State of Arkansas' Takeover of Schools Challenged

Poynter Tucker, an Association of Law Firms has filed a lawsuit against the state of Arkansas’ continuing takeover of the Little Rock School District, as first reported by Arkansas Times.

This lawsuit challenges the restrictions that the state has placed on the Board, as it has been nearly six years after a state takeover for low standardized test scores in a handful of schools within the district.

Our lawsuit states that there is no authority in law for a state takeover that extends more than five years, according to the five-year trusteeship period, which ended in January. There is also no authority in law for Education Secretary Johnny Key’s criteria that controls every activity in the district.

Recently, they asserted control by naming a school, deciding on the designation of a principal, and asserted that it could act how they saw fit in order to control the district, which it no longer is legally allowed to do.

“There is no support in state law for extending State Board control beyond five years,” attorney Clarke Tucker says. “An elected school board, without the arbitrary ‘guardrails,’ should be in place now. The State Board waited too long to perform what the law requires and is now trying to extend its control beyond what the law allows.”

You can take a look at the full lawsuit by clicking here.

Poynter Law Group and Poynter Tucker, an Association of Law Firms is a team of class action attorneys that are looking to represent plaintiffs in this case, so that we can fight back against these state restrictions on the Little Rock School District. If you have an interest in pursuing legal action against the state of Arkansas, we invite you to contact us and take advantage of our free initial consultation.

Poynter Law Group is an Arkansas class action law firm dedicated to assisting clients in their legal matters. We are an experienced team of litigators with over 20 years of experience serving clients in Arkansas and other states across the country. If you are looking for the best litigators in Arkansas or if you’re searching “class action lawyers near me”, we’d love to get in touch and set up a free initial consultation.