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Arkansas school board elections, 2025
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Elections
No Arkansas school districts within Ballotpedia's coverage scope are holding school board elections in 2025.
Our coverage scope for local elections continues to grow, and you can use Ballotpedia's sample ballot tool to see what school board elections we are covering in your area.
Recalls
- See also: Recall campaigns in Arkansas and School board recalls
| State | Specific grounds required? | Signature requirement | Petition circulation time | When recalls can start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | Yes: "(1) A moral failing leading to pending criminal charges; and (2) The loss of public trust."[1] | 35% of eligible electors | No time limit | Recalls can start at any time as long as the school board member has not been included in a previous recall effort during his or her current term. |
Academic performance
- See also: Public education in Arkansas
The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.
| 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.[2]
| 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
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.[2][3][4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
State profile
State profile
| Demographic data for Arkansas | ||
|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 2,977,853 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 52,035 | 3,531,905 |
| 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.[7]
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
- Elections in Arkansas
- United States congressional delegations from Arkansas
- Public policy in Arkansas
- Endorsers in Arkansas
- Arkansas fact checks
- More...
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.
Additional elections
- See also: Arkansas elections, 2025
Historical analysis
Ballotpedia covered school board elections for two seats in one school district in Arkansas in 2024. Below are some statistics about what happened in those elections. To read the full report on school board election analysis across the country in 2024, click here.
- 3 candidates ran for election, an average of 1.5 candidates per seat.
- 50% of school board incumbents ran for re-election, leaving 50% of the seats open for newcomers.
- 0% of incumbents were elected to new seats, winning 0% of the seats up for election.
- Non-incumbent candidates won 100% of the seats.
- 50% of seats up for election were unopposed.
See also
| Arkansas | School Boards | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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Footnotes
- ↑ Bill Track 50, "AR HB1933," accessed April 29, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ ACT, "2012 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT Scores by State 2013," October 10, 2013
- ↑ StudyPoints, "What's a good SAT score or ACT score?" accessed June 7, 2015
- ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Dropout and Graduation Rate Data File, School Year 2010-11, Provision Version 1a and School Year 2011-12, Preliminary Version 1a," accessed May 13, 2014
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
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