By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The state Board of Education today voted unanimously to hire Tom Kimbrell of Cabot as state education commissioner.
Kimbrell, 47, currently executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, will take over as education commissioner on Sept. 28 at an annual salary of $220,000.
He succeeds Ken James, who resigned June 30 after five years as the state’s top education official to take a job with the educational organization America’s Choice.
James’ salary for most of his final year with the state was $217,000, though a new pay plan that took effect June 28 increased his salary to $221,000.
Gov. Mike Beebe recommended Kimbrell for the post last week. The Education Board met in executive session for nearly an hour Monday before returning to open session and voting to hire Kimbrell.
“This has been my goal both professionally and personally, to someday have the greatest impact on students that I possibly could have, and in my opinion this is the job to do that,” Kimbrell said later at a news conference at the state Capitol.
Kimbrell, a 25-year educator and a former superintendent of the Paragould and North Little Rock school districts, said his friendships with superintendents will not stop him from holding them accountable.
“They’re still my friends … today and they’ll be my friends tomorrow, but I can tell you that I’ll hold them as accountable for what they do for kids as I hold (Cabot Superintendent) Tony Thurman for what happens for my kids,” he said.
Beebe said Kimbrell has been not only a superintendent and an advocate for superintendents but also a classroom teacher, as well as a parent.
“Tom obviously brings a lot of experience with those constituencies,” the governor said.
Kimbrell said one of his top challenges as education commissioner will be working to improve schools that are struggling academically, even if that means taking over some districts.
“I think the regulations and the laws are there. I think it’s having the backbone to step up and take control when control is going to have to be taken,” he said.
Another major challenge, Kimbrell said, will be addressing the issue of school choice.
Arkansas’ school choice law allows a student to apply for a transfer out of his or her home district, but to avoid further segregation it prohibits transferring to a district where the percentage of the study body who are of the student’s race exceeds the percentage in the student’s home district.
In 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down school choice plans similar to Arkansas’ in Seattle and Louisville, Ky., because of their reliance on race-based criteria.
Kimbrell did not offer any specifics on how he would address school choice, but he said it is “an issue, I think, that’s going to require the entire state and all the constituents combined to come together to work on it.”
