Arkansas General Assembly 1959 #1

Sixty years ago, the third of three Arkansas General Assemblies in the space of three years passed a final battery of pro-segregation legislation. Fifty-six pro-segregation measures were introduced, thirty made it to the governor’s desk for his signature of approval, and sixteen were signed into law. Nine of the sixteen new laws sought to preserve school segregation. Act 151 allowed funds to follow a student who transferred from an integrated school to a segregated school within a school district. Act 236 authorized the State Board of Education to provide a grant to parents who petitioned to move their child from an integrated school district to a segregated school district. These were prototype school voucher systems. Act 207 prevented school board directors from being fired for refusing to comply with school desegregation orders.