Cynthia Howell

The average per pupil expenditure for Arkansas' open-enrollment charter schools was $11,745, according to the state's recently published Annual Statistical Report for the 2023-24 school year.

A plan to convert a private school in Maumelle to an open-enrollment charter school for students with dyslexia characteristics stalled Thursday over the school’s request to be exempted from state A-to-F letter grades.

The School Board for the Pulaski County Special School District on Tuesday voted to pursue a contract with the McPherson & Jacobson executive search firm to aid the 12,000-student district in hiring a new superintendent by July 1.

Pulaski County Special School District Superintendent Charles McNulty and the School Board on Thursday entered into an agreement that calls for McNulty to resign from the district in light of his “plans to retire from public education” by June 30. The board then voted 5-0 to hire Jerry Guess, a former superintendent in the district, to be the interim leader.

The average expenditure per Arkansas public school student was $13,326 in the 2023-24 school year, the latest year for which data is available in the newly released Arkansas Annual Statistical Report. The lowest average appeared to be the Farmington School District, which had an average daily attendance of 2,723 students last school year and reported spending $9,591 on each.

Interim leaders of the KIPP Delta Public Schools charter system on Thursday assured the Arkansas Board of Education that deficiencies that led to placing the system's accreditation on probation last month are being corrected.

A parent of children previously in the Quitman School District complained Thursday to the Arkansas Board of Education that district officials failed to respond to her complaints about bullying and abuse of a middle school-aged student.

Nearly half of the 126 private elementary and secondary schools participating in Arkansas' Educational Freedom Account voucher program this school year show that at least 50% of their students are relying on the taxpayer funding for tuition and other costs. In all, 14,297 students are using the vouchers, up from 5,548 last year.

The Little Rock School Board voted 5-3 late Thursday night to work with its lawyers to refer board member Vicki Hatter to Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva for "possible ethical concerns" with Hatter's employment.

At a "shovel ceremony" Monday at the site of what will be the Little Rock School District's Pinnacle View High School, 100 hard-hatted dignitaries and students used gold-tipped shovels to flip over blue-tinged dirt.