The sales of two Little Rock School District campuses -- Franklin and Woodruff -- are at hand.
District leaders Thursday sent proposed "offer and acceptance" contracts to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key for his signature of approval.
The sales affect the two campuses that were permanently closed at the end of the 2016-17 school year as part of an overall cost-cutting plan that also entailed closing Hamilton Learning Academy and converting Wilson Elementary into an alternative school for older students.
Decisions to close and repurpose schools were made over the strong objections of some parents and members of the nearby neighborhoods who joined to form the Save Our Schools grass-roots organization that held rallies and news conferences and appealed to district Superintendent Mike Poore, Key and Gov. Asa Hutchinson to keep the schools in operation.
The pending contracts set out the terms for the district's sale of Franklin at 1701 S. Harrison St. to Community Health Centers of Arkansas Inc., for $895,000; and the sale of Woodruff at 3010 Seventh St. for $700,000 to MT Properties, which is also known as Moses Tucker Real Estate Inc.
Poore said in a text message that he was unavailable Thursday afternoon to talk about the sale plans and that there was not much he could share on the matter, anyway, until the contracts are approved. He also said in the text message that he didn't expect to get a decision from Key any earlier than Monday.
The contracts require Key's signature to become final because the commissioner acts in place of the school board in the Little Rock district. The Little Rock school system has operated under state control, with a state-appointed superintendent and without a locally elected school board, since January 2015.
The state assumed control of Arkansas' largest school district because six of its 48 schools at the time had been classified as academically distressed for chronically low student achievement on state tests. The six schools labeled as academically distressed have since been reduced to three.
The sales contracts with their attached exhibits were sent to the commissioner as part of the district's monthly school board agenda package, which can be viewed on a link from the district's website: LRSD.org.
The proposed deals differ somewhat for each campus. The Woodruff contract calls for a $700,000 cash payment to the district from the buyer at the time the sale is closed. But first, the proposed agreement provides the buyer 110 days to conduct inspections and a feasibility study of the building that has been most recently used as a pre-kindergarten center.
The deal also states that should MT Properties decide to repurpose the Woodruff site for anything other than apartments, the district shall have 30 days to consider buying back the property.
The Franklin school buyers will initially pay $179,000 in cash and execute a note, secured by a first mortgage on the property for the remaining $716,000. Four more payments of $179,000 each will be made, each on the anniversary date of closing.
The agreement obligates Community Mental Health Centers of Arkansas Inc. to offer to sell the Franklin campus back to the district if it decides it wants to use the property for something other than a community health center and related uses.
Earlier this year, the Little Rock district had asked for proposals for use of Franklin and Woodruff after Key approved Poore's recommendation to close three schools and repurpose a fourth as a way to cut district operating expenses starting with the 2017-18 school year.
The availability of Woodruff and Franklin properties comes at a time when a new state law -- Act 542 of 2017 -- grants public charter schools in a district a stronger right of first access to unused or underused public school facilities.
Charter school acquisition of district properties could result in competition between the traditional and charter schools for students and state education funding.
The Little Rock district has not asked for proposals from the community for acquisition of the Hamilton Academy campus in the same way it did with Woodruff and Franklin.
School district leaders intend to explore the possibility of pairing Hamilton, which is the former Southwest Middle School, with the nearby Bale Elementary School to form a complex for students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
The changes underway for Franklin, Woodruff, Hamilton and Wilson are one component of facilities planning in the school district.
The district is transforming the former Leisure Arts warehouse into the Pinnacle View Middle School for as many as 1,200 students in grades six through eight.
The district also is taking steps to issue $92,055,000 in second-lien bonds later this year to help pay for a new southwest Little Rock high school and for updates to other buildings in the district.
Metro on 07/28/2017