By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

School board elections rarely attract much attention because board members are unpaid (in Arkansas) and nonpartisan, and because they serve a policymaking, oversight role that usually involves deferring to paid staff. Many races don’t even produce a yard sign, much less an attack ad. Voter interest is often low.

The 2020 Little Rock School Board races could be different. And they’re worth watching even if you don’t live in Little Rock.

As you probably know, the Little Rock School District has been under state control since 2015. With a five-year deadline looming, the State Board of Education recently voted to put the district on a path to local control, with school board elections set for next November.

This occurred after the State Board first considered giving the district control over many schools while the state maintained control over the worst ones, which happen to be in areas with high minority populations. Opponents responded with overheated but effective national attention-getting comparisons to Little Rock’s segregationist past.

The State Board abandoned that plan and instead voted to restore partial local control, hold school board elections next November, and until then cease recognizing the Little Rock Education Association as the district’s contract negotiating union. No other school district in Arkansas has such an arrangement with a union.

Local advocates didn’t like that idea either. About a third of the district’s teachers engaged in a one-day strike Nov. 14 while threatening further action later. Anticipating a strike, the district and the state had hired substitutes and paid them well.

The strike appeared to have a lot of public support, as more than half the district’s students skipped school that day to show solidarity – or to take advantage of the situation, depending on the student. But teachers should not overuse that tactic. Parents can keep driving the cars they already own when autoworkers go on strike, but they count on teachers to be there for their kids every day.

The 2020 school board elections, meanwhile, could be interesting if they amplify the debate between two competing viewpoints about improving schools.

One side – we’ll call them the traditionalists – wants to continue doing what we’re doing, but do more of it. That means more money for schools and more community involvement to tackle root problems such as poverty.

The other – call them the reformers – supports more radical changes, including more charter schools that can ignore the old rules. The Walton family is a big supporter of educational reform.

Both sides, of course, sometimes assume the worst of their opponents – that this really is about union thugs asserting power, or it’s about rich corporate interests who want to enrich themselves at kids’ expense.

Let’s acknowledge that political disputes involve many people with complex motivations, including selfish ones. But let’s also assume that most people involved on both sides want the best for students – because it’s true, and as a side benefit because it keeps us from becoming cynical and mean.

In the middle of all this are the state’s lawmakers and policymakers. Democrats typically are traditionalists, while Republicans are a mix. Some are reformers, but others are basically traditionalists who attended Small Town High and sent their children there, too. I’ve sat through many Education Committee meetings at the Capitol through the years, and I haven’t noted any radicals on either side.

The Little Rock School Board races will be the most high profile opportunity yet for this battle of ideas to play out in an electoral setting, so we might see real campaigns for some of the nine school board slots, funded by outside money.

Or we might not. As political consultant Robert Coon pointed out to me, the traditionalists are more energized because they’re more invested in Little Rock’s schools. The type of Republican voters who would side with the reformers – they long ago moved out to West Little Rock and put their kids in private school, and they’re not coming back.

So we might not see a big campaign after all. Or perhaps we’ll see campaigns in Little Rock’s swing zones where a variety of voters exist, and a real debate will be possible.

It’s worth watching, even if you don’t live in Little Rock.

Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com. Follow him on Twitter at @stevebrawner.