254 to 162. In the only contested school board race in the Little Rock School District, Norma Johnson defeated write-in candidate Loretta Hendrix in Zone 1.
According to the 2010 census, there are at least 17,596 voting age adults in Zone 1. That means only two percent of those eighteen and over voted for their representative to help lead the largest local government entity in Arkansas.
By contrast, in the preceding week's special election to increase the City sales tax by a penny, city-wide turnout was around 16% of those eighteen and over. For perspective, the Little Rock School District's $350 million annual budget is over twice the size of the City of Little Rock's.
The real winner in this election are those statewide special interests which continue to lobby against any change which would threaten their low-turnout domain - school district central administrators, incumbent school board members, and teachers unions. Those are the groups which lobbied against my proposed legislation to change school elections to the primary to ensure greater public participation. The House Education Committee voted unanimously to send the proposal to interim study, the legislative equivalent of Siberia.
Legislators outside of Little Rock can complain about state spending in Pulaski County's public schools all they want, but the reality is they have perpetuated a system which continues to reap exactly what they continue to sow. When the people are deliberately disengaged from governance of their public schools, a district's decisions will reflect the will of those truly in charge (see list above).
I pray that Ms. Johnson will take her 254 votes as a mandate to immediately lead her Zone and District in putting students first over the agendas of self-serving adults.
