GRAVETTE -- The School District would build an elementary school and add several classrooms at its high school if voters approve a 3.6-mill tax increase this month.
The projects, costing $14.7 million, are on the Sept. 16 ballot. The owner of a $100,000 home would pay an additional $72 per year if the issue passes.
At A Glance
School Election
Gravette School District voters will go to the polls Sept. 16 to vote on a 3.6-mill tax increase proposal to build an elementary school and add five classrooms and a science lab at Gravette High School.
Early voting begins Tuesday and will be available at each of the three Benton County clerk’s offices: 215 E. Central Ave., Bentonville; 1428 W. Walnut St., Rogers; and 707 Lincoln St., Siloam Springs. Polling sites on Sept. 16 will include the Gravette Civic Center, Sulphur Springs Community Building, Hiwasse Fire Station/Community Building, and Highlands Church in Bella Vista.
Source: Staff Report
The millage increase would provide about three-fourths of the projects' cost. The rest of the money would come from refinanced and extended 2009 bonds and the district building fund.
The new elementary school would be built in west Bella Vista and serve grades kindergarten through five. Cooper Communities agreed in 2010 to reserve the 17-acre site for the district for 10 years and donate the land if a school was built there. Plans are to open the school in the fall of 2016 with about 240 students if the millage is approved.
The School Board voted 4-3 in February to request the millage increase from voters. The three board members with Bella Vista addresses all voted for it, along with one who lives on the district's far west side. The three members who opposed it all have Gravette addresses.
Susan Santos is one of those board members who supports the millage.
"I think it's critical," Santos said.
Gravette has two buildings for elementary-age students. Glenn Duffy Elementary School is for grades prekindergarten through second. The Upper Elementary School is for grades three through five.
Upper Elementary has no more classrooms available if enrollment grows anymore, Santos said.
"If you're going to consider what you're going to do over the long run, there are a lot of options," she said. "It seems reasonable to me to build some place where more of the growth is, and more of the growth is on the east side of our district. We're trying to build for the future."
Not everyone is convinced of the need, however. Hope Duke, a Gravette resident with three children in the district, has been a persistent opponent of the issue. A group she leads has organized five informational meetings for the public about the millage. She estimated the meetings drew a total of about 75 people.
Enrollment figures indicate no new schools or classrooms are necessary now, Duke said.
The district's enrollment increased from 1,769 to 1,899, or 7.3 percent, between 2006 and 2013, according to district figures. Both elementary schools' enrollment has fluctuated over the years, but Duffy's enrollment was 451 last year, down from 485 in 2006. Its capacity is between 520 and 590, depending on how certain space is used, Duke said.
Upper Elementary's enrollment was 392 last year, the same as it was in 2006.
"So it shows we're not really growing," Duke said. "We're far from capacity now."
Upper Elementary classrooms are all being used, but they are not full, she said. The school's capacity is 486 students and enrollment is below 400, she said.
Duke said she would support the millage increase if the need could be demonstrated. The fact Gravette has the lowest millage rate among the 14 districts in Benton and Washington counties -- something highlighted on an informational sheet recently mailed to district residents -- doesn't sway her, either.
"Just because other districts around us are higher, it's not a reason to raise taxes," Duke said.
The high school, which opened in 2006, has reached capacity because of program implementation, according to an information sheet posted on the district's website. The high school has added biomedical and engineering classes the last two years.
High school enrollment is expected to decrease from 598 students last year to 584 for the 2017-18 school year, according to a document on the district's website. The proposed addition of six classrooms would increase capacity from 640 to at least 750.
The new elementary school and the high school addition both are projects listed on the district's 2015 Plan established in 2005.
Danny Alsup, School Board president, couldn't be reached for comment. Three phone calls to his home phone went unanswered. Alsup was one of the three who voted against seeking the millage increase.
Superintendent Richard Page didn't return three messages seeking comment.
The Gravette School district covers 150 square miles. That includes Maysville, Sulphur Springs, Hiwasse and part of Bella Vista.
John Edwards, a board member who lives in Bella Vista, favors the plan in part because it will reduce bus transportation times for Bella Vista students. Some students ride the bus for about an hour each way, he said.
Duke understands the long bus rides are a problem, but a new school isn't the solution.
"Add a bus route. Buy a bus. Buy two, buy three. That's a whole lot cheaper," she said.
Edwards said the new elementary would open with empty classrooms, but he'd like to see the district be prepared for growth. Bella Vista's demographics are changing with increasingly more families with young children moving in, he said.
Bella Vista has only one elementary school. That's Cooper Elementary School, a part of the Bentonville School District.
"I think Cooper Elementary is busting at the seams," Edwards said. "I would think that under the school choice law, we would draw additional children who live near (the new elementary) who would want to attend."
NW News on 09/06/2014