LITTLE ROCK — The Little Rock School District should reserve a portion of $36 million in federal stimulus money to fund initiatives recommended in a strategic plan due out sometime this winter, leaders of the blue-ribbon planning commission crafting the plan said Tuesday.
The head of the teachers union and Little Rock's superintendent, however, criticized any delay, saying instructors need access to the money now to improve student achievement.
Former state Sen. Jim Argue, co-chairman of the new planning commission, recommended at a School Board work session Tuesday night that the board "warehouse" a portion ofthe stimulus money to finance the strategic plan's recommendations.
The plan, which will be written with the help of consultants retained for $200,760, will arrive in December or January, Argue said.
"If you are serious about that strategic plan, it's just common [sense] you'd reserve some of your resources to implement the plan that you've bought," Argue said.
Cathy Koehler, president of the Little Rock Classroom Teachers Association and one of Argue's fellow commissioners, ripped the idea.
She said the money should have already flowed to district classrooms. The district coulduse the money immediately to hire more teachers, reduce class sizes and upgrade classroom technology.
More delay only hurts students, Koehler said.
"We are told from the top from ... President [Barack] Obama that we need to do it now. There is no more time to wait," Koehler said after the meeting. "And then we come to this and I have to sit here and try to be patient while people who are not familiar with the process suggest 'Oh hey, let's hold back some of the money.'"
"Students don't have another four, five or six months to wait. We need to address the needs they have now."
Argue said he was only suggesting holding back a portion of the stimulus money.
He said the district should move forward with an already approved plan to spend $13 million of the $36 million on programs earmarked for special education and for federal Title I programs in schools with high percentages of low-income children.
He also said the district should spend money planned for a student data-management system and for facilities improvements.
"We're not talking about the whole pot," he said.
John Walker, a Little Rock lawyer who also sits on the commission, said the district should also ask the Arkansas Department of Education to let them delay submitting its "Smart Accountability" plan until after the strategic plan is complete.
The department is requiring Little Rock to submit a Smart Accountability plan that would include the hiring of state-approved improvement specialists that would help the district's lowest-performing schools. The move would give the state more control over the operation of struggling schools.
That plan is due on Oct. 1.
Walker said the district should seek a waiver so the Smart Accountability plan may be better merged with the strategic plan.
The two plans must work in sync, not compete, Walker said.
"I want to make sure the teachers understand it's better to wait a day and have something that's comprehensive and thoughtful than to go ahead and do it and be continually where we are," Walker said.
Superintendent Linda Watson said she doesn't favor delays in either instance.
She said it will take the district at least a month to begin implementing the strategic plan's recommendations after it's completed.
If the stimulus spending is delayed, that means students wouldn't begin to benefit until at least February - near the beginning of the standardized-testing season.
Also, the stimulus must be spent by the winter of 2011, so any delay pushes the district "against a wall."
A better solution, Watson said, is for the commission to release the plan more quickly so its recommendations can be incorporated into the Smart Accountability and stimulus-spending plans. Watson said she could meet next week to discuss the plan's potential recommendations with the commission's consultants.
Watson said she doesn't want to "fast-track" the strategic plan. But the consultants already know some of the recommendations they'll make.
The School Board is expected to meet Thursday to vote on a spending plan for the stimulus money.
Arkansas, Pages 9, 13 on 08/26/2009