An attorney for the Hughes School District is asking a circuit court to overturn the Arkansas Department Education's order that the district consolidate with the West Memphis School District by July 1.
James Valley, a Helena-West Helena attorney and former mayor of the Phillips County town, said the school district disputes the state Education Department's claims of declining enrollment and fiscal distress -- two reasons for the state mandate to consolidate.
Valley filed the legal action in St. Francis County Circuit Court.
The Arkansas Board of Education ordered the involuntary consolidation on April 9, saying Hughes' enrollment dipped below the 350-student minimum standard for operating a district. The board also claimed the school was in "fiscal distress" after state audits found several discrepancies in its bookkeeping.
Valley said the department's definition of "fiscal distress" is "not defined by Arkansas law" and "vague," and challenged its decision to place the school district into that status.
"Compared to the percentage of students it has, the district is doing well financially," Valley said. "The definition of 'fiscal distress' is convoluted and arbitrary. There are no procedures in place to tell schools how to get out of distress.
"Hughes is a small district, but they have $1.5 million in reserves. They pay their bills."
He said the Hughes district had 354 students enrolled last year, and some dropped out but returned later. He said the state Education Department didn't count those students who returned.
Valley said Arkansas Act 377 of 2015, which waives the consolidation requirement for a small district on a yearly basis if an underenrolled district is not in fiscal, academic or facility distress, has "captured" the Hughes district because the Education Department counted it as falling below the 350-student mark for two consecutive years.
In an e-mail response Monday, Education Department spokesman Kimberly Friedman said the department had not seen the lawsuit. According to the department, Hughes' enrollment fell under 350 students for two consecutive years and has been in fiscal distress since 2013.
"We understand that annexations and consolidations are sometimes difficult for communities," she said in her email. "They are also difficult for the State Board of Education; however, the State Board of Education acted entirely within the requirements of the law in ordering the consolidation of the Hughes School District."
Hughes Superintendent Sheryl Owens was not available for comment on Monday. A person who answered the phone at the district said she was out of the office for a week.
Valley said he felt the Education Department targeted Hughes for consolidation after former Hughes School District Superintendent Ray Nassar won a settlement of $340,000 in a discrimination suit against the district in 2008. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis upheld the decision but lowered the settlement to $246,000 on March 3.
"That was the poisoned pill for the district since," the attorney said. "This will be devastating for Hughes. If the school closes, it will be like shuttering the community."
The southeast St. Francis County town has seen a declining population over the past 10 years, said Mayor Grady Collum. In 2000, the U.S. Census showed Hughes had 1,867 people. Now, the mayor said, he expects the population may actually be closer to 1,100 than the 1,411 residents census takers tallied in 2010.
"Our school is the biggest employer," Collum said of the district, which employs about 80. "More money goes through the school than most of our businesses combined."
They mayor said he feared closure of the school would drive what little commerce the town has out.
"When the hammer falls, we will have an exodus greater than what we've already had," he said. "When you lose your school, you lose your identity. You're no longer a person. You're a thing."
Collum said a person told him that a prospective buyer of his business withdrew an offer to buy it after learning of the mandated consolidation.
"It will be devastating, but we have to look past that if we can," Collum said. "We ultimately have to do what's right for the children. And our kids may be better off in West Memphis. It may be better than what we can provide for them here. We don't know that yet.
"But it will be hard lick for Hughes," he said.
State Desk on 05/01/2015