The Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts wants to enroll international students at its Hot Springs campus.
The state's only public residential high school for academically gifted 11th- and 12th-graders is requesting through Senate Bill 531 a change that would allow the international students to attend by paying tuition, fees, room and board. The change would give the school a line of income -- other than from the state -- that could be used to issue bonds for expansion and other projects.
Corey Alderdice, the school's director, said it would also enhance its Chinese language program and provide international experiences for the Arkansas student body.
"Students' experiences in language and culture are very much the skills needed by major corporations and the state to attract and do business with Chinese and other international partners," he said.
The bill, filed by Republican Sen. Bill Sample of Hot Springs, would also allow the school to enroll high-performing younger students from Arkansas.
If the bill is approved, Alderdice said, the school would start a three-year pilot program for both types of students in fall 2018 -- a preliminary step for growth.
Arkansas legislators created what was then the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Sciences in 1991, a time when 15 similar schools emerged in other states in response to the nation's growing interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- or STEM -- fields. The school opened to high school juniors and seniors two years later.
In 2004, the school moved under the University of Arkansas System umbrella and added the arts to its mission and name. Since its opening, a student from every Arkansas county has attended, and the school has produced more than 2,000 graduates, according to its website.
The school currently gets double the number of applicants than it has room for, Alderdice said.
If the bill passes, it would add an earlier point of entry for high-performing Arkansas students. Those students would continue to be a part of the 230 Arkansans the school accepts.
"It comes down to meeting individual students' needs," Alderdice said. "The general reason we exist is to support students' needs and to address the challenges that local school districts face in meeting those students' needs."
The school would cap the number of international students at 10, with five students admitted in one year and five more the next, as it would take two years to graduate. The school would not be admitting fewer Arkansans than it already is, he said.
Many Arkansas schools participate in international student exchange programs or enroll students through special visas. International students are drawn to American high schools as a way to get into the higher education system.
If the changes are approved, the school would join three of the 16 residential high schools in the nation that accept international students. The three are the Missouri Academy of Science, Mathematics and Computing; the Kansas Academy of Mathematics and Science and The Maine School of Science and Mathematics.
The bill would make international students pay rates set by the UA System's trustees. Missouri charges international students about $32,000 for the first year, according to its website. Kansas charges about $25,000 annually, and Maine takes about $45,000 annually from the nonresident students.
The Missouri school, formed in 2000, was one of the pioneers, opening its doors to international students in 2007, said its dean, Cleo Samudzi.
"Our population at the time was almost exclusively Missouri students, and what we wanted to do is increase the diversity of our student body by bringing in international students and expose domestic students to other countries, cultures and such," Samudzi said. "What better way to do that to bring those cultures here? For two years, we live, we breathe, we eat with those students so that when they graduate, they really understand the idiosyncrasies. That was the absolute driver."
The idea was met mostly with fanfare. At the time, he said, Missouri lawmakers had called for institutions to encourage more international students to apply, though it was not directly connected to the academy's plans.
But it also had its critics, some of whom thought the school was formed specifically for Missouri students.
"These folks are paying out-of-state tuition, and we have never been in a situation in which we accepted a qualified international student and rejected a qualified resident student," he said.
Of the 130 students at the Missouri academy, 60 percent are from Missouri, while the remainder are international, Samudzi said. But because of large budget cuts -- the academy is part of Northwest Missouri State University -- the school started in 2012 charging that state's high school students tuition and fees, as well, he said, adding that the charge has largely quashed the number of Missouri students applying for a spot.
The school offers scholarships, but it can only do so to a certain point.
"We even got more budget cuts this year that's making it difficult," Samudzi said. "The budget cuts are so deep that we even worry about our very existence."
The Arkansas school -- in a better financial situation than its neighboring peer -- is eyeing tuition and fees set at $35,000 annually for international students, Alderdice said.
Tuition, fee, room and board revenue would help the Arkansas school bring in additional income, which could be used to fund future projects. The school is a "nonformula" higher-education entity, receiving about $8.8 million of a total $9.6 million budget from the state's Revenue Stabilization Act and Education Excellence Trust Fund.
Because its revenue is mostly from the state, the Arkansas school cannot use that line of income for a bond issue, leaving it to get creative to find ways of funding projects. It wasn't an issue until about 2008, when the campus and community started thinking about the future of the school and wanted to build new student dormitories.
The Student Center was built thanks to gubernatorial discretionary funds, state general improvement funds, institutional reserves and a tax-credit program.
The school ran into the problem again in 2015 when it wanted to build a new classroom space. Piecing together funds -- including the largest donation in its history, reserves and other state money -- the school got that project off the ground nearly a year later.
An independent line of income would help the school fund projects such as an arts center that will be prioritized after the new classroom space.
Donald Bobbitt, the president of the UA System, said in a statement that the school "must always" first serve high-achieving Arkansans but that Alderdice made a strong case for the benefits of opening up a few seats for tuition-paying international students.
"I'm supportive of this because we know that our students must learn to communicate and compete in a fast-paced global economy and that educational exchange benefits both parties involved," he said. "Exposing our current students to peers from elsewhere would enhance the educational experience at ASMSA and promote economic development here in Arkansas."
The school would home in on partnerships with China and South Korea. If the bill passes, it would come as two Chinese companies have invested in the state. Suzhou Tianyuan Garments Co. -- the first Chinese company to manufacture clothing in the United States -- will create 400 fulltime jobs in the state, and Sun Paper is planning to build a $1 billion pulp mill near Arkadelphia.
Both companies have turned to the University of Central Arkansas' Confucius Institute to look for potential employees who can speak Chinese, said institute director Guo-Ou Zhuang. The Confucius Institute -- the only one in the state and part of more than 100 in the nation -- works with its Chinese university partner to promote language, culture and diversity through academic exchanges, school programs, lectures and university classes.
The institute has labeled five high schools in the state, including the Arkansas school, as Confucius classrooms as they continuously have at least 60 students learning Chinese, Zhuang said. The institute helps bring teachers from China to teach the language at the five schools, he said, adding that it prepares Arkansas students for a globalizing world.
"If they have English and Chinese languages, Arkansas students will have a very competitive edge," he said. "Students at an early age -- the earlier they start, they are more confident in learning the Chinese language. With this, to allow international students, to expose the student to other cultures, other nationalities -- it's a good thing. It will help them open their mind."
The bill has been referred to the Senate Education Committee, which listed it on today's agenda.
The Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators has not taken a stance on the bill, said its executive director, Richard Abernathy. The group -- which is made up of the state's school district superintendents -- will have committee meetings today and plans to take a position then.
Metro on 03/08/2017