late in the 93rd General Assembly, but its leadership refused.
The ASBA, a publicly funded, private 501(c)(4) organization, has also refused to join 15 other states (and counting) in resigning from its anti-parent parent—the National School Boards Association (NSBA), which colluded with the Biden administration to treat dissenting parents as potential “domestic terrorists.”
Until Arkansas joins Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Wisconsin in resigning from the NSBA, the ASBA should have zero credibility with Arkansas school board members and student-focused state policymakers when it comes to anything associated with how school boards are governed by the people.
Historically, the Arkansas School Boards Association has always recommended holding new elections when board zones are redrawn. So what changed?
Election dates!
When the ASBA recommended new elections after the 2010 census, school board elections were held that third Tuesday of September and were dominated by district employees and controlled by the status quo.
Now that the people have asserted their power over school district governments by moving board elections to when most voters vote, the ASBA cries foul.
The ASBA also enabled the issue it now decries. This year we supported Senate Bill 619 (by Senator English) to move all school board elections to even-numbered years—like every other election—and establish staggered, four-year terms for all school board members, but the ASBA fought and defeated the bill in the Senate Committee on Education. It preferred continuing unfair odd-year, low-turnout elections for some members and evenyear, high-turnout elections for others.
So now, because of the ASBA’s opposition, most elected by zone in low-turnout 2021 must stand for re-election in high-turnout 2022.
To ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to vote for who will represent them in the largest and richest local governments in Arkansas— school districts—new elections must be held in 2022 for all board zones redrawn because of the 2020 census.
Then, in 2023 at the 94th General Assembly, Arkansas Learns will gladly champion an effort to remove the unconstitutional zone requirements for school districts. The people should have the right to decide how the people will be represented—zoned, atlarge, or a combination.
And if they choose zones, new elections must be held every time the people’s maps are redrawn. Otherwise, it’s taxation without representation.
Gary Newton is the president and CEO of Arkansas Learns, the voice of parents, taxpayers and employers for excellent education opportunities for all students, no matter their residence. For more information, visit ArkansasLearns.org.