The Little Rock School District will ask voters at a special election March 14 to approve an extension of existing property-tax mills to finance a new high school and make improvements at other campuses.
Superintendent Mike Poore submitted a request to hold the special election to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key. Key said Tuesday that he has approved the plan for the special election.
"Over the last two school years, working with [former Superintendent Baker] Kurrus and Mr. Poore, it became clear to me that significant needs exist for the construction and renovation of district facilities in order to provide world-class educational opportunities for LRSD students," Key said in an email statement.
Key said a bond issue based on the extended tax mills, coupled with the state desegregation aid in 2017-18 that is restricted specifically for school construction costs, will help make the improved school buildings "a reality."
Key acts in place of the school board in the 24,000-student district that has been operating under state control -- without a locally elected school board -- since January 2015 because six of the district's 48 schools at that time were labeled as being in academic distress.
Typically, an elected school board decides whether to ask voters for changes in property taxes for a school system.
The Little Rock district's special-election plan would not increase the existing 46.4-mill property-tax rate, but would result in taxpayers continuing to pay the same rate for additional years.
If the Little Rock district proposal is approved by voters, the 12.4 mills of the total 46.4-mill rate would be extended by 14 years to 2047. Those 12.4 debt service mills will otherwise expire in 2033.
The district also levies 32 mills for maintenance and operation of the district -- the revenue from which is used to pay salaries and bills, and 2 mills for dedicated maintenance and operation, the money from which is used for upkeep of technology systems.
The refinancing of existing debt-service bonds, coupled with the extension of the debt-service mills, would enable the district to issue $202,645,000 in new bonds that will be paid off over 30 years, according to information sent to Key by the district.
About $160 million of that would be new money to the district that could go toward the construction of a high school that is expected to cost as much as $90 million, and improvements elsewhere in the state's largest district. The remainder of the $202 million would be used to continue paying off previously issued bonds, as well as support second-lien bonds in the future.
District leaders are working with Polk, Stanley, Wilcox architecture firm on the design of a high school for as many as 2,250 ninth- through 12th-graders on a 55-acre site in southwest Little Rock. The proposed school would replace both McClellan and J.A. Fair high schools.
The district-owned site is between Mabelvale Pike and Mann Road behind the Home Depot and Wal-Mart stores. Initial planning for a new high school predates the state takeover of the school district.
The Little Rock School Board voted to purchase the land for a replacement school for McClellan in April 2013.
In addition to the high school, Poore said building projects are likely to include renovation of the existing McClellan High campus for another purpose, such as a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school.
Other possible projects include the installation of an energy-management system, roof replacements and renovations to enhance instruction.
The district will announce additional, more specific plans for the millage campaign and the use of the possible new revenue in the coming few days, Poore also said.
The special election comes at a time when the Little Rock district is not only operating under state control but is also cutting expenses to offset the end of $37 million a year in special state desegregation aid after the 2017-18 school year. Poore and his staff have proposed closing as many as three elementary schools and an alternative school in 2016-17 to save on costs.
Jim Ross, a member of the Little Rock School Board at the time it was disbanded by the state, said recently that he would vehemently oppose any extension of the debt-service mills if adding to the district's debt load will jeopardize the district's solvency and prevent its release from state control.
Poore said Tuesday that the purpose of asking voters to extend the existing tax mills is to improve the district.
"We are trying to be as aggressive as we possibly can to be a better district," Poore said. "The expectation is that we are going to get better tomorrow and we are going to get better next year, and we are going to take every means we have known to us to serve kids well and serve the community well," he said.
"We have an option here to create capital by extending the debt to generate $160 million, which will allow us to follow up on a promise that was made -- to build a high school in the southwest -- and do a lot of other capital projects that will enhance learning environments. And it isn't a situation where someone has to vote to give us additional mills," he said. "It would be an extension of our debt."
To hold a special election on March 14, Key had to approve a resolution containing a proposed budget of district expenditures for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018. That proposed budget must be published in a newspaper 60 days before the planned election date.
The final day the proposed budget may be published to hold the election on March 14, is Friday.
In addition to working with the commissioner, the district also must petition the Pulaski County Election Commission to hold the special election.
Bryan Poe, director of elections in Pulaski County, said Tuesday that he anticipates receiving the necessary paperwork from the school district today for a March 14 election.
The three-member commission likely would meet early next week on the district's plan, Poe said.
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 assess property at 20 percent of appraised value, so a $100,000 house has an assessed value of $20,000. That $20,000 multiplied by the district's 46.4 mill tax rate generates $928 in tax revenue for the school system.
That annual rate would not change if the millage extension is approved by voters. The rate, however, would be paid through 2047 instead of being reduced in 2033
The Little Rock district last asked for voter approval of a change of any kind in property-tax rate or structure in 2000.
Metro on 01/11/2017