Finances, record-keeping still plague Dollarway district

LITTLE ROCK — Serious financial and record-keeping problems remain at Pine Bluff's Dollarway School District, including grappling with deficit spending racked up in recent years, the state-appointed district leader said.

"It has not been a week that I have not discovered something major — especially in financial and record-keeping," Frank Anthony said in a progress report Monday during which he likened his role to cleaning "up the wild, wild West."

"The circumstances have created some real challenging opportunities. I think that's the best way I could put it."

The state board voted in June to take over the Dollarway district after problems surfaced including employment of non-certified teachers and incorrect student transcripts.

Anthony, former Pine Bluff superintendent appointed to lead Dollarway after the state takeover, said the budget is one of multiple major problems. Revenue declined by $2 million in the past three years as student enrollment went down, Anthony said, adding deficit spending reached $1 million in the last school year.

A fund balance in the district will "cushion" some of the problems, but not all of them, Anthony said.

"I'm articulating this today because I think Sept. 15 is the time for budget," he said. "As Bill Clinton says, I can do arithemetic. But I can't cut $1 million out of the budget by Sept. 15."

Anthony said he has struggled to recruit qualified staff and noted that enrollment is also down by more than 100 students. He said he persuaded a retired counselor to temporarily help but that the district desperately needs two more who will be there on a longer-term basis as officials work to tackle the transcript problems.

"I'm pleading with her every day to stay, stay, stay," Anthony said of the counselor. "And she was there this morning when I left."

Anthony said he believes the state takeover was the "right thing to do," though it has presented some problems with students transferring out of the school because of the uncertainty.

And it also interrupted his retirement.

"Well, I was having a good time fishing when [Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell] persuaded me to this. He's now my No. 1 enemy," Anthony joked at one point. "No, he's my buddy."

The board heard from Anthony after a report from the head of Covenant Keepers College Preparatory Charter School in Little Rock, which was placed on a year-long probation in June.

That move came after a financial audit revealed superintendent Valerie Tatum, made an interest-bearing loan to the school, a violation of state law.

On Monday, Tatum addressed the board, noting the charter school has partnered with the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, is working with a full-time bookkeeper and is preparing for an upcoming audit.

"We're being quite proactive in taking care of the finanical activities at Coveneant Keepers," Tatum said.