The Arkansas Department of Education has identified the Pine Bluff School District as being in fiscal distress, a label that immediately bars the district from spending money without prior state agency approval and puts the district in jeopardy of state takeover.
The identification of the 3,600-student district as fiscally distressed is based on the school system's declining annual balances, "as well as other conditions that jeopardize the fiscal integrity of the district and negatively impact the continuation of educational services," Cynthia Smith, the Education Department's coordinator of fiscal services and support, wrote to district leaders.
The Pine Bluff district will now go on Sept. 13 to the state Board of Education, which will consider whether to take the next step of "classifying" the district as being in fiscal distress. The school district has 30 days from the receipt of the state letter to appeal the fiscal-distress identification. The state Education Board would hear any appeal from the district at the Sept. 13 meeting.
The Pine Bluff School District was previously classified as fiscally distressed in 1998. That label was removed in 2000.
The identification of the district as being in fiscal distress -- defined as when yearly expenditures routinely exceed revenue -- comes at a time when the district's leadership is in transition and student academic achievement is low.
The School Board voted in late June to buy out Superintendent Michael Robinson's contract for $50,000. Robinson had held the job for two school years. The School Board selected Monica King McMurray, who was the district's executive director of learning services, to be interim superintendent.
McMurray did not return a message left for her at her office Monday for comment on the district's financial problems.
Herman Horace, president of the Pine Bluff School Board, would only say Monday that McMurray will present information about the district's financial situation at the School Board's 6 p.m. meeting today.
Any district that is ultimately classified by the state Education Board as being in fiscal distress must publish that status and the reasons for it in a general circulation newspaper, according to state rules and laws on fiscal distress.
The district also must submit to the Education Department, within 10 days of the state Education Board decision, a written financial improvement plan to correct deficiencies in its business operations. That plan is subject to the Education Department's approval, revisions or replacement.
The Education Department may petition the state Education Board at any time for the consolidation, annexation or reconstitution of a school district, or take other actions allowed by law, to protect the resources of the state and provide for the best interests of the students.
Additionally, the state's education commissioner can permanently remove or temporarily suspend the superintendent and/or the elected School Board of a fiscally distressed school system.
Two Arkansas school districts -- Dollarway and Earle -- are currently classified as fiscally distressed and both are operating under state control with state-appointed superintendents and without locally elected school boards. Education Commissioner Johnny Key acts in place of the school boards in those systems.
According to the state rules on fiscal distress, any school district classified as being in fiscal distress status will be subject to an on-site technical evaluation and assistance from the Education Department.
The department will evaluate and make written recommendations to the district superintendent regarding staffing and fiscal practices of the school district.
And, the written recommendations of the department will be binding on the school district, the superintendent and the school district board of directors.
Every six months, the department must submit a written evaluation on the status of each school district in fiscal distress to the Education Board.
A school district in fiscal distress is eligible to petition the State Education Board for removal from fiscal distress status after the Education Department has certified in writing that the school district has corrected all the reasons for its fiscal distress and otherwise complied with Education Department directives on the matter.
Also according to state law and rules, a school district generally cannot remain in fiscal distress for more than five consecutive school years from the date that the school district was classified as being in fiscal distress status.
The state board must consolidate, annex, or reconstitute any school district that fails to remove itself from the classification of a school district in fiscal distress within five school years -- unless the state board issues a written, detailed finding that the school district could not remove itself from fiscal distress because of external forces beyond the school district's control.
A Section on 08/21/2018