Fort Smith board seeks plans for high school, event site

— The Fort Smith School Board voted to seek conceptual plans for the development of a third high school and a large events building to address the need for more space for its growing student population.

The slow but steady growth of the district has resulted in a student population increase of 1,200 over the past 10 years, School Board P resident David Hunton said Tuesday. The district’s total enrollment is just more than 14,000.

The board voted Monday to seek conceptual plans and cost estimates from architects for a high school at Chaffee Crossing with a capacity for about 1,500 students. Plans and cost estimates also will be sought for a new events/convocation center that Hunton said could accommodate graduation ceremonies, state basketball and volleyball tournaments, and community events. He said such a building would likely be near the center of town.

Chaffee Crossing is on the southeast edge of Fort Smith.

The Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority voted in January 2011 to donate 80 acres of land at Chaffee Crossing to the school district for a future high school. School District member Rick Wade said Tuesday that it would be unreasonable for the board not to accept the gift of prime land in one of the city’s hottest growth areas.

Now, Hunton said, the city’s two high schools have gyms and halls but the facilities are too small. Not all students can attend pep rallies at Southside High School, he said, and graduations and basketball games are held in the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith’s arena. Even that is becoming too small to meet the district’s space needs, he said.

Hunton estimated that the new structures could require the board to seek a 5-mill property tax increase, which district Superintendent Benny Gooden said would be the first millage increase request since 1987.

County records show the Fort Smith School District levies 36.5 mills, which last year generated nearly $38 million in revenue. Of the total, 25 mills are currently used for operating expenses and 11.5 mills are used for debt service.

At that rate, a 5-mill tax increase would raise about $5.2 million a year.

Gooden said the district would probably sell bonds to finance the construction costs and pay off the bonds over time with the revenue from the millage.

A mill is one-tenth of a cent. Each mill is charged against each dollar of assessed real estate value, producing $1 of tax for each $1,000 of taxable valuation.

A county assesses property at 20 percent of its appraised value, and the assessment is multiplied by the millage rate to determine the taxes owed.

While the School Board has been talking about the need for more space for its schools for the past four years, Gooden said Tuesday,he estimated the start of construction was probably one to two years away.

With the time it takes to plan and design new facilities, he said, school officials would be foolish not to begin the process now. The conceptual plans will provide the starting point for the board, he said.

District spokesman Zena Featherston said both high schools are at capacity. Official enrollment figures as of Oct. 1 were 1,459 for Northside High School and 1,599 for Southside High School.

Southside Principal Wayne Haver said his school has expanded as much as possible. It is surrounded by football fields, parking lots and residential development that won’t allow it to grow any further.

Hunton and Gooden said a new high school alone will not solve the district’s overcrowding. They said if a new high school is built, assignment to schools will be realigned to give all the schools more space. The ninth grade would move into the high schools, the sixth grade would move to the junior high schools and the kindergarten students would move into the elementary schools.

There could be some opposition to a third high school, Hunton said, because there would be a dilution of athletes, and allegiances have developed for one high school or another.

On the other hand, he said, a third high school would provide the opportunity for more students to participate in athletics and band.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 01/30/2013

Upcoming Events