The Little Rock School District is seeing declining enrollment, which has led to devastating school closures. This is largely due to the effects of vouchers and charter schools.

When Booker Arts Magnet Elementary closed in 2022, most Booker students were sent to Carver STEAM Magnet Academy. Barely three years later, the Little Rock School Board voted to close both Carver and Brady Elementary. Even Fulbright Elementary, located in the affluent Pleasant Valley neighborhood and usually immune from such pressures, is down to only three classes per grade level in first through fifth grade.

The LEARNS Act passed in 2023, but this school year will be the first for vouchers to be universal. As of August 18, there were more than 50,000 applications for vouchers. At roughly $7,000 per voucher, tha

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