Leaders of Northwest Arkansas charter schools were delighted by passage of a state law providing a state funding stream to help with construction, renovation and maintenance of their facilities.
"That's a happy bill," said Mary Ley, chief executive officer of the Arkansas Arts Academy in Rogers. "It's huge for us."
Act 739
Act 739, signed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson last week, created the Open-Enrollment Public Charter School Facilities Funding Aid Program. Charter schools that receive money through this program may use it only for “the lease, purchase, renovation, repair, construction, installation, restoration, alteration, modification, or operation and maintenance of an approved facility,” according to the law.
Source: Staff Report
Senate Bill 789 by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, became Act 739 when it was signed into law by Gov. Asa Hutchinson last week. It allows the state Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to award money to charter schools for help with facilities. Up to now, charter schools have been able only to borrow money from the state for facilities.
The new law applies to open-enrollment charter schools, public schools that are open to students from anywhere in the state. There are 18 open-enrollment charter schools in Arkansas, including three in Northwest Arkansas: Arkansas Arts Academy, Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy in Bentonville and Haas Hall Academy in Fayetteville.
Act 739 appropriated $15 million for charter school grants and provided $5 million in funding. An appropriation gives an organization the authority to spend money, but an appropriation doesn't provide money, said Charles Stein, director of the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.
The Arkansas Department of Education will set forth the rules and establish the process for charter schools to apply for the grants, Stein said.
Open-enrollment charter schools receive the same amount of money per student from the state as traditional public schools, but don't receive money from property taxes like traditional schools do. That hurts the charter schools, especially when it comes to attracting the best employees, Ley said.
"It's hard for us to have competitive salaries," Ley said. "Being able to get money for facilities allows us to use more of our funding for salaries. We look for the best teachers like anyone else."
Martin Schoppmeyer, founder and superintendent of Haas Hall Academy, agreed with Ley. He called facilities the "Achilles heel" of charter schools. A lack of funding often forces charter schools to lease buildings, "and sometimes those facilities are not up to par with what you want," he said.
Haas Hall, a school for grades eight through 12, plans to move out of the space it has leased since 2009 on North College Avenue to a bigger building about a mile north Schoppmeyer said is better suited to the school's needs.
Haas Hall also plans to open a second school this fall in Bentonville in a building it will lease. That building is under construction on Southeast J Street.
Arkansas Arts Academy, the state's second-oldest charter school, is the only one of the three local charter schools that owns its facilities, though it's still paying them off. The school's two buildings -- one for the high school and one for the middle and elementary schools -- are about a mile and a half apart.
"We have dreams for both campuses to be elevated to reflect the vision we have to be a national-level arts school," Ley said. "We have architects willing to dream with us."
Money, however, is the biggest issue. A foundation was established for the school about two months ago and has collected about $11,000, Ley said. The school's annual budget is about $5 million.
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy leases space on Melissa Drive in Bentonville. The school, now in its second year, is for grades kindergarten through nine, and school officials plan to add one grade level each year.
The school eventually would like to own a building that's big enough to contain all of those grade levels, a maximum of 700 students, said Timm Petersen, headmaster.
"There are all kinds of ideas we're looking at, ways that it could work," Petersen said.
Northwest Arkansas Classical Academy will pursue money through Act 739, he said.
"Any time we can take funds from the physical plant and put it into the actual classroom, that's definitely going to be beneficial," Petersen said.
He added Act 739 appears to be a good law.
"It looks like they're really wanting to make it something worthwhile. It doesn't have a mountain of restrictions, which is good. It has the appropriate ones," Petersen said.
Under the law, schools that deliver education primarily online aren't eligible for facility money. Schools also must not be in academic distress or otherwise be performing below standards academically.
In other school facility news, the Arkansas House Committee on Education on Monday rejected a second attempt to pass a bill that proposed giving charter schools first right to access empty public school buildings.
NW News on 04/02/2015