On Tuesday, , voters in the Little Rock School District will have an historic opportunity to change the trajectory of public education in this city for generations to come. This election offers citizens a bold vision for our schools by extending not increasing the current tax rate to fund significant improvements on existing campuses and build new ones in areas where promises have been too long unfulfilled and where growth has been too long ignored.
In the realm of public education, policy decisions are rarely simple. In fact, since joining the Little Rock School Board less than a year ago, I have been faced with some of the most difficult choices I could have imagined.
A kindergarten-through-eighth grade school, a northwest area high school and brick-and-mortar classrooms to replace the portable-building-row at Central High are among the projects to be funded by a proposed 12.4-mill property tax extension, Little Rock School District leaders say.
The Little Rock School District's starting salary for a beginning 190-day teacher with a bachelor's degree will go from $36,000 to $43,000 for this school year and the top salary will increase to $72,875, according to a three-year proposal pending before employees and the School Board.