EDITORIAL
EYE ON ARKANSAS
God’s pickpockets
Still for progress
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s we explained last week, the Arkansas Times supports the proposed one-cent increase in the city sales tax that has been submitted to voters by the Little Rock Board of Directors. Early voting is underway. Election Day is Sept. 13.
6 SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 ARKANSAS TIMES
BRIAN CHILSON
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gang of parochial-school promoters hit town last month, soliciting public money to advance their private religious views. That such use of public tax dollars is unconstitutional, indeed baldly un-American, was not mentioned by them. An omission so great is like advocating war without conceding that people will die. Failure to disclose vital information is not exactly lying, but it’s close. The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing group that keeps the First Amendment under siege, sponsored a panel discussion at the Statehouse Convention Center. Foundation agents argued that Arkansas should create taxpayer-funded vouchers that could be used to send children to church schools and other private schools. This would further weaken the public schools that are among this country’s grandest achievements, but are always at risk from theocrats and plutocrats. Even worse, the proposal would violate the great American principle of separation of church and state, which lets the common people, not just the priests and the preachers, decide America’s direction. Most of the common people would prefer that the USA not be like Iran, say, or the other countries where church and state are one. If Rod Paige prefers the Iranian model, he should say so. Instead, Paige, who was U.S. secretary of Education under G.W. Bush, claims to fear “monopoly” in education, fear it so much that he’s willing to sacrifice freedom of religion. He can relax. There is no monopoly. People who want to send their kids to church schools can do so right now, they just can’t make the rest of us pay for it. That they also have the choice of sending the kids to public schools run by elected friends and neighbors is not monopoly. It’s democracy. Another of the speakers was Virginia Walden Ford, who was said to have helped spearhead a school voucher program in Washington that has sent many children to private schools, mostly Catholic. The Roman Catholic hierarchy has long been the most avid lobbyist for school vouchers. Now it’s picking up support from right-wing fundamentalist groups willing to align themselves with the Papists solely for the purpose of wiping out the public schools. Once that’s done, the two factions can take up arms again. It’s unimaginable that Rick Perry and Antonin Scalia could tolerate each other for very long.
BRING ON FALL: Sightseers enjoyed cooler temperatures at the Old Mill during the long Labor Day weekend.
The quiet election
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ittle Rock city officials have been running a stealth campaign — targeted mail and phone calls — for their effort to increase the city sales tax by 200 percent. But this electoral secrecy is nothing compared with the lack of attention given the Little Rock school election, which comes Sept. 20. If you look at the ballot, you’d think there’s nothing to vote on. No millage increase is proposed. The 46.4mill tax continues regardless. Zone 5 board member Jody Carreiro has no opposition. In the only other open race, Zone 1, only Norma J. Johnson filed for the ballot. But … Loretta Hendrix filed as a write-in candidate. Write-ins typically pose little threat, but in an election with little turnout it might not take many votes to win. In 2008 and 2005, fewer than 100 people cast ballots in Little Rock school elections when no contested races appeared on the ballot. In 2002, when Katherine Mitchell was elected by a narrow margin, two names appeared on the ballot and there was strong neighborhood interest. Still, only 716 people voted. So there’s cause to watch this race and — if you live in Ward 1 — to vote. Johnson brims with energy in talking about schools. Hendrix has less to say. She said she ran because Katherine Mitchell decided not to seek reelection and she appreciated Mitchell’s representation. Johnson declines to look back at Mitchell and the leadership debates in which Mitchell was a key player, most recently in the minority on a superintendent change. “I’m not running AGAINST anybody,” Johnson says. “I’m running for the position.” A state Highway and Transportation Department permits analyst, Johnson, 52, holds a master’s degree in adult education and is studying for a certificate in mediation and conflict resolution. Her son is a senior at Central High School, where she was a graduate.
Why is she running? “I can’t understand how kids can be in school 12 years and can’t read. I can’t understand why we’re failing a number of children.” She said school districts need MAX to be more open to change and BRANTLEY maxbrantley@arktimes.com different approaches — “to take risks.” She said she has an open mind on charter schools, but she also said traditional public schools should receive no less consideration. Hendrix, 62, daughter of City Director Erma Hendrix, told the Education Advocate, a local publication, that she wasn’t ready to talk about issues because she hadn’t been keeping up with them. She also said she had intended to file conventionally, but missed the deadline. She works in real estate and has a master’s degree in teaching people with learning disabilities. She has no children. “My one great issue is to make sure children get an equitable education and are well prepared at end of school year,” she said. Both candidates say that, so far, they’ve primarily paid for small campaign expenditures themselves. Hendrix said she’s knocking on 75 doors a day. She distributes a flyer that says, “You write in, we win!” and lists her education at Hall High and UAPB. Both candidates have been interviewed by the Little Rock Education Association, the union for district employees. The LREA supported Katherine Mitchell. But I’ll be surprised if the LREA doesn’t endorse Johnson, who seems more directly engaged in the district and aims to get other parents equally engaged. But if few people vote in a ward that has traditionally turned out few voters and has lost population besides, the outcome is anyone’s guess.