Sen. Joyce Elliott was the second Black graduate of her newly integrated high school. If elected, she’ll be the first Black lawmaker Arkansas sends to Congress.
Sam Ledbetter, who cast the pivotal vote for state takeover of the Little Rock School District in January 2015, writes that state supervision hasn't worked and that it's time to return local control to the district as soon as possible.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette today has an op-ed from three former members of the state Board of Education outlining their ideas on the future of the Little Rock School District. Read it, should the newspaper pay wall allow.
Former State Board of Education chair Sam Ledbetter, who was the decisive vote to take over the district back in Jan. 2015, urged the board to reject the proposed waivers. "If in January 2015, I had any notion that this board would act in this manner, I assure you my vote on state takeover would have been against it," he said.
Ledbetter, the former state Board of Education chair who cast the decisive vote in 2015 to take over the LRSD, writes that Education Commissioner Johnny Key "has shown time and again that he is out of touch with our community and the needs of the district." However, Ledbetter supports the May 9 vote as a positive for the district's students and staff.
The Arkansas Supreme Court today agreed with the state Education Department that it was immune from lawsuit over the takeover of the Little Rock School District.
In a 7-1 vote, the State Board of Education delivered a surprising rebuke to Gov. Asa Hutchinson ths morning, rejecting his recommendation to enter into a new testing contract with ACT that would have traded the PARCC test for an assessment called the ACT Aspire.
Here's a sincere question: Why does the state Education Department continue to avoid community outreach when it comes to making major decisions about the Little Rock School District?
A KUAR report on the pending legislation backed by Walton-funded lobbyists to allow private companies to run parts or all of the former Little Rock School District includes some second thoughts from Little Rock lawyer Sam Ledbetter, chair of the state Board of Education.