LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — The mayor of Little Rock is proposing returning local control to the city’s schools after a state plan to only grant limited authority drew complaints that the district could revert to a racially divided, “separate but equal” system.
Mayor Frank Scott on Monday proposed forming a temporary school board appointed by the city and state to run the district from January until November 2020, when a local board would be elected. Arkansas has been in control of the 23,000-student district since January 2015, when the district was taken over because of low test scores at several schools.
The board last month approved a plan to return only limited local control to the district, with a local board elected in November 2020.
Scott detailed the proposal three days before the state board is taking up a plan to end the local teachers union’s bargaining power.
