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LITTLE ROCK—The Little Rock School Board’s racially split vote last year to fire its superintendent and pay him $635,000 has prompted a review by Arkansas’ highest court on whether such buyouts violate the state’s constitution.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday morning stemming from the board’s vote last year to fire superintendent Roy Brooks as the city was preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of Central High School’s desegregation.

The four black members of the school board voted to fire Brooks, who is also black. Its white members voted to keep him.

A group of parents that tried unsuccessfully to block Brooks’ firing is now arguing that such buyouts violate Arkansas’ constitution, which says that public school funds should only be used for schools.

“Paying somebody not to work, particularly when it’s over a half million dollars, does not directly benefit the public schools,” said John P. Gill, a Little Rock attorney challenging the buyout of Brooks’ contract.

But an attorney for the school district says the challenge is pointless, since Brooks has long since been paid and was not included as a defendant in the original lawsuit.

“As near as I can tell, it’s over. There’s no utility in pursuing it,” said Chip Welch, an attorney for the 26,000-student district. “He’s been gone and he’s been paid. There’s little utility in asking the school district pay back its own tax money.”

The Supreme Court hearing returns the spotlight to the district’s racially split votes and public fights stemming from Brooks’ job as superintendent. The district’s strife prompted Gov. Mike Beebe to warn last year that it could drive business away from the district.

The board ultimately voted 4-3 to fire Brooks in May 2007 and in August voted to pay him $635,000 to buy out his contract. Board President Katherine Mitchell accused Brooks of being nonresponsive to black school patrons, encouraging some teachers to leave their union and working on draft state legislation without the board’s approval.

The board has also battled over the future of monitoring district efforts to integrate its classrooms. In February 2007, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson Jr. found that Little Rock was substantially complying with a 1998 desegregation plan. A group of black parents have appealed the ruling.

Justices last year issued a stay halting the buyout of Brooks’ contract, but reversed course days later after district lawyers said nearly all the money had already been given to the ousted superintendent. The board voted in March by a 4-3 vote to hire Linda Watson, who had been serving as interim superintendent since August, to be Brooks’ replacement.

Gill said the appeal is no longer just about Brooks’ firing and is an attempt to prevent similar buyouts from happening in the state’s other school districts.