Copyright Arkansas Online
The Pine Bluff School District board and administration are breaking one law and portend to break another. They're not alone. Specifically, Act 120 requires districts to list names, positions, email addresses, and terms of all school board members on the district's website. The Pine Bluff School District lists accurate names, positions and emails, but posts inaccurate terms for three members: Bonita Corbin (Zone 6) and Patrick Lockett (Zone 7), whose terms are posted as expiring in 2030, and Charles Colen (Zone 5), whose term is posted as expiring in 2028. According to Act 503 (www.arkleg.state.ar.us/Home/FTPDocument?path=%2FACTS%2F2025R%2FPublic%2FACT503.pdf), sponsored by Rep. Brit McKenzie and Sen. Jane English, only those elected in 2025 may have terms expiring in 2030. "Initially, terms for members elected in 2025 shall expire: (A) For school boards adopting four-year terms in 2028; or (B) For school boards adopting six-year terms in 2030." Pine Bluff elected no one in 2025. When Corbin and Lockett were elected in 2024, both were for five-year terms expiring in 2029. Therefore, all board members in the state whose terms expire in 2029 must stand for election in 2028, not 2030. This is by design, as the sponsors believed no current board members should have terms longer than those conferred by voters. The Act continues: "For other members of a school district board of directors currently holding terms, terms set to expire on or in: (A) 2026 shall expire in 2026; (B) 2027 shall expire in 2026; (C) 2028 shall expire in 2028; and (D) 2029 shall expire in 2028." Dr. Colen was appointed to a five-year in 2022, so his term, originally expiring in 2027, is up in 2026. By misstating the law on its website, the district is interfering with the legally required election of three board members. The period to gather petition signatures to run for school board opened Aug. 15. The period to submit the petitions of at least 20 signatures of qualified electors opened at noon Nov. 3 and closes at noon Wednesday, Nov. 12. Because of Act 503, the election for school board members in Arkansas will now be held on the Preferential Primary, the next of which is March 3, 2026. No matter what the Pine Bluff School District says on its website, four school board seats are up for election in 2026: Zone 1 (Jomeka Edwards), Zone 2 (LozAnne Calhoun), Zone 3 (Ricky Whitmore), and Zone 5 (Charles Colen), with Zone 4 (Sederick Rice), Zone 6 (Bonita Corbin), and Zone 7 (Patrick Lockett) up in 2028. The 2026 winners would then draw lots to determine which two get four-year terms and which two retain six-year terms so that "as nearly as possible an equal number of positions are filled every school board election" (two expiring in 2030, two expiring in 2032, and three elected in 2028 expiring in 2034). Ironically, even their own statement on this link www.livebinders.com/b/2839884, click Board Members) is proof that they know, but are disregarding the law: "In accordance with Act 503 of 2025, beginning with the March 3, 2026 election (the preferential primary), terms for Pine Bluff School Board members shall be set at six years." It could not be clearer. Six-year terms are to be set beginning (our emphasis) with the March 3, 2026, election, not before, as they claim now. This egregious misstatement of the law must be corrected immediately so that citizens of the Pine Bluff School District may participate in free, fair and legal elections in March. Citizens should not have to bear the burden and expense of seeking judicial relief when their elected representative governments refuse to follow the law. As for Act 120, a review of every school district website in Arkansas reveals that even after the law went into effect on Aug. 5, only 30 percent of the school districts were in compliance, listing board member names, positions, email addresses, and terms. What good are laws if they are not enforced? Editor's note: In a Friday morning news release, the Pine Bluff School District announced that "the Board has directed the Jefferson County Clerk to immediately open ZONE 5 for candidate filing for the March 2026 election." Gary Newton advocates for the core principles of student-focus, transparency, accountability, rewards, and choice in education.
