$3M OK'd for repairs at Arkansas deaf, blind schools

A legislative panel Tuesday signed off on Gov. Asa Hutchinson's requests to transfer $3 million in rainy-day funds to the Arkansas School for the Blind and Arkansas School for the Deaf for building improvements.

In a letter to the Arkansas Legislative Council's leaders, the Republican governor requested $1.5 million apiece for the two schools in Little Rock "to be used to repair building infrastructure vital to meet the safety needs of the student population."

The Legislative Council's Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee approved Hutchinson's requests, without asking any questions about them.

"In speaking with both -- the deaf school and the blind school -- I believe it is mainly some roofs that require immediate attention, and then some security and safety needs for students," senior legislative analyst Wendy Cartright told lawmakers.

In the 2015-2016 school year, the Arkansas School for the Deaf's enrollment totals 113 students and the Arkansas School for the Blind's enrollment totals 77 students, according to the state Department of Education's website.

The School for the Deaf's initial budget is $11.2 million in the current fiscal year and the School for the Blind's initial budget is $8.3 million, according to the state Department of Finance and Administration.

After the legislative panel's meeting, state budget administrator Duncan Baird said: "My understanding is that they have a number of ongoing needs. They have buildings that are very old in some instances. I think they both have, like, just a laundry-list of [building needs]."

James Caton, School for the Blind superintendent, said the school has 12 buildings on campus, some dating to 1939. The newest buildings are from the 1970s, he said.

"They have roofing needs that we are trying to address. We are trying to improve them," he said in an interview.

Janet Dickinson, School for the Deaf superintendent, could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon by telephone.

The state's rainy-day fund has an existing balance of $63.4 million, according to the Bureau of Legislative Research records.

The fund's balance will be reduced to $60.4 million if the Legislative Council on Friday also goes along with transferring $3 million to the two schools, bureau records show.

The rainy-day fund has been financed largely with surplus state funds.

This month, it also received $24 million from the Arkansas Department of Health's sale of the in-home health care program to a private company, according to bureau records.

In August, the Department of Health's sale of its in-home health care services program to Kindred Health Care Inc. closed. The department sold the program to the Louisville, Ky.-based company for $39 million, and the state expected to net $24 million from the transaction. Kindred submitted the highest bid of six companies, and its bid was rated the highest overall by the department's evaluators, state officials said.

During the biennium that started July 1, 2015, the Legislative Council has approved of the governor's requests to spend $91.1 million of $154.5 million allocated to the rainy-day fund on two dozen projects, according to bureau records.

Hutchinson has said that he uses the rainy-day fund for emergency needs and his priorities.

Among other things, Hutchinson has transferred $40 million to the state's Highway Transfer Fund to match federal dollars for increased federal highway funds; $9.9 million to the Arkansas State Police to upgrade the Arkansas Wireless Information Network; $7.5 million to the Department of Higher Education for workforce training grants; $7.4 million to the Department of Correction for renovations at the Esther Unit; and $4.5 million to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for its medical education program.

The state's rainy-day fund has grown since it began in the biennium that started July 1, 2009, and ended June 30, 2011, when Democrat Mike Beebe was governor, according to bureau records. The fund was allocated $40 million during that two-year period and $29.5 million of that was spent on a variety of state needs.

Metro on 09/21/2016

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