$128.7M OK'd to build, repair school buildings

State funds need local match

An Arkansas school facilities panel Thursday approved $128.7 million for some 67 school building projects and roofing, ventilation, fire alarm and other system replacements for 2015-16.

The projects set to receive a state share of costs include more than a dozen new schools in communities such as Arkadelphia, Bentonville, Springdale, Conway and West Memphis. In all, 45 school districts had projects approved.

With its 3-0 vote for the distribution of the state aid, the Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission is continuing the modernization of public schools that began 10 years ago in response to an Arkansas Supreme Court decision declaring Arkansas' public schools inequitable and inadequate and, as a result, unconstitutional.

The Manila School District is to receive $14,024,716 -- the single largest distribution of state Partnership Program aid -- to build a ninth- through 12th-grade high school that would replace a 1948 library and a classroom building that was initially built in 1950 and has been expanded over time.

"At one point, we explored renovation of those older sections and found that they couldn't be brought up to code at a reasonable expense," Manila Superintendent Pam Castor said Thursday after the commission's meeting. "New construction was going to be as cost-effective for us," she said.

The state contribution will cover almost 80 percent of the construction, leaving the district to provide the balance.

The state's share of the cost of an approved building project varies from district to district, depending on the district's "wealth index," which takes into account a district's property-tax wealth. Districts such as the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts -- which have relatively high assessed property values and a high wealth index -- are eligible for very little state funding for buildings, while other districts such as Manila are eligible for far more.

Castor said Manila School District leaders are developing a property-tax proposal to take to the voters in September. The proposal, if approved, would raise the needed local revenue for the new campus in the growing 1,056-student district.

"This is a day we've been anticipating, and we are really excited about the prospect of a new high school," Castor said about the state aid. "It will be instrumental in improving achievement of students. A new building will be able to accommodate the programming and the types of courses we want to offer to make kids workplace-ready and college-ready."

The Buffalo Island Central School District, based in Monette, is scheduled to receive the second-largest distribution at $11,110,439, for a new kindergarten through 12th-grade campus.

The Springdale School District is approved for $7.6 million from the state in 2015-16 for a new kindergarten through fifth-grade elementary school and $9 million for a "school of innovation" that opened this year for 200 eighth-graders at the Jones Center.

The $14 million elementary school is to open in August 2016 near J.O. Kelly Middle School with a capacity of 850 pupils.

That school of innovation will eventually serve at least 1,000 students in grades eight through 12 in a new $22 million building on Hilton Road across from Lakeside Junior High, Gary Compton, assistant superintendent for support services, said Thursday.

Unique in Arkansas and destined to be the third high school in the 21,500-student district, the school is designed to enable students to complete their high school courses in 10th grade and use 11th and 12th grades to take college-level courses and/or participate in work-study programs that prepare them for careers.

Springdale district leaders do not intend to seek a property-tax increase to raise the district's share of the costs for the two campuses, Compton said.

"No, no, we're going to do it out of our general revenues," Compton said. "That's a credit to the Board of Education and to [Superintendent Jim] Rollins that the district is so fiscally solid that they can do that right out of our regular expenditures. It wouldn't happen without Dr. Rollins."

The district will issue second-lien bonds that will increase the district's debt service payments by $1.5 million to $2 million a year.

Other projects for which funding was approved included a new kindergarten-through fourth-grade elementary school in Bentonville, which was allocated $3.9 million. Phase two of a new high school in Farmington, also in Northwest Arkansas, was approved for $7 million. Clarksville is to receive $4.6 million toward a new high school.

New middle schools were approved for a state share of $3.7 million in Arkadelphia and $3.6 million in Sheridan. Sheridan High School also was approved for $4.9 million in state aid toward an addition and renovation.

The West Memphis School District is approved for $6.9 million in state aid to replace the Bragg Elementary campus.

There are dozens of utility and infrastructure projects approved for funding, such as replacing or upgrading plumbing, ventilation and electrical systems. Roofs on schools also are considered systems and are well-represented on the funded-projects list.

The Partnership Program rules, however, limit funding for system replacements to $10 million a year. There were more than $19 million worth of such projects approved, meaning that many will not be funded.

A total of 53 projects have been scheduled for funding in the 2016-17 year. The commission will have to approve the funding for those projects in April 2016.

There were a total of 125 projects that were not approved for funding in the 2015-17 biennium because of incomplete applications or were not shown to be a prudent use of state funds.

The facilities commission that approved the funding for the projects is made up of Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who is the commission's chairman; Gene Eagle, who is retiring as president of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority; and Larry Walther, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

Charles Stein, director of the Public School Facilities and Transportation Division, is retiring next month.

For many of the districts with the approved funding for their projects, the work is just beginning to accomplish the jobs.

"I'm hopeful that by sometime this summer you will see shovels in the ground and earth being moved," Compton of Springdale said.

Metro on 05/01/2015

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