Little Rock elected leaders are asking residents to vote in favor of extending the property tax millage that benefits the Little Rock School District in a special election next month.
The city Board of Directors approved a resolution Tuesday in a 7-1 vote that said it supported the millage extension and encouraged voters to vote May 9 for the extension.
City Director Erma Hendrix provided the sole "no" vote. City Directors Ken Richardson and B.J. Wyrick were absent. Voting to support the millage were City Directors Dean Kumpuris, Capi Peck, Gene Fortson, Kathy Webb, Lance Hines, Joan Adcock and Doris Wright.
The resolution said the special election outcome "is key" to returning the district to local control. It would also boost the local economy, and the chance to improve school facilities is "an opportunity not seen in decades," the resolution says.
School district administrators and principals spoke before the city board Tuesday to tell of 21 kitchens that operate without air conditioning, of leaking roofs that require tin cans to catch drippings and, in one school, of a broken fire alarm system.
The tax proposal going to voters calls for extending 12.4 mills of the district's total 46.4-mill property tax rate by 14 years -- from 2033, when the mills are now due to expire -- to 2047.
It would not increase the yearly tax rate but would keep the current tax rate for a longer period of years.
School district leaders say the extension of the millage will help finance a new high school in southwest Little Rock; a replacement building at the current McClellan High site; and new windows, roofs, lighting and heating/air conditioning at most other district campuses.
The extended millage would enable the district to borrow $202,645,000 that would be used to pay off existing building debt and generate $160 million in new money for the planned projects.
Opponents of the millage say it's putting money in the hands of the state, which took over control of the district in 2015. Currently, Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key acts as the decision-maker for the district, in place of the disbanded school board.
"It is unbelievable to me that the city of Little Rock staff would support a tax extension that employs the undemocratic process of taxing citizens without elected representation," Anika Whitfield wrote to city directors ahead of Tuesday night's vote.
Whitfield has acted as a spokesman for the grassroots group Save Our Schools, which is arguing against the millage extension. The group was started to protest the closure of three schools and the repurposing of another.
Two people spoke during Tuesday's meeting to voice opposition to the resolution and tell directors that their constituents were watching how they voted on this issue and would remember that when re-election time comes around.
City Director Capi Peck said opponents are missing the point of the millage extension.
"It's not about control or power. It's about the students and their well-being. It's about the people who work in the cafeteria. It's about the teachers. It's about school pride. It's about competing with charters. It's about improvements that are long past due," Peck said. "I think this is a step in the right direction in getting local control back. I understand how divisive this has been and continues to be, but I think it is time for us to come together as a community and do the right thing to support this millage. It's about the students. It's about public education."
Several other city directors said protesting the millage extension to "send a message" to the state would in the end hurt the children and parents of the school district.
Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola who runs the board meetings but votes only when there's a tie said he supported the resolution.
"I want those people who have confused this issue about the issue of control versus the improvements to the school [to know] these are two different issues," Stodola said. "I'll be one of, I suspect, many here to support a resolution urging the Board of Education to return control of our school district back to local control as soon as possible."
Metro on 04/19/2017