School Board reviews 3 sites for high school

Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District leaders on Monday reviewed three sites for a new Jacksonville High School campus along with forthcoming deadlines for applying for state funds to help with the building costs and for holding a special tax election.

Monday's work session was held in preparation for an Oct. 5 public forum on replacing Jacksonville and North Pulaski high schools, and Tolleson and Arnold Drive elementary schools. The existing North Pulaski High would become the middle school for the district.

The interim School Board for the new district made no decisions during the work session on a high school site or tax election.

The newly elected Jacksonville/North Pulaski School Board will decide in early November if the district is to apply on time for state construction aid to be received during the 2017-19 biennium.

The Arkansas Board of Education ordered the creation of the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District in late 2014 after area residents voted overwhelmingly in favor of separating from the Pulaski County Special School District.

Tony Wood, Jacksonville/North Pulaski superintendent, told district leaders Monday they have just six weeks to make "landmark decisions for this community" but that it's possible.

"We are going to do it and make it work," Wood said, adding that the district must submit its application for state funding before the end of this calendar year or the district will have to wait until the 2019-21 biennium for state aid.

State aid could pay for approximately 45 percent of the millions of dollars in anticipated building costs for high school and elementary school campuses.

District leaders said they also could receive some assistance from the U.S. Department of Defense and/or the U.S. Air Force for new schools.

One of the three sites considered for a new high school for 2,000 students is the current, 42-acre Jacksonville High site, which would require construction to occur while school is in session, Eldon Bock of WER Architects/Planners, told the Jacksonville leaders.

A second, 34-acre site is the now-vacant Jacksonville Middle School complex, also known as Jacksonville North and South junior highs.

A third and by far the largest site is a 91-acre, undeveloped site adjacent to North Pulaski High and within the perimeter of the Little Rock Air Force Base.

Bock called that property "a great site" but -- at an estimated $14 million -- the most costly to prepare in terms of road access, utilities, clearing and fencing.

Charles Stein, a consultant to the new district, presented a timeline that included a February election on a tax increase to finance the district's share of the building costs. No millage amounts were proposed. The district's current tax rate is the same 40.7 mills that residents have paid for years as part of the Pulaski County Special district.

Metro on 09/22/2015

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