Three Benton County school districts pushing millage hikes

Ashlee Shumway (from left), Bryan Pratt and Eric White walk along Beasley Drive in Centerton passing out literature to residences Friday to promote a millage increase to voters.
Ashlee Shumway (from left), Bryan Pratt and Eric White walk along Beasley Drive in Centerton passing out literature to residences Friday to promote a millage increase to voters.

Three Benton County school districts are proposing tax increases to their voters May 9.

The districts seek different amounts of money and have different plans in mind for it if they get it. The same thing, however, is at the root of each request: growth.

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Rebecca Powers and Eric White, both Bentonville school board members, look over neighborhood maps Friday to pass out literature to Centerton homes to promote a millage increase to voters.

Early Voting Sites

Early voting for the May 9 special elections in the Bentonville, Rogers and Pea Ridge school districts will be held at the Benton County Clerk’s offices in Rogers, at 1428 W. Walnut St., and in Bentonville, at 215 E. Central Ave., from Tuesday through May 8 during normal business hours.

Election Day Voting Sites

These polling places will be open on election day with voting by electronic voting machine only. Paper ballots will be available on election day at the Benton County Election Commission offices at 1204 S.W. 14th St., Bentonville.

• Bella Vista Baptist Church, 50 E. Lancashire Drive, Bella Vista.

• New Life Christian Church, 103 Riordan Road, Bella Vista.

• Bella Vista Church of Christ, 989 N.W. McNelly Road, Bella Vista.

• Bentonville Church of Christ, 708 N. Walton Blvd., Bentonville.

• First Landmark Missionary Baptist Church, 206 S.E. 28th St., Bentonville.

• Reach Church, 900 W. Centerton Blvd., Centerton.

• Lakeview Baptist Church, 1351 E. Lowell Ave., Cave Springs.

• Southside Church of Christ, 919 S. Dixieland Road, Rogers.

• Central United Methodist Church, 2535 W. New Hope Road, Rogers.

• Prairie Creek Association Community Center, 14432 E. Highway 12, Rogers.

• Lowell First Baptist Church, 405 Johnson Ave., Lowell.

• NEBCO Community Building, 17823 Marshall St., Garfield.

• First Baptist Church of Pea Ridge, 1650 Slack St., Pea Ridge.

• Benton County Election Commission, 1204 S.W. 14th St. Bentonville.

Source: Staff report

The Bentonville, Pea Ridge and Rogers school districts are growing faster than most districts in the state. Their combined enrollment has increased about 13.5 percent over the past five years; in the same period, statewide enrollment in public schools has grown 1.8 percent, according to Arkansas Department of Education data.

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"As (students) move to our zone, we don't have the luxury to say, oh, we don't have seats," said Debbie Jones, Bentonville's superintendent. "We do everything we can to accommodate them."

Depending on the district, most or all of each tax increase would go toward building schools: four in Bentonville, two in Rogers and one in Pea Ridge.

Early voting begins Tuesday. More than 112,000 people are registered to vote in the three districts combined, according to Benton County election coordinator Kim Dennison.

Residents may vote at any of the 13 polling places open on May 9. The Election Commission consolidates polling places for special elections, Dennison said.

"So voters will need to check and see what locations are open," she said.

The districts benefit from going for special elections at the same time because they can share the cost. Dennison said she couldn't say what the cost will be until the elections are over. Costs associated with elections include employing poll workers, printing paper ballots, mailing absentee ballots, and any extra meetings the election commissioners must have, she said.

Here's how each district's request came to be and what each one entails.

Rogers

It's been nearly 14 years since Rogers last asked voters for a millage increase. The 3.5 mills requested this time would raise the district's rate to 41.9, which still would rank in the bottom half among the 15 school districts in Benton and Washington counties.

Superintendent Marlin Berry said there is some confusion among voters about the last time Rogers asked for an increase.

"People live in the city of Rogers but they're in the Bentonville School District, or they live in Rogers and work in Bentonville. The communities are just kind of intertwined," he said.

Neighboring districts have sought millage increases once, twice or three times since Rogers last did so in 2003, he said.

District officials have said they've operated efficiently but need more money -- about $35 million -- to build two more elementary schools.

The district experienced an unexpectedly high enrollment increase this school year, especially at the elementary level. District enrollment has increased every year for more than 15 years, and officials project it will rise another 275 to 425 students over the next two years, Berry said.

The district would get to work building its next elementary school immediately if the millage passes. That school likely would open in August 2019. The district owns property on Garrett Road in its southwest sector where the school could be built.

"The second elementary would be put in the board's back pocket, so as the growth continues, depending on what area or what happens with other schools, (board members) can pretty quickly again take care of some increased growth within a two-year span," Berry said.

The district also would use millage dollars to improve its technological infrastructure and increase safety and security. That includes adequate exterior lighting, security cameras and playground fencing.

Rogers officials have hosted two public forums to discuss the millage proposal. Another one is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Rogers Public Library.

Only a few people from the public attended the first two forums. One of them was Amy Schwartz of Lowell, whose two children attend Lowell Elementary and Kirksey Middle schools.

Schwartz was mainly concerned current facilities would get the attention they need with dollars raised by the millage increase. She mentioned a gnat problem at Lowell Elementary as one example of an issue that needs to be addressed, as well as a safety concern associated with kids moving from one building to another on that campus.

Berry assured her money from the additional millage would help take care of current facilities. Schwartz said after the meeting she was satisfied with his answer.

"So I plan to vote in favor" of the increase, she said.

Mitch Lockhart, a board member in charge of the millage campaign, said the campaign had secured about $34,000 in donations as of Thursday. There is no apparent organized opposition to the Rogers request, at least none that Lockhart is aware of.

"You get your occasional person who says, 'I don't want any taxes,'" Lockhart said. "But I think we're getting pretty positive feedback."

Bentonville

Bentonville seeks 1.9 mills to build two elementary schools, a middle school and a junior high school, probably within the next five years.

The extra millage, combined with state grants and refinancing of old bonds, will be enough to pay for the schools, according to Janet Schwanhausser, finance director.

Administrators last year studied the district's enrollment history, the number of building permits granted in the area and other factors. They arrived at a projection of 3.5 percent enrollment growth each year for the next several years.

A 3.5 percent increase for Bentonville would mean nearly 600 additional students this fall compared with last -- roughly the equivalent of a whole elementary school, and similar to the growth the district saw this school year.

The School Board recently agreed to spend about $5.5 million on four pieces of land covering 247 acres in anticipation of its building needs.

The additional millage, if approved, would push Bentonville's millage rate to 48.5. Assuming no changes in other districts' rates, that would tie Bentonville with North Little Rock for the second-highest rate in Arkansas. Pea Ridge's millage rate would become the highest in the state if its millage request is approved.

Joe Quinn, a board member, said Bentonville residents expect the best of everything out of their school district, whether that has to do with academics, athletics or the arts.

"But the best does not come cheap," Quinn said during a public forum on the millage proposal Thursday at Centerton City Hall.

Quinn added anyone who votes against the millage increase is not voting against a building, but is "voting against the kids."

Lisa Richards, a parent in the district, challenged that notion. She also questioned why the district can't use tax revenue collected from new homes to pay for additional schools.

"For every new building that was built, that's 80 percent of their tax revenue goes to the schools," Richards said. "So when you look at that revenue, to me, you're getting more money without the millage (increase)."

Schwanhausser, in response, said while an increase in property values does mean additional revenue, it's not enough to keep up with the payments needed to construct buildings at the rate Bentonville must open them.

Jim Parsons said a group he leads called the Bella Vista Patriots would support the millage if the district pledges to build another school in Bella Vista. The district's only school in Bella Vista is Cooper Elementary School.

"I can't imagine anywhere else in Arkansas where you have 26,000 people and just one little school," Parsons said. "Surely we're due. And after Centerton's experience of getting a high school, we feel like it's our turn."

One of the four sites the district has under contract for school construction is on Benton County land considered by many to be south Bella Vista. Parsons said that's not good enough, especially because of the traffic in that area.

"We might as well build a school in Tanzania," he said.

Peter Christie, Bella Vista's mayor, supports the millage increase. The district intentionally has not pursued the city's best land for a reason, he said.

"They said, 'Look, you've only got so much flat land, you need to build up your commercial tax base to support your demands from your residents. We're going to try and build somewhere else because you cannot tax a school.' And they have been true to their word," Christie said.

The campaign committee for the millage had amassed $41,588 as of mid-April, according to a filing with the Arkansas Ethics Commission. Construction firm Flintco and Jim Walton of Bentonville both donated $10,000 to the campaign. Hight-Jackson Associates, a design firm that has worked on new schools with the district, donated $7,500.

Another public forum on the millage is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday at Bentonville First Baptist Church, 220 S. Main St.

Pea Ridge

Pea Ridge would build a new high school about a mile north of the current high school if voters approve a 5.1-mill tax increase.

Existing facilities would see some remodeling and grade configurations would change; the new high school would house grades 10 through 12 instead of nine through 12 as it does now. The current high school would be converted to a junior high school for grades eight and nine.

"With the ability to spread our district out, it gives us the opportunity to make some real serious moves and enhance our educational opportunities in Pea Ridge," said Rick Neal, superintendent.

District enrollment is around 2,060 students, about 22 percent more than it was five years ago. It's expected to surpass 3,000 within the next eight years, Neal said.

The millage increase would bump the district's overall rate to 49.9. The amount the district collects from one mill is just a fraction of what its neighbors Bentonville and Rogers get.

Landon Nobles, a 1992 Pea Ridge High School graduate leading the campaign for the increase, said he's been "very impressed" with the community's response to the campaign.

"We're approaching 800 followers on our Facebook page," Nobles said Thursday. "In a small town, that's a pretty good indication of the feel for this overall."

Public feedback received through the Facebook page "Yes For Pea Ridge's Future" has been mixed. While some support the issue, others have commented they oppose raising taxes.

There is no apparent organized opposition to the Pea Ridge request.

The district has secured a pledge of $10.6 million from the state to help with the high school project if voters approve the millage hike.

There have been three information forums for the public to learn about the request. The last one was at First Baptist Church Pea Ridge.

NW News on 04/30/2017

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