District director retiring

Eureka Springs schools praised

— The superintendent of Eureka Springs’ public schools will retire at the end of December.

Wayne Carr, 64, who has been superintendent since 2008, submitted a letter Saturday to the school board, which accepted his resignation in a special meeting Monday.

“It was my decision,” said Carr. “It was time for me to retire and spend time with my kids and grandkids.”

Both Carr and Charles Templeton, president of the board, said the resignation was amicable and that Carr will continue towork with the school district as a part-time volunteer. Templeton said Carr refused to accept a severance package. Carr’s annual salary was $93,300.

“I’m retiring,” Carr said. “I wouldn’t need to be paid to do that, would I?”

Carr’s two-year contract was through June 2013.

Templeton said he was the only school board member to vote against accepting Carr’s resignation.

“It was just symbolic,” Templeton said. “I wanted him to know that he had support and I wanted him to stay until the end of the school year. That was my way of formalizing that more than anything else.”

Templeton and two other board members, SamKirk and Albert J. Larson, were elected in September as a “slate” of candidates campaigning on being “open and inclusive.”

Templeton said the school district’s reputation was damaged last summer by three employee grievance hearings and a formal complaint.

“The image of the superintendent suffered from that,” Templeton said. “It was actually the thing that first got me interested in running for the board. Then I saw how great the schools were and that public opinion was skewed about the school system. I think Eureka has some really good schools and some dynamic administrators.”

Carr said all of the complaints last summer were about money. The school district was trying to cut its $8.8 million budget by $700,000.That meant one person was laid off and others had their hours cut back, in addition to other cuts.

“I think we had a lot of bad press over those kind of things, for sure,” said Carr. “At least from where I sit, it was just misinformation of what was going on. ... We had to make some cuts. I wouldn’t want anybody to cut my salary either.”

Carr said some of the misinformation was that the school district would have to declare bankruptcy. He said the district is in sound fiscal condition.

Carr was cutting the budget in case the district has to send some $825,000 in disputed property tax revenue to the Arkansas Department of Education.

The school district has been involved in litigation with the education department over that property tax revenue. School officials argue the money should remain with the school district. The education department believes the funds belong to the state.

According to a formula approved by the Legislature in 2004, the state must provide “foundation,” or perstudent, funding to each district to pay for an “adequate” education as required by the state Supreme Court.

For most of the state’s 239 school districts, the formula’s 25-mill tax for maintenance and operation isn’t enough, and the state provides money to make up the shortfall.

But four districts collected more than enough to cover foundation funding for the 2010-11 school year - $6,023 per student. They include Eureka Springs in Carroll County, Fountain Lake in Garland County, Armorel in Mississippi County and West Side in Cleburne County.

The Education Department has demanded the excess tax revenue.

Fountain Lake and Eureka Springs filed suit over the issue.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox ruled in September that the Education Department doesn’t have the statutory authority to take the property tax funds from those two school districts.

The state and districts both have appealed portions of Fox’s ruling.

“That tax money is still coming in to us,” Carr said. “We have it in the bank, but we don’t know if we’ll have to write a check to them or not.”

Templeton said none of the new board members, at any point, said anything about wanting Carr to resign.

“He’s done so much for this district,” said Templeton. “He has a new high school in progress that he gets all the credit for. We have a sound financial situation. To me, it would be an ideal situation for a new superintendent to walk into.”

Eureka Springs recently began work on a new $10.6 million high school, funded through property tax revenue.

Carr grew up near Marmaduke in Greene County and graduated from high school at Rector. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Arkansas State University. Carr taught at Marmaduke for 16 years before moving to Eureka Springs in 2004 to serve initially as the elementary school principal. He became superintendent four years later.

Carr said his wife, Shalia, retired last year. She was an aide at the school.

Templeton said the board is looking for an interim superintendent to serve through the spring semester. The board would like to have a new superintendent hired by July 1.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/01/2011

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