In the years leading up to September 2008, parts of the Jacksonville community expressed a desire to split from the PCSSD.
This measure was approved by the board of the PCSSD during that month, legally clearing the way for the formation of what would become a separate Jacksonville school district.
In a response to a petition signed by more than 2,000 voters, the Arkansas Board of Education ordered an election to carve a new school district out of the existing PCSSD.
[4] The Arkansas Board of Education approved an order in November 2014 to create a new Jacksonville-area district.
A negotiated plan to separate the JNPSD from the PCSSD was approved by U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. on October 14, 2015.