More than 150 Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District supporters sang the refrain to the R&B song "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now" on Tuesday night to mark the beginning of a campaign for a 7.6-mill property tax increase for school construction.
"If you believe in this city, there ain't no stoppin' us now," the Rev. James Bolden, a Jacksonville alderman, sang -- tweaking words to the verses and urging the audience at the Jacksonville Community Center "to put your hands together."
The Education Corps Jacksonville/North Pulaski hosted the event that was highlighted by architectural sketches of a new Jacksonville High School campus that will be built, in part, with the proceeds from the tax increase if it should pass at a special election Feb. 9. Early voting in the election begins Feb. 2.
"We're going to call people," Laura Walker, spokesman for the Education Corps, said about the campaign. "We are going to get signs out. We're going to pass out brochures -- just educate the community. We are planning community forums."
Walker said she is optimistic about the outcome of the tax election based on results from recent polling and on the 95 percent vote in September 2014 in favor of carving a separate Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District out of the Pulaski County Special School District. The new district, which will serve about 4,000 students, will begin operating as an independent district on July 1.
The mother of two toddlers, a graduate of Jacksonville High and director of the city's Boys and Girls Club, Walker said the new district and improved school buildings are a long time coming.
"There are people who have been working on this for more than 30 years," she said. "It's time for us to take advantage of the situation that we are in."
No organized opposition to the tax increase has come forward.
Eldon Bock, a principal in the WER Architects/Planners firm in Little Rock, presented to the crowd some early drawings of the new high school that will front on the city's Main Street. In addition to a two- to three-story classroom building, the campus will include a cafeteria, auditorium, career education space, a football stadium, gymnasium and athletic practice facilities, much of which will be easily viewed by passers-by on U.S. 67/167.
The early design and layout of the campus, along with information on the special election, can be viewed on the Education Corps website: ourowndistrict.com.
In addition to a new high school on the site of what is the now-vacant Jacksonville Middle School campus, the School Board for the state's newest school district is also planning to use the millage increase to finance a new elementary school to replace Arnold Drive and Tolleson elementary schools and add multipurpose rooms to each of the district's four other elementary schools: Bayou Meto, Pinewood, Murrell Taylor and Warren Dupree. The current North Pulaski High School campus will become the district's sole middle school.
If the 7.6-mill increase is approved by voters, the tax rate in the fledgling school district will increase from 40.7 mills to 48.3 mills. The increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $152 a year and the owner of a $50,000 home an additional $76 a year.
Money generated by the new mills, in combination with the district's existing 14.8 mills that are dedicated to debt service, would be used to finance a $46 million bond issue for the construction projects.
The district would supplement the bond money with state school construction funds. The district also anticipates some funding from the U.S. Department of Defense for the construction of the new elementary school that is planned for property near the Little Rock Air Force Base.
Merlene McGhee , who has been active in Jacksonville area schools, said the new district desperately needs new buildings.
"Nobody likes taxes but this will benefit Jacksonville for years to come," she said. "I'm just praying that people will do like they did when they voted for the new district -- get to the polls and say 'Yes" again."
Jacksonville School Board President Daniel Gray said the 2014 election was a great springboard to the millage election.
"We're excited but we aren't going to take anything for granted. We are focusing on success," Gray said. "This is Plan A. It is going to pass. I'm confident our community is going to do this. And I have no doubt that we will be working on floor plans on Feb. 10."
The proposed 48.3-mill tax rate in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski district would be equal to North Little Rock School District's tax rate.
A mill is one-tenth of 1 cent. One mill levied on an assessed value of $1,000 yields $1 in property taxes. Arkansas counties tax property at 20 percent of appraised or market value, so a $100,000 house has a taxable value of $20,000.
Metro on 01/06/2016