The state Board of Education had a busy day Monday hearing a long list of appeals of denials of school district transfers under the 2013 “school choice” law. The law opened the door to unfettered transfer, within numerical limits, unless a school district denied a transfer on account of past desegregation issues.
The Board turned down all appeals it heard Monday. It expressed regret generally and a few board members would have granted some cases.
Friday, the Board has five more appeals to hear at 11 a.m.. Three seem unlikely to be approved given Monday’s decisions — two from Marvell and one from Blytheville — where the resident school districts have cited past desegregation issues. Two appeals — from Mulberry and Hartford — were denied because those districts said they’d already reached the 3 percent limit on transfer applications.