Board lets state stay at helm of 2 districts

Pulaski County, Helena work left

The state will maintain control of the Pulaski County Special and Helena-West Helena school districts for at least one more year, the Arkansas Board of Education decided Friday.

Both districts were taken over - and their superintendents released and local school boards dissolved - in 2011 after audits showed financial mismanagement and declining year-end balances.

On Friday, Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell told the board in a telephone conference lasting less than 30 minutes that both districts are showing marked improvements but that continued state governance is “still warranted.”

Before the 2013 legislative session, the state Education Board had two years to either release a district to local control or to take other action, including merging the district with another school system or reconfiguring it.

However, Act 600 of 2013 allows the state to retain control of a fiscally distressed district for longer than two years if the district is making progress but had not yet resolved all of the problems that led to its seizure by the state.

The new law also allows the state commissioner - with the approval of the state board - to appoint a community advisory board of five or seven members from the distressed district to conduct hearings on personnel and student disciplinary matters.

State board member Jay Barth, who was appointed in 2012, asked Kimbrell on Friday if the new advisory boards were effective.

“I think it’s working really, really well. We’ve had several hearings, both student and personnel hearings. They’ve also met with groups of teachers on issues about policies,” Kimbrell said. “I think it’s well-organized. I think it’s working real well, and I believe the attendance has just been well-received. I think they’ve taken their responsibilities very seriously.”

Kimbrell told the board Friday that the 18,000-student Pulaski County Special system still needed oversight because of the state’s recent settlement of the Pulaski County school-desegregation case and the possibility that Jacksonville may break away to form its own school district.

Last week, the state Education Board authorized an election by Jacksonville-area voters to decide on forming a new district. If the measure is approved at the polls, the new Jacksonville district will remain under the direction of the Pulaski County Special district for at least two years until it becomes fully operational.

Kimbrell said Friday that the Pulaski County Special district would need assistance creating future budgets to deal with the potential loss of Jacksonville property-tax revenue and buildings and the end of desegregation aid, as well as help on addressing a “few items in the audits.”

“They’ve made great progress with their fiscal-distress plan, as you can see,” Kimbrell said. “But right now, there is still a need for the state to maintain that control and continue the community advisory board for an additional year.”

Under the leadership of state-appointed Superintendent Jerry Guess, the Pulaski County Special district ended the 2013 fiscal year with $170,221,316 in revenue and $166,697,103 in expenditures.

During the 2012-13 fiscal year, the Pulaski County Special district initiated numerous cost-reduction measures, including reducing salaries through attrition, revising the employee insurance package, restructuring debt through a bond refunding with a lower interest rate and reducing the teacher salary schedule from 192 to 190 days.

Likewise, Kimbrell told the board that the 1,678-student Helena-West Helena School District - which was placed under state control in June 2011 - has made significant improvements.

He added, however, that state oversight is necessary because there are “still issues around the audit and there are still issues in continuing to ensure that expenditures do not exceed revenue.”

The southern Arkansas district that borders Mississippi was initially placed in the state’s fiscal-distress program because of findings of inappropriate expenditures and other negative audit findings.

The Helena-West Helena district ended fiscal 2013 with $15,187,845 in revenue and $13,592,690 in expenses. Cost-saving initiatives for the 2012-13 fiscal year included reducing the staff by 30 employees, reclassifying salaries of four licensed positions from operating to categorical and federal funds, consolidating campuses and refunding district bonds to lower interest rates.

“Continued governance by the state is still warranted, and the advisory board is working and working well,” Kimbrell said.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/29/2014

Upcoming Events