Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva at a state Board of Education meeting.
Brian Chilson
More than a 3rd of Arkansas's private schools opted not to participate in the inaugural year of the state's brand-new coupon program. Some, like South Arkansas Christian School in Lewisville, stated they are still weighing the benefits of the Educational Freedom Account program and may participate the future.
" The first year, it was restricted on who could come anyway, and we seemed like we had a couple years to really make an informed choice about it," Administrator Andy Hawkins said. "So somebody reads through the document, inspecting to see if it would be useful for us to do it. Instead of rushing in, we felt it would be smart to take our time."
Developed through the LEARNS Act, the EFA program will be phased in over 3 years with first-year eligibility restricted to particular requirements, including getting in or having a disability kindergarten for the very first time. The program provides about $6,600 for allowed educational expenditures, including independent school tuition. The typical tuition cost at EFA schools has to do with $7,600.
" We are not negative toward it, it's not that we're opposed to it, we simply want to make certain it's great for us as a private school," Hawkins stated.
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South Arkansas Christian School opened in 2004 and has 41 students registered this fall. Tuition is $6,000 for kindergarten through 8th grade and $8,000 for 9th through 12th grade before scholarships and discounts, Hawkins stated.
" The county is poor, and we've constantly had a board that's been extremely supportive of allowing any trainee who wanted to be here to be able to come," he said. "We don't desire finances to stand in the method, so we work hard to help in any method we can."
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Nearly 24% of residents in Lafayette County where the school lies live in hardship, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That's the ninth greatest in the state.
In Jackson County, where the poverty rate is more than 22%, Christ Academy Principal Nyesha Greer said her school's application was authorized, but ultimately she decided to wait till the program is fully implemented and would benefit more of her trainees.
Christ Academy opened its doors in 2018 and serves grades 6 through 8. The Newport-based school, which has 14 trainees this fall, currently doesn't charge tuition. The school is connected with a church-- Seeds of Faith Fellowship-- that offers class area, and has actually relied on private donors and grants for financing.
" It's not a set quantity of money that we're working with every year, it's whoever offers and however much they offer, however we've been very, very blessed in that area of having some great individuals who give," Greer said.
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Greer is among three volunteers who teach for free, and charging tuition would offer a chance for development, she stated. The school's only paid staff member is a salaried full-time secretary.
Greer stated she anticipates Christ Academy will take part in the EFA program when it expands to all Arkansas trainees in year three.
" It actually works out in the long run since it provides our parents time to prepare from going from totally free tuition to having actually the paid tuition part of it, so all of that is what we're anticipating down the roadway," she said.
Ninety-four independent schools were taking part in the EFA program since Sept. 20, according to an Arkansas Department of Education report. That list differs somewhat from the 94 applications provided to the Advocate in August through a public records demand.
Christ Academy, Mt. Comfort Sonshine School and My Life My Power World Inc. all sent applications, but are not taking part in the inaugural year of the program.
ADE spokesperson Kimberly Mundell said these 3 schools were left out from the last list due to the fact that they have actually not yet sent all the requisite details to become an approved EFA school or due to the fact that they notified ADE they would not participate this year.
Central Arkansas Montessori, Crestline Academy and St. Joseph Catholic School in Paris were brand-new additions to the EFA participant list in September. St. Joseph Principal Michelle O'Neal stated her school used this summer, but its application was puzzled with another school with the same name, and the documents wasn't sorted out till later.
Mundell said these three schools' applications were processed after the August deadline.
" Please keep in mind that while we had a deadline for schools to facilitate a practical EFA procedure this year, we still accepted applications after the deadline," she said.
Increasing participation
In its first EFA report this month, ADE noted future opportunities for the program, consisting of broadening school choice options throughout the state, "particularly in presently underrepresented geographies."
In reaction to a request for comment from Education Secretary Jacob Oliva about why this is a crucial objective and whether he has a plan or particular techniques to increase participation, Mundell emailed the following statement:
" As mentioned previously, a one-size-fits-all technique does not work. LEARNS empowers moms and dads by supplying them educational alternatives. Despite a household's postal code, parents should have the chance to pick the school that finest satisfies the requirements of their kid."
One group of trainees who might be offered more access to EFA schools in the future are students in having a hard time schools. Students enrolled in schools with an "F"- ranking or Level 5 support during the 2021-2022 scholastic year are qualified for the inaugural year of the program. Just 55 of the almost 4,800 students taking part in the program satisfied this certification, according to the EFA report.
Forty percent of Arkansas's 95 "F"- ranked schools lie in 15 counties without any EFA school. 8 of those counties have no private schools, according to an Advocate analysis.
There is no single clearinghouse for Arkansas independent schools, but the Advocate individually confirmed the existence of 149 independent schools this spring.
Jefferson and Mississippi counties have the most "F"- ranked schools with 11 and 6, respectively. While Jefferson County has no independent schools, Mississippi has one-- The Delta School. A representative said while they appreciated the Advocate reaching out, "the school Administration would not like to make a declaration on their choice regarding the program."
Phillips County has the 3rd most "F"- rated schools with five. This includes the two schools in the Marvell-Elaine School District, which garnered much attention this summertime as a lawsuit challenged the implementation date of the state's very first change contract.
A provision of the LEARNS Act, a transformation contract allows a struggling school district to partner with an open-enrollment public charter school or another state board-approved entity to produce "a public school district change campus."
Phillips County has two private schools-- Marvell Academy and DeSoto School. Neither reacted to requests for comment sent through numerous emails as well as a message left with a secretary after calling each school's office.
Both schools opened in the 1970s and 1960s when there was a quick expansion of brand-new, non-parochial independent schools in the South. Typically called the "segregation academy" motion, these schools were focused in areas with large African American populations like Pulaski County and the Delta, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
Most of Marvell Academy's board of directors were members of a local pro-segregation group when the school opened in 1966, according to the encyclopedia entry.
Trainee EFA applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and an ADE authorities stated Tuesday that the state can take about 1,500 more trainees this year, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
The state might open applications in February for the 2024-20225 school year when an approximated 13,000 students will have the ability to participate as eligibility requirements expands in the program's second year.
Arkansas Advocate is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a union of donors as a 501c( 3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for concerns: info@arkansasadvocate.com. Follow Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and Twitter.
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