‘We Believe In Democracy’ (Editorial)

Linda Chesterfield

Voters in the Little Rock School District made their voices heard Tuesday: No taxation without representation.

Almost 65 percent of those voting opposed extending a tax to raise $160 million for the district. The overwhelming defeat came despite an uneven playing field. Citizens Against Taxation Without Representation raised only about $3,000 to campaign against the tax plan, while the Committee to Rebuild Our Schools Now raised 10 times that, more than $30,000.

It’s been two years since the state of Arkansas took control of the LRSD and dismantled the school board. It cited six academically distressed schools, a number now reduced to three. The takeover and lack of local control have deeply divided the city, a situation that benefits no one. And there’s no doubt that the district needs the money an extension of the millage would have provided.

With the vote, however, school district patrons declared they won’t volunteer to give the district more of their money when they don’t think they’re being represented. This attitude is as American as it gets.

State Sen. Linda Chesterfield, speaking Wednesday at a rally to press for a locally elected school board, acknowledged the need to heal the divisions, then added: “But I had great hope when I saw the results of the election by precinct, because across the city, the citizens of this school district sent a message: ‘No taxation without representation.’ They didn’t just say it in southwest or the East End. They said it across the city. This should be a message to these folks: We believe in democracy.”

Chesterfield on Wednesday joined eight other lawmakers from Pulaski County in calling on the state to reinstate a locally elected school board “as soon as possible but no later than 2018.”

We agree, with an emphasis on the “as soon as possible.”