Arkansas education board allows local election to consider creating Sherwood School District

The Arkansas State Board of Education on Wednesday authorized an election allowing some Pulaski County voters to decide whether to establish a new Sherwood School District. 

The measure, which will be decided during the annual school elections on March 2, 2027, would detach the new district from the existing Pulaski County Special School District. 

The election on the new district was proposed in a resolution by the Sherwood Public Education Foundation that the Pulaski County Special School District board adopted last month. The new district would be created by detaching territory based on the Sylvan Hills High School attendance zone. 

Devin Bates, a lawyer for the Pulaski County Special School District, said the detachment has been discussed for more than a decade, but officials couldn’t move forward because of a desegregation order.

A federal judge ended a 43-year desegregation case in February, ruling that the Pulaski County Special School District was now providing equitable facilities to students after years of court supervision. 

Federal judge ends decades-old Little Rock-area school desegregation case

Linda George, Sherwood Public Education Foundation board member, said was “thrilled” by the board’s decision.

“After 100 years, the community of Sherwood will have the opportunity to make their voices heard and vote on what best represents the goals and vision of their community for their students,” George said in a statement.

The Pulaski County district, one of the largest in the state, has around 11,000 students and its boundaries wrap around the Little Rock and North Little Rock school districts. Under the proposal, about 4,600 students from the current district’s northeast quadrant would join the new Sherwood district. 

Scott Richardson, an attorney for the Sherwood Public Education Foundation, told the state education board Wednesday that he previously helped with the Jacksonville School District’s detachment from the Pulaski County School District. 

Supporters of Jacksonville and Sherwood detachments have cited concern that the Pulaski County Special School District is a large district with many different communities of interest, Richardson said. 

“And those communities of interest feel like their schools would be addressed if those communities could address the conditions they find there,” he said. “I would submit to you that has worked out well in Jacksonville. It’s all new facilities over there…and the schools are functioning well.”

State education board member David Peacock questioned how the split would affect student demographics.

“I spent a lot of time in the military, and you bring a lot of diverse communities together and as a result, the military’s a better organization because of it,” Peacock said. “I understand the desire to do this, but I think there’s also a loss associated with not being the melting pot that we once talked about pretty regularly.”

Jerrod Williams, a consultant for the Pulaski County Special School District, highlighted a feasibility study commissioned by the Sherwood Public Education Foundation that found racial demographics would be similar, with white students making up about a third of the population in both districts. The Black student population would increase from about 46% in Pulaski County to 49% in the new district, according to the report.

Peacock also asked for a breakdown of socioeconomic status.

“I just think it’s important that we look at all the different factors that impact the education, we shouldn’t just focus on race,” he said.

About 75% of students receive free meals at the Pulaski County Special School District, and that would increase to about 85% of students in the Sherwood district, according to the study. 

The March election will be open to voters who reside in the proposed district. If voters approve the detachment, the law allows a two-year transition period to stand up the new district, Williams said.