Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Thomason explains session at Emmet

State Rep. Chris Thomason had little good news for patrons of the Emmet School District.

Thomason attended the March 1 meeting of the Emmet School Board, as did several local residents. He gave a history of how the current situation came into being.

The actual beginning was with the Lake View lawsuit, which resulted in the Arkansas Supreme Court mandating the state to provide a free adequate and equitable public education for every student in Arkansas, as set forth in the state's Constitution.

Jim Argu, with the Arkansas Department of Education, he said, went along with Gov. Mike Huckabee's initial plan of consolidating all high schools with populations less than 1,500. This consolidation, Thomason said, would have meant students being physically moved in grades 9-12. Students in K-8 would have remained where they were  at least for a while.

According to Thomason, some of the superintendents of small schools did nothing to help their cause during the special session. "Gene Ross did a good job," he said. "He offered the information and advice we needed. I wish it had turned out differently."

There was considerable discord among the legislators concerning consolidation, he said, especially the idea of basing it on numbers. Throughout the session Thomason voted against all consolidation issued using numbers.

Still, the figure dropped from the initial 1,500 to 750, from there to 500, settling at 350. But, he said, there was some confusion when the number reached 500. This is where talk of administrative consolidation began, winding up at 350 when all was said and done. "I didn't support the number based bills and voted against them," he said.

The problem, Thomason said, is the bills presented didn't focus on the students. Instead, the issues involved revolved around consolidation, facilities and funding.

"Dr. Ross," he said, "said his job was to ensure the integrity of the school and making sure the children in Emmet are educated in Emmet even if it cost him his job. This is the kind of superintendent you have."

While the students are safe for now, a facilities study will be done between now and when school begins in August for the 2004-2005 academic year. The facility reports, he said, will be given to the ADE, Legislature and Masters. There is some misconceptions about the Masters, who are nothing more than fact finders, according to Thomason, and can't make any changes to the educational system on their own.

Originally the Legislature was hearing the court may take the Lake View case back, Thomason said, to see if the state is in compliance with court orders.

One thing people forgot, he said, is while it is the Legislature's job to deal with education, the General Assembly can't call itself into session. This can only be done by the governor, and Huckabee didn't call a special session until Dec. 8, 2003. Thomason said the Legislature wanted to recess until the adequacy study was done, then reconvene, but this didn't happen.

"This is the most important issue in the state," he said, "and it's difficult to cram it all into three weeks. The facility study is to make sure all school buildings are in good shape and adequate.

"Where Lake View boiled down was not enough money was being spent on education, and everyone wasn't getting their fair share. This had to be changed."

Arkansas, he said, is now funding its schools in a manner unlike every other state in the nation. When the state's budget is being done, the first thing examined is how much it will cost to fund education. This amount is then set aside. Whatever is left will be used to run the government and fund other services.

This, he said, assures the education budget can never be cut and puts the education of children on the top step. Putting education first, he added, also puts the future of the state on the top step as well.

Initially, a study was done to see if the state needed to go to a rich curriculum. Huckabee funded this study, which reported the 38 minimum courses are plenty, and may be too much. The study showed what needs to be done is teach the core courses better, Thomason said.

"We attempted to instill discipline during the session because we know it's a tough issue for schools," he said. "There will be more student accountability and more testing along with more comparison exams and longitudinal tracking."

Teachers weren't forgotten during the session, he said, and were given raises they deserve.

The Omnibus education bill gave the ADE power to close schools not meeting standards, he said. But this won't apply to administratively consolidated schools for three years. "I'm not sure we could separate schools based on grading. It's a legitimate concern about future consolidation based on higher numbers.

"We tried to address equitable and adequate education with the new funding formula and I think we came close. This was my first session and it's been a tough go-round. It's been a difficult and stressful atmosphere."

The court, he said, wasn't able to give specifics on how to correct the inequities in education, but did give the Legislature guidelines to go by. The court will also be making the final decision on whether or not the Legislature met these guidelines.

"The Constitution requires us to pay for public education," Thomason said. "Public schools are what made the U.S. a great nation. We are where we are because of the good things in public education. It is the essence of the American dream, offering us the opportunity to better our lives, and our children to better theirs."