Little Rock School District's 2nd-lien bonds get state OK; new high school among projects

Little Rock School District Deputy Superintendent Marvin Burton (right) takes members of the Arkansas Board of Education on a tour of McClellan High School on Wednesday. One of the board members on the tour, Ouida Newton, said Thursday that what she saw at McClellan shows the need to build a new McClellan High School as well as a new J.A. Fair High.
Little Rock School District Deputy Superintendent Marvin Burton (right) takes members of the Arkansas Board of Education on a tour of McClellan High School on Wednesday. One of the board members on the tour, Ouida Newton, said Thursday that what she saw at McClellan shows the need to build a new McClellan High School as well as a new J.A. Fair High.

The Little Rock School District cleared a hurdle Thursday in what had been a stalled effort to build a new high school in southwest Little Rock.

The Arkansas Board of Education voted 7-1 to approve the district's application to issue second-lien bonds to raise $92,055,000 -- $55 million of which will go toward the new high school and the rest to improvements at campuses elsewhere in the state's largest school district.

Those improvements will include new roofs and mechanical systems, renovated restrooms, fire alarm systems, parking lot repairs, added air conditioning in kitchens and upgrades to athletic fields.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key and members of his staff said the district and the bond application met the legal requirements for what is typically a routine approval by the Education Board. The district's ratio of debt to revenue will be 7.39 percent, which is lower than other debt ratios that are permitted by the state.

Education Board member Ouida Newton of Poyen was one of the board members who earlier in the week toured McClellan High, which along with J.A Fair High, will be replaced by the new high school.

"What I saw yesterday shows that we are not fulfilling want, we are filling needs," Newton said in supporting the application. "These kids need what we have a chance to be able to give them. This is what is best for the students and the teachers of that area."

Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore said after the meeting that as a result of the Education Board approval, the bonds will likely be made available to investors by the end of this month and the high school ground work could begin as soon as September.

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What is expected to be a $90 million high school is being designed by the Polk Stanley Wilcox architecture firm for as many as 2,250 students on undeveloped land between Mabelvale Pike and Mann Road, behind the Home Depot and Wal-Mart stores. In addition to $55 million from the bond issue, the district will use savings and state desegregation aid to pay for the school.

The new school is to open in the fall of 2019.

The state board's vote in support of the bond issue comes after a May 9 election in which nearly 65 percent of Little Rock district voters defeated a proposed 13-year extension of 12.4 of the district's 46.4-mill property tax rate.

The extension of the tax from 2033 to 2047 would have generated money to finance a much larger $160 million bond issue for districtwide building construction, renovation and repairs.

Opponents to the extended tax argued in the days leading up to the May election that the measure would increase the district's annual debt at a time when the district is being managed by the state and there is no locally elected school board to hold accountable for the spending of the money. The tax election divided some of the city's most prominent business, education and government leaders into different camps.

A second-lien bond issue is different from the bond plan rejected by voters in that it is smaller and does not require voter approval, although it does require state Education Board approval.

The second-lien bond debt will be repaid with debt-service revenue that the district receives over and above what the school system needs to repay its existing debt.

That money will come largely as the result of anticipated increases in the assessed value of property in the district, Jack Truemper of Stephens Inc., a financial adviser to the district, said Thursday.

The assessed value of property in the school system has increased an average 3.41 percent per year since 1998, although there were declines in assessed value in two of the early years of this decade, Truemper said. The district can expect $2.2 million in new revenue this year as a result of more recent increased property values, he said.

Property is assessed at 20 percent of its real value for taxation purposes.

The state Education Board's vote Thursday also came over the objections of more than 300 Little Rock residents who earlier this summer signed a petition against the approval of the second-lien bond application for the district.

None of the objectors, however, attended Thursday's meeting to address the Education Board.

Former Pulaski County Circuit Judge Marion Humphrey was one of the leaders in the petition drive against the bond issue and is an outspoken objector to state control of the district. Humphrey said in a telephone interview later Thursday that the Education Board's vote was influenced by the Walton Family Foundation of Bentonville and was a forgone conclusion.

The foundation is a national proponent of charter schools, which compete with traditional schools for students and state aid.

"Until we change leadership in the state, this is probably going to reoccur," Humphrey said. "I think there is a design to go further than Little Rock," he said adding that "it is time to direct criticism" to Gov. Asa Hutchinson for allowing what Humphrey sees as an intent by the Walton Family Foundation to destroy traditional public education.

Education Board member Charisse Dean of Little Rock was among the Education Board members who toured McClellan High earlier this week.

"This is a complicated issue," Dean said at the meeting. "It is much deeper than education. It is much deeper than facilities. It has to do with the fabric of our society in America and the relational issues that we have, but in the end, this is all about our children.

"This is about the children who sometimes fall through the cracks. I want to do everything in my power to ensure that no child falls through the cracks and that all children, including African-American and Hispanic children, get the tools that are necessary for them to get the best education possible."

Education Board member Mireya Reith of Fayetteville was the sole no vote on the bond application.

She acknowledged that teachers and others in southwest Little Rock are eager to see a replacement school for the dilapidated McClellan High. Others, she said, think that their democracy has been taken away and that there are no assurances that the bond money will be invested in the way they desire.

Reith called for better communication between district leaders and community members to clarify how decisions are made and to dispel myths.

Poore said the plans for the new high school have been ongoing and have involved students and staff members from the affected high schools and middle schools, as well as community and business people.

"This has not been done willy-nilly," he said.

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Little Rock School District Superintendent Michael Poore is shown in this photo.

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Democrat-Gazette file photo

Arkansas Department of Education commissioner Johnny Key is shown in this file photo.

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