Stevenson v. Blytheville Sch. Dist. No. 5
| Decision Date | 01 July 2013 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 3:13CV00127 KGB. |
| Citation | 955 F.Supp.2d 971 |
| Parties | James E. STEVENSON III, Sharyn Stevenson, Heath Adkisson, Lori Adkisson, Ryan Braswell, Melissa Braswell, Oliver Coppedge, Tracy Coppedge, George A. Hale III, Stephanie Hale, Jeff Langston, and Missy Langston, Plaintiffs v. BLYTHEVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 5, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Jess L. Askew, III, Marie Bernarde Miller, Robert Alexander Gaines, Williams & Anderson, PLC, Little Rock, AR, for Plaintiffs.
Before the Court is the motion to dismiss filed by Blytheville School District No. 5 (the “Blytheville District”) (Dkt. No. 7). Plaintiffs have responded (Dkt. No. 11), and the Blytheville District has replied (Dkt. No. 12). On June 17, 2013, the Court entered an order requesting additional briefing by the parties (Dkt. No. 15). That order also set a hearing on the motion to dismiss as well as on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction (Dkt. No. 4).1 The Blytheville District filed its brief in response to order entered June 17, 2013 (Dkt. No. 18). Plaintiffs filed their prehearing brief (Dkt. No. 19). The Blytheville District filed its response to plaintiffs' prehearing brief (Dkt. No. 20). Plaintiffs filed their response to order entered June 17, 2013 (Dkt. No. 21). On June 24, 2013, the Court conducted a hearing on the motion to dismiss and motion for preliminary injunction. At the Blytheville District's request, the Court ruled from the bench on the pending motion to dismiss before proceeding to consider the motion for preliminary injunction. The Court now memorializes that oral ruling in this order. For the following reasons, the Blytheville District's motion to dismiss is granted in part and denied in part.
I. Factual BackgroundA. The Complaint
Plaintiffs, other than James E. Stevenson III and Sharyn Stevenson (the “Stevensons”) 2 and Tracy Coppedge,3 have a minor child or children who reside within the area of the Blytheville District. Act 1227 of 2013, the Arkansas Public School Choice Act of 2013 (the “2013 Act”), was adopted as the law of Arkansas on April 16, 2013. The General Assembly and the Governor made the 2013 Act effective immediately upon adoption through an emergency clause. Plaintiffs allege their children are entitled to participate in the school choice program during the 2013–2014 school year. Plaintiffs' children are students in primary and secondary grades, kindergarten through high school, of public school. The 2013 Act established a public school choice program to enable students to attend school in a non-resident district, subject to certain limitations.
Plaintiffs contend that the Blytheville District, a public school district acting under Arkansas law, resolved to opt-out of the 2013 Act in a manner that is not authorized by the Act and violates plaintiffs' Fourteenth Amendment rights. Plaintiffs have identified specifically their Fourteenth Amendment rights to Due Process and Equal Protection. For these reasons, plaintiffs contend this Court has federal subject matter jurisdiction over this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 cause of action that arises under federal-question jurisdiction as provided in 28 U.S.C. § 1331.
Generally, the 2013 Act requires each school district in Arkansas to participate in the public school choice program. Plaintiffs contend the 2013 Act contains two limitations as set forth in Arkansas Code Annotated § 6–18–1906(a) and (b) that may apply to a resident district and may restrict or defeat a student's right to transfer to a non-resident district. Plaintiffs contend that only the second limitation is at issue here.
The first limitation, as set forth in Arkansas Code Annotated § 6–18–1906(a), provides: “If the provisions of [the 2013 Act] conflict with a provision of an enforceable desegregation court order or a district's court-approved desegregation plan regarding the effects of past racial segregation in student assignment, the provisions of the order or plan shall govern.” (“Limitation a”).
Plaintiffs characterize the second limitation as an “opt-out” provision set forth in Arkansas Code Annotated § 6–18–1906(b) (“Limitation b”). Limitation b states as follows:
(b)(1) A school district annually may declare an exemption under this section if the school district is subject to the desegregation order or mandate of a federal court or agency remedying the effects of past racial segregation.
(2)(A) An exemption declared by a board of directors under this subsection is irrevocable for one (1) year from the date the school district notifies the Department of Education of the declaration of exemption.
(B) After each year of exemption, the board of directors may elect to participate in public school choice under this section if the school district's participation does not conflict with the school district's federal court-ordered desegregation program.
(3) A school district shall notify the department by April 1 if in the next school year the school district intends to:
(A) Declare an exemption under this section; or
(B) Resume participation after a period of exemption.
...
Ark.Code Ann. § 6–18–1906(b).
Plaintiffs challenge the Blytheville District's ability to opt-out of Act 2013 at all for the 2013–2014 school year. Plaintiffs claim Limitation (b) requires a school district to notify the Department of Education by April 1 if it intends to declare an exemption under Limitation (b) in the next school year. Plaintiffs allege that, because the 2013 Act was adopted and became effective on April 16, 2013, the law does not allow any school district in Arkansas to declare an exemption under Limitation (b) for the 2013–2014 school year. Plaintiffs allege that the Blytheville District has resolved not to participate in the school choice program created by the 2013 Act in the 2013–2014 school year. The Blytheville District provided notice to the Arkansas Department of Education after April 1, 2013, of its exemption under Limitation (b) for the 2013–2014 school year, even though that exemption is unavailable for the coming school year according to plaintiffs. Plaintiffs also believe that the Blytheville District has communicated its effort to declare the exemption from the 2013 Act for the 2013–2014 school year to surrounding school districts to which plaintiffs' children seek to transfer.
Plaintiffs also challenge the basis on which the Blytheville District claimed a Limitation (b) exemption from the 2013 Act. According to plaintiffs, the Blytheville District asserted its Limitation (b) exemption “based on three cases and an agency mandate, to none of which [the Blytheville District] is subject and none of which provides a [L]imitation (b) exemption under the [2013] Act to any school district” (Dkt. No. 1, at 9). Plaintiffs claim the Blytheville District has acted in bad faith opposing the 2013 Act and thereby depriving plaintiffs and their children of their rights as citizens under the 2013 Act. Plaintiffs allege that the Blytheville District's “past racial discrimination in maintaining a segregated dual school system was remedied two generations ago” and, therefore, the Blytheville District “cannot use its past racial segregation as a reason to deny plaintiffs and their children the benefits of the education-reform measures established” by this 2013 Act (Dkt. No. 2, at 11).
Plaintiffs assert that, as a result of the actions of the Blytheville District, “neighboring school districts are uncertain whether they may accept transfers of students, including plaintiffs' children, from Blytheville School District in the coming school year under the Act, and they have not accepted plaintiffs' children” (Dkt. No. 2, at 11). To transfer from a resident to a nonresident school district, a student's parent must submit an application to the non-resident district with a copy to the resident district no later than June 1 of the year in which the student seeks to begin the fall semester at the non-resident district. Plaintiffs, other than the Stevensons, have submitted an application on behalf of a student for a transfer from the Blytheville District to a non-resident district for the school year beginning in the fall of 2013.
Plaintiffs allege that they will be deprived of their right to school choice under the 2013 Act unless appropriate injunctive relief is granted by this Court. Plaintiffs allege that their children will suffer irreparable harm if they are not permitted to exercise their rights to public school choice and attend a non-resident district this upcoming school year.
B. The Resolution and Claimed Exemption
On April 29, 2013, the Board of Education of the Blytheville District met in special session and adopted a resolution by a vote of six to zero to declare the Blytheville District exempt from the 2013 Act (the “Resolution”) (Dkt. No. 2, at 41–42). Richard Atwill, Superintendent of the Blytheville District, informed the Arkansas Department of Education of the Resolution and exemption by letter dated May 9, 2013 (Dkt. No. 4–4). According to the Arkansas Department of Education's website, 22 Arkansas school districts filed exemptions from the 2013 Act, including the Blytheville District. Arkansas Department of Education, http:// www. arkansased. org/ divisions/ public- school- accountability/ equity assistance/ school- choice (last visited July 1, 2013).
C. Transfers Under the Act
Based on briefing requested by the Court from the parties, the parties agree that the Blytheville District's attempt to exempt itself from the 2013 Act “does not allow students in the District to apply to transfer to a nonresident district for the 2013–2014 school year” (Dkt. No. 18, at 6).
To address arguments raised by the Blytheville District, the Court addresses briefly the ability to transfer under the 2013 Act. Under the 2013 Act, the parents of students seeking to transfer to attend a school in a non-resident district...
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