Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Roebuck answers questions about Huckabee's plan

Following the release of Gov. Mike Huckabee's proposal for education in Arkansas, public meetings have become the norm.

Recently, Rep. Tommy Roebuck attended a public meeting at the Gurdon City Hall to hear the concerns people have about Huckabee's plan.

Roebuck told the crowd the state has been ordered to revamp the educational system and make it both adequate and equitable. At this time, work is underway by the legislature to define these terms.

Huckabee's plan, though, calls for those districts with less than 1,500 students to be consolidated. There are currently 76 districts with the requisite number of students.

However, there are 310 districts in the state, and, under the proposal, this figure would be reduced to 116, with the high school students having to go elsewhere.

The plan allows districts to file for charter status, or work with other districts to merge on their own.

Gurdon Superintendent Bobby Smithson said school's Gurdon's size want the chance to prove they can meet the standards before being forced into consolidation.

He said the decision was based on a three-legged stool, with one leg  funding  not being there.

Gurdon, he said, wouldn't have a problem offering the 38 = credits the state will require, but the second foreign language may be offered by distance learning or through a shared teacher.

Smithson said districts deserve a chance, and is leery of one or two people calling most of the shots and the state determining curriculum.

Roebuck said schools can't be consolidated based on an arbitrary number, and the idea is to give students a better education.

"Education in Arkansas has got to get better," he said. "Economic development is based on education. We need more students in colleges and universities.

"Education is the number one concern in Little Rock and will dominate the session, though there are other major issues to be addressed."

Gurdon Mayor Clayton Franklin said as he reads the issue, the Arkansas Supreme Court is telling the people of Arkansas the education of children is the state's responsibility and not local school boards.

"How did we get to the point where the state controls the school?" he asked.

"We can't lose local control of schools," Roebuck answered. "Little Rock can determine curriculum and fund it, but we need local control to set policy."

Local boards, he said, know more about what is needed than those in Little Rock at the Arkansas Department of Education.

The state constitution, he added, says the state is responsible for providing a free education to all children in Arkansas. What is needed, though, is more involvement on the local level from parents and the community.

Huckabee's plan, he continued, would make all superintendents state employees and this wouldn't work.

Billy Tarpley, a member of the Gurdon School Board, said the governor was bold in his proposal, but when change is examined the word consolidation comes up with districts the size of Gurdon.

Instead of focusing on consolidation, he said, people need to look at this as an opportunity to chance and shine. "There is room for improvement and areas we can shine in."

Roebuck said Gurdon has some of the finest facilities in the state. But, he added if the district wanted to go the charter route, it would be a solution to the number issue.

Bigger, Roebuck said, does not necessarily mean better, but with the court ruling there will be change.

State Sen. Percy Malone was also on hand to discuss the issue. He said the constitution requires the state to provide an adequate and equitable education for all children in the state, but no education bill has been proposed yet.

A committee has been formed to define these terms, and it is hoped an answer will be ready by July.

"We should have already complied with the constitution," Malone said. "In 1995, the legislature told the ADE to make the changes, but it did nothing."

There are some things, he said, that haven't been fully explored yet. These include distance learning and sharing teachers, but education in Arkansas doesn't need to be number driven.

"We can provide an education, but it will cost more," he said. "There will be fewer districts, but not necessarily just one school. We're a long way from having a bill ready."

Malone said the 1,500 number got people talking about consolidation, not education, and the focus needs to be on improving education.

The technology, Roebuck said, is there to help teachers, and this is an area where the educational cooperatives can help. These co-ops can play a big part in education in Arkansas.

He said teachers need to be paid more, and this is a problem in the Delta, the poorest area of the state.

Accountability, he said, is needed from all involved. This includes the schools, students, parents and communities. "There would be more progress if we could get parents involved."

Malone said he's lost confidence in the ADE. "One of the reason's we're here now is due to the ADE's decisions over the years."

With consolidations, he said, the big issue will be transportation, and this will eat up a lot of the budget, and new construction will be required to comply with the court order and keep a central location.

"We need control from the bottom up, not the top down," Malone said. "We don't want to go back to the court system with this again. We need to be patient and thoughtful."