$34 million allocated for state schools

Funding to be used for building projects mostly in NLR, Bryant districts

Correction: Since 2006-07, the state Academic Facilities Partnership program and local school districts together have contributed $2.315 billion toward 2,179 school construction projects. The state’s share was just more than $1 billion. The figures reported for the state’s share of the costs and the starting year for facilities partnership funding were inaccurate in this article.

The Arkansas commission that allocates state funds for school construction projects approved the distribution of nearly $34 million Thursday, most of it for projects in the North Little Rock and Bryant school districts.

Building projects in the East Poinsett County School District based in Lepanto and the Lake HamiltonSchool District in Garland County also will receive funding.

The newly allocated funds are in addition to money allocated for projects in April by the three-member Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission, which is led by Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell. Richard Weiss, director of the stateDepartment of Finance and Administration, and Mac Dodson, president of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, are the other members of the commission.

The funds just approved for distribution bring the total allocation for commission-approved school building projects in year one of the 2013-15 biennium to $158.1 million.

The North Little Rock School District projects that will now receive state aid are the renovation and expansion of Indian Hills Elementary School, $444,619.73; the expansion and renovation of North Little Rock High School West Campus, $17,991,540; and the renovation and expansion of Seventh Street Elementary School, $90,823.61.

Kelly Rodgers, the new superintendent of the North Little Rock district, said in an interview after the meeting that district leaders had anticipated in April receiving additional funding at this time.

“We felt positive about it, but you never know,” Rodgers said. “This confirms it. This is a great day in North Little Rock. We are really pleased.”

In all this year, about $23.6 million in state Academic Facilities Partnership money has been allocated to North Little Rock district projects.

Additionally, plans for replacing the district’s Meadow Park Elementary School and expanding Crestwood Elementary have been approved for state funding of nearly $2 million, but thosefunds have not yet been allocated.

The North Little Rock district is in the early stages of a $265.5 million, multi-year capital improvement program that will result in consolidating 21 district campuses to 13, most of which will be built anew, greatly expanded and/or renovated.

The district is paying for the building program with a combination of state aid, the sale of construction bonds and savings from the district’s annual operating budget. North Little Rock voters in February 2012 approved a 7.4-mill tax increase, the proceeds from which will be used over time to pay off the bond debt.

The Bryant district is slated to receive about $19 million in state aid in the first year of the 2013-15 funding cycle, including the $14.3 million approved for two schools Thursday.

The Bryant system is approved to receive $5,018,222 for a new 624-student elementary school and $9,270,189 for the construction of a 950-student sixth and seventh-grade middle school.

Also among the seven projects to be allocated funding Thursday were a band and choir building in the East Poinsett County School District and an eight-classroom addition tothe elementary school in the Lake Hamilton district.

Charles Stein, the director of the state Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, said the $33.9 million allocated Thursday included $20 million that Gov. Mike Beebe released to the division from a state general improvement fund.

The remaining $13.9 million is the result of unspent building funds from past years and the savings produced when project bids earlier this year were less than projected, Stein said.

The commission earlier this year approved building projects for the second year of the biennium, but those projects - which total an estimated $26 million - have not yet been allocated funding.

The state Academic Facilities Partnership program, which started providing funds to school districts in the 2006-09 biennium, has paid to date $2.315 billion for a total 2,179 school building projects, said Lynn Robertson, senior project administrator for special projects.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 08/30/2013

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