BENTONVILLE -- Northwest Arkansas Community College can use local tax money to build and operate an instructional center outside the district from which it raises that money, at least under certain circumstances, according to an opinion released by state Attorney General Leslie Rutledge.
Rutledge emphasized the college should consult its own attorneys before deciding how to use its money in such a way.
State Rep. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, requested the opinion on behalf of the college. Attorney general's opinions are nonbinding.
Jim Hall, the college's director of government and community relations, said the college sought the opinion as legislators were developing what's known as the Workforce Development Center Authority Act.
Act 509 allows school districts to pool resources into regional workforce training centers where students can learn vocational skills. The bill was sponsored by Jim Hendren, Kim Hendren's son and a state senator from Sulphur Springs.
Colleges initially weren't included in development of the bill, Hall said. The act now stipulates a two- or four-year public college or university that operates or has been approved to operate a "secondary vocational center" may participate.
Northwest Arkansas Community College doesn't have a secondary vocational center, but the college does offer programs in construction trades, heating and air installation and repair, and other vocations. College officials have said they may connect with a regional workforce center to teach those classes.
The Bentonville, Decatur, Gentry and Gravette school districts, through a partnership called the Western Benton Career Consortium, have discussed building a career center. Those districts have pushed for such a center to support students whose career interests don't necessarily require a four-year college degree, especially in fields where there is a big demand for workers.
It's unclear yet how involved the college would be in the career center, but the college wanted clarification it could apply its money there, Hall said.
Kim Hendren asked Rutledge whether a state-operated community college supported by a local property tax millage and state revenue may use that local millage to construct and operate an instructional center outside its taxing district.
Generally, the answer is yes, Rutledge wrote. State law "plainly contemplates that a community college may locate additional facilities within its service area, but outside its district, in order to serve the educational needs of the state and its district," according to her letter.
"And there is no clear constitutional or statutory restriction or limitation that would prevent a community college such as NWACC from using its local millage funds to construct and operate such facilities," she wrote.
The college collects tax money through a millage applied to residents of the Bentonville and Rogers school districts.
Metro on 07/16/2017