Education Reform

Winslow students pose on the last day of school. Their district was consolidated and campus closed. Arkansas Act 60 of 2003 requires public school districts with less than 350 students to consolidate with other districts in order provide a constitutionally equitable and adequate education. The measure, first implemented, ignited a firestorm of opinion, pitching rural communities against the state department of education and lawmakers. Seven years later, Jacqueline Froelich assesses what happened and some early results.