The two incumbents running for re-election to the Little Rock School Board agreed Friday morning at a forum that the district staff's benefits and salaries will need to be restructured to offset the loss of special state funding for desegregation.
The remarks offered by Jody Carreiro of Zone 5 and Norma Jean Johnson of Zone 1, were made at a public discussion hosted by the Coalition of Greater Little Rock Neighborhoods. All four candidates were invited to attend. Joy Springer, a legal assistant challenging Johnson, sent a delegate to represent her, while the chair reserved for Jim Ross, a faculty member at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who is challenging Carreiro, remained empty. The election is Sept. 16.
"There will be less people working at the Little Rock School District in five years," said Carreiro, a partner in an actuarial firm who has served on the School Board for two terms. "It's sad but it's true."
After a Jan. 13 settlement in the 31-year-old Pulaski County school-desegregation lawsuit, the state will stop providing special desegregation money in four years. The majority of the $37 million a year the state provides goes to the majority-to-minority interdistrict student-transfer program, but it also funds teacher retirement and health insurance costs.
Speaking to about 25 people at the Hinton Resource Center on Saturday morning, Johnson acknowledged that the issue is sensitive.
"Nobody wants to lose their jobs or their transportation," said Johnson, a permit technician at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. "But we have got to be strong, and we have got to be able to do these things so that we can move forward. Sometimes cutting costs hurts, but we've just got to do it."
In most school years, more than 85 percent of the Little Rock School District's operating revenue is allocated to personnel. In a May work session, officials said that figure must be pushed below 80 percent to keep the district's budget on track.
While official estimates are still in the works, that could mean cutting as much as $40 million in personnel costs, Carreiro said in an interview after the session. Currently, the district spends $196 million on its employees out of an operating budget of $225 million and an overall budget of $332 million.
Emily Kearns, a supporter of Springer and parent of children in the district, read prepared remarks from the candidate. Concerning the budget, Kearns read:
"As a board member, I am aware that the majority of the budget is for staff salaries and benefits. I will need to know where the remaining funds are being spent. ... My decision to cut the budget will depend upon objective consideration and criteria."
The forum was the first and only public debate for the candidates to voice their platforms. Each candidate gave a three-minute introduction and had two minutes to respond to each of six questions they were given in advance.
"We're just a little old neighborhood group, so we are not going to be as strict as the presidential debate," joked coalition President Kathy Wells after all the attendees introduced themselves and said where they live.
Concerned residents, district teachers and principals, and representatives from the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce also posed questions after candidates delivered their prepared answers.
Candidates answered questions about the curriculum, school diversity and the rotation of district administrators.
Another question about cutting the budget referred to the consolidation of the Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts into a single district south of the Arkansas river.
Jim Lynch, a community member and founding president of the neighborhood group, asked the question. He said it is an appropriate time to reconsider the option since the Pulaski County district is being run by the state and the Little Rock district will be losing its desegregation money. The consolidation would draw more students into the district, leading to higher property tax revenue from the western areas of the Pulaski County district.
"It's time to talk about that," Carreiro responded. "I don't know if it's the right thing, but it's time to talk."
Whoever is elected to the School Board must work hard to build unity, Wells said in an interview after the forum.
"Resolving disparity remains a question of the board," she said. "More efforts need to bring it together. There are fractures among board members and fractures in communities."
Metro on 08/10/2014