A group of Phillips County residents has filed a lawsuit against the Arkansas Board of Education, claiming that the board’s authorization of a “transformation contract” between the Marvell-Elaine School District and the Friendship Education Foundation was unconstitutional.
Little Rock attorney Ali Noland filed the lawsuit on Monday, arguing that the LEARNS Act, which allows for the “transformation contract,” is invalid because the emergency clause was not passed by a separate roll-call vote garnering a two-thirds majority, as required by the state Constitution.
The plaintiffs are asking for a court order to stop the implementation of the “transformation contract” until the LEARNS Act becomes law.
The Arkansas Advocate’s Antoinette Grajeda takes a deeper look at the lawsuit in an article that can be accessed by clicking here.
Grajeda notes the Marvell-Elaine School District was at risk of consolidation due to low enrollment, but the state board voted in April to allow the district to pursue a “transformation contract” instead.
Under the LEARNS Act, public school districts with a “D” or “F”-rating or in need of Level 5 – Intensive Support can partner with an open-enrollment public charter school or another state board-approved entity in good standing to create ‘a public school district transformation campus.’
Marvell-Elaine has a Level 5 classification, and its schools have an “F”-rating. The district was also in fiscal distress from April 2019 to September 2021.
On Friday, the state board authorized a first-of-its-kind arrangement to allow a charter school company, the Friendship Education Foundation, to run the Marvell-Elaine District.
Click here to learn more about the Arkansas LEARNS Act from the Arkansas Advocate.
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