As a state representative and now as mayor of Pine Bluff, Vivian Flowers has not been shy about her thoughts of the Pine Bluff School District’s board election structure.
The Arkansas Board of Education restored local control in the district, meaning board members could make final decisions independent of the state Education Department overview, in September 2023. All seven board members at the time were previously appointed by a state board-sponsored committee out of a pool of 30 applicants the previous December to serve with limited authority, with the final decisions coming from the state education secretary.
But Flowers, along with other district stakeholders, has stated that all seven board positions should immediately be up for election, now that the Pine Bluff School Board board has full authority. The cries for this have been amplified in the past month, with some stakeholders taking their concerns to a state board meeting in Little Rock and then to the district board Monday night, the first time since local control was restored public comments were made during one of its meetings.
“This is not about who’s elected or who’s not,” said Flowers, a state representative for 10 years who won election for mayor last November. “The bottom line is, just like every other school district before us, we were released from state control and we should, as a city, elect our own school board members. What I feel very strongly about is that, whether it’s the same school board members — who I think has served us well, for the record — whether it’s the same school board members who run and are elected, which I think they would have been, honestly, had we done this because they were very successful in bringing us to be released (from state control) and serve as an independent school district … but we still need to have an elected school board.”
Flowers co-sponsored a bill with State Sen. Clarke Tucker, D-Little Rock, in 2023 to ensure that district exiting the highest level of support from the state Education Department “shall be returned to full local control.” The bill is now Act 633 of 2023.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Flowers wrote in a July 9 letter to Education Secretary Jacob Oliva: “A fully elected school board is a critical step in strengthening transparency, accountability, and local investment in the success of our students and educators.”
Charline Wright, Julius Wright and Andranette “Ann” Anderson-Gragg have been vocal about allowing all seven board positions to be placed on the ballot immediately. They are members of the Concerned Stakeholders of the Pine Bluff School District, a citizen-led group of which Charline Wright is chairwoman.
Pine Bluff Attorney Gene McKissic also wrote a letter of support for an all-board election.
“School boards are elected positions,” McKissic said. “They are public servants. They ought to be elected by the people they serve.
“To me, it’s a suppression of voter rights. It’s insulting to me we have to have somebody appointed, like we don’t have self-determination.”
Charline Wright said the group is considering legal action against the district for what it calls a fully elected board. McKissic declined to comment whether he’s been approached about filing such a lawsuit.
But when the state board held a meeting at the Pine Bluff Convention Center in September 2023, that body accepted a recommendation from PBSD Board President Sederick Charles Rice to stagger the elections to promote continuity of success within the district. Rice said he had no trepidation about the district possibly falling back into state control without a staggered schedule.
Originally one seat each would be on the ballot in 2024, 2025 and 2026 and two seats each in 2027 and 2028.
Bonita Corbin in Zone 6 was appointed to the board in March 2024 after Stephen A. Broughton moved out of the district. Corbin ran for election the following November as a result and won (she was unopposed).
Patrick Lockett defeated Charline Wright in that same election for the Zone 7 seat vacated by Lori Walker-Guelache, who chose not to run for re-election.
Act 503 of 2025 has altered the school board election dates. PBSD Superintendent Jennifer Barbaree announced Monday seats for zones 1, 2 and 3 – currently held by Jomeka Edwards, LozAnne Calhoun and Ricky Whitmore Jr. — will be up for election March 3, 2026; seats for zones 4 and 5 — held by Rice and Charles Colen — will be up in March 2028, and zones 6 and 7 will be up in March 2030.
After consulting with the PBSD’s legal team, Barbaree said, the district determined six-year terms for each election winner to make for a 3-2-2 rotation to satisfy Act 503. A four-year term, which is an option provided by Act 503, would have created unequal turnover, Barbaree explained.
“The district needs time to implement systems to be in place,” Barbaree said Wednesday, naming financial security and teacher retention among them. The PBSD was classified in fiscal distress by the state board when it took over the district in September 2018.
Barbaree also cited instances in which some Arkansas school districts that had been given back local control lost it again.
“If you learn from your mistakes (before state takeover), why would you want to repeat them?” she said.
Flowers said not having all seven district positions up for election at once “does a disservice to the voters and the people to assume that people don’t vote in their best interests and they can’t be informed if we communicate with them.”
Rice refuted that point.
“What I would say is, that’s never been our position,” he said. ” All of us want the best district for our community. We followed the plan. We had a chance, coming out of state control, to put our district in the best possible footing.”
In August 2023, a month before being released to local control, the limited-authority PBSD board successfully campaigned for a millage increase to a unified rate across the former Pine Bluff and Dollarway district zones for the purpose of funding the project, which replaces the old campus at West 11th Avenue. Flowers noted she recently toured the new Pine Bluff High School campus under construction, calling it “wonderful”.
Had the millage increase not passed, Rice said, he would have been concerned local control would not return.
Rice said he respects Flowers’ opinion, adding one must sit in the seat of a board member to understand the challenges the PBSD faces.
“The only response I have as a volunteer, a resident of Pine Bluff and a taxpayer is that we all come together and do what’s best for the community,” Rice said. “Let’s look at the numbers and what we’ve done since regaining control. … We just hope the community sees the value we bring.”