September 26, 2019 EditEdit with WPBakery Page Builder

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A plan to only grant Little Rock partial control of its schools is stoking fears that the district may return to a racially segregated “separate but equal” system 62 years after nine black students were escorted into an all-white high school.

The state took over Little Rock’s 23,000-student district in January 2015 because of to low test scores at six of the district’s 48 schools. With the five-year deadline for ending the takeover approaching, the state Board of Education last week came up with a plan to return only limited control of some schools to a local board that would be elected next year.

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Many details remain unclear, including what limits the new nine-member board would have on its authority and who would run the remaining schools. However, the plan has already prompted comparisons to the 1957 crisis over Little Rock Central’s integration. Opponents argue that the move would effectively create two districts, with several predominantly black schools still under some form of state control.