By RICK KRON
Leader staff writer
Local leaders pushing for a stand alone Jacksonville school district called federal Judge Brian Miller’s decision to end $70 million in annual desegregation payments to the three Pulaski Country school districts the right move.
Attorney Mike Wilson, who along with many others, has worked hard to bring charter schools to the area and is pushing for an independent Jacksonville school district, said he was in the middle of reading the 111-page decision. “This is huge,” he said.
He said the judge ruled that Pulaski County Special School District was unitary in three or four areas, but not in six or eight. “But, most importantly, he released the state from its $70 million payments to all three districts in the county.”
Wilson believes the ruling doesn’t directly affect the city’s efforts to get its own school district.
“But the tone of the ruling is that the judge is all for local control. So the court may look favorably on us putting our feet on the ground and moving forward,” Wilson said.
He said the local groups pushing for the standalone district need to push harder. “We have a lot of talent in this area and through collaboration and goodwill we can go a long way.”
Wilson speculated that the district could be insolvent by losing desegregation funding.
The judge said that the state of Arkansas was using a carrot and stick approach with the three Pulaski County school districts and that those districts have become wise mules and learned how to eat the carrot and sit down on the job. The judge, in his decision, said, “The time has finally come for all carrots to be put away. These mules must now either pull their proverbial carts on their own or face a very heavy and punitive stick.”
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher, who is in Montgomery, Ala., attending a national security conference at the War College, was excited by the news.
“It’s a tremendous first step and will hopefully push us closer to our ultimate goal of having our own district. It’s never good to have a school district under federal control or scrutiny and this frees up money that can be used elsewhere. I don’t know all the details of the ruling yet, but it is a positive step for us,” he said.
In his ruling, Miller said rewarding the districts with state money for failing to eradicate the achievement gap between white and black students was an “absurd outcome.”
Sherwood Mayor Virginia Hillman had just read a little bit about it Thursday night. “I just don’t know enough about the ruling to really comment,” she said. She added that this would be a financial hit for the district, which is already in fiscal distress. “They’ll have to adjust priorities and expenses.”
