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Arkansas school board elections, 2018

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Elections

No Arkansas school districts within Ballotpedia's coverage scope held school board elections in 2018.

Issues

Districts change school board election dates after change in state law

Arkansas school districts voted in 2017 to switch their 2018 school board election dates to be held in either May or November rather than in September. The switch was nesseciated by Act 910, a bill that required school board elections to be held on the same day as state election dates starting in 2018. The bill allowed school boards to choose between the preferential primary date in May or the general election date in November. It also did not allow school districts to hold special elections for changes to their millage rates outside of the date they chose. The bill was signed into law on April 5, 2017.[1][2]

A majority of the state's largest school districts chose to hold their elections in May 2018. Of the eight holding elections, only two—the Bentonville School District and the Pulaski County Special School District—chose to hold their school board elections in November 2018.[2][3][4][5][6][7]

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Arkansas

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Education terms
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For more information on education policy terms, see this article.

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NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The chart below presents the percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade students who scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri), students in Arkansas generally scored above those in Louisiana and Mississippi, and below those in Missouri. The state's highest scores were earned by fourth-grade students in math, which tied with Missouri.[8]

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
Math - Grade 4 Math - Grade 8 Reading - Grade 4 Reading - Grade 8
Arkansas 39% 28% 32% 30%
Louisiana 26% 21% 23% 24%
Mississippi 26% 21% 21% 20%
Missouri 39% 33% 35% 36%
U.S. averages 41% 34% 34% 34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Arkansas and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[8][9][10]

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.[11]

Arkansas schools reported a graduation rate of 84.9 percent, second highest among its neighboring states.

In Arkansas, more students took the ACT than the SAT, earning an average ACT score of 20.2.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State Graduation rate, 2013 Average ACT composite, 2013 Average SAT composite, 2013
Percent Quintile ranking** Score Participation rate Score Participation rate
Arkansas 84.9% Second 20.2 90% 1,697 4%
Louisiana 73.5% Fifth 19.5 100% 1,655 5%
Mississippi 75.5% Fifth 18.9 95% 1,673 3%
Missouri 85.7% Second 21.6 74% 1,773 4%
United States 81.4% 20.9 54% 1498 50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally.
Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express"
ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores"
The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013"

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both SY 2010–11 and SY 2011–12. The event dropout rate for Arkansas was higher than the national average at 3.5 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout rate was lower than the national average at 3.2 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[12]

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Arkansas
 ArkansasU.S.
Total population:2,977,853316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):52,0353,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:78%73.6%
Black/African American:15.5%12.6%
Asian:1.4%5.1%
Native American:0.6%0.8%
Pacific Islander:0.2%0.2%
Two or more:2.1%3%
Hispanic/Latino:6.9%17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:84.8%86.7%
College graduation rate:21.1%29.8%
Income
Median household income:$41,371$53,889
Persons below poverty level:22.9%11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015)
Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Arkansas.
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Arkansas

Arkansas voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, one is located in Arkansas, accounting for 0.5 percent of the total pivot counties.[13]

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Arkansas had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Arkansas coverage on Ballotpedia

Pivot Counties

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of 75 Arkansas counties—1.33 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Woodruff County, Arkansas 8.91% 4.21% 7.46%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Arkansas with 60.6 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 33.7 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Arkansas voted Democratic 66.67 percent of the time and Republican 30 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Arkansas voted Republican all five times.

See also

Arkansas School Boards News and Analysis
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Footnotes