{"id":1505,"date":"2017-03-09T23:20:23","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T23:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/?p=1505"},"modified":"2017-03-09T23:20:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T23:20:23","slug":"bill-that-would-give-charter-schools-rights-to-public-school-buildings-passes-in-house-after-vote-to-reconsider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/03\/09\/bill-that-would-give-charter-schools-rights-to-public-school-buildings-passes-in-house-after-vote-to-reconsider\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill that would give charter schools rights to public school buildings passes in House after vote to reconsider"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Rep. Mark Lowery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A bill that would grant Arkansas charter schools the right to buy or lease\u00a0unused or underutilized public school buildings passed in the House 53-32 Thursday.<\/p>\n

Senate Bill 308 failed Wednesday\u00a0in\u00a0the House, 50-32. But Rep. Aaron Pilkington (R-Clarksville), who previously voted no, made a motion that the bill be reconsidered Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"A quality in leadership is being able to admit when you are wrong. I was wrong yesterday when I voted no,\" Pilkington said, adding that a few members were presenting bills in Senate committees and were not present to vote on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Pilkington joined Rep. Jeff Williams (R-Springdale) and Rep. Lanny Fite (R-Benton) in voting yea on Thursday after voting nay on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Rep. John Walker (D-Little Rock) spoke against the motion to reconsider. \"Nothing has changed between yesterday and today. It was a bad bill yesterday and it allowed unnecessary havoc for school districts and it promoted flight from communities in peril where schools were the underpinning of the community. Nothing has changed.\"<\/p>\n

Charter schools already have right of first refusal under previous legislation, but only if a district elects to sell. Senate Bill 308 would add the requirement that school districts submit a yearly report to the state that identifies all unused or underutilized public school facilities. A charter school could then give notice of its intent to purchase or lease the facility and preference would go to the charter school.<\/p>\n

The bill also states that\u00a0a district cannot sell or lease a public school property to a third party that is not a charter school for two years after the facility is listed as unused or underutilized by the state Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.<\/p>\n