Four months after losing a proposed 9.75-mill increase for the Helena-West Helena School District, proponents of the measure are trying again.
Patrons of the district will be asked to support a similar millage rise during a special election Tuesday.
If passed, the school tax would increase from 34.4 mills to 44.15 mills.
It would fund a $28.7 million plan to build a new junior high school and replace Central High School, along with a 350-seat auditorium for music and drama programs, science labs, and an indoor football practice field.
Superintendent John Hoy, who was hired by the district in 2014, will also move his office from an administrative building to the new junior high building.
In November, voters turned down a 9.75-mill increase by a vote of 2,135 to 2,027.
Helena-West Helena School Board President Andrew Bagley said the narrow, 108-vote defeat indicated the district could pass the millage increase with work.
“We immediately got with our attorneys after the loss,” Bagley said. “It was so close. We realized if we didn’t do something quick, we’d lose state partnership money.”
If the millage increase passes, the district would qualify for — but not be guaranteed — up to $7.3 million in state funding for facilities, he said.
“We looked at the objections,” he said.
Bagley said he heard those opposing the increase questioned the school’s stability.
The district was under state stewardship for five years and eight of the past 11 years for fiscal distress until March 2016. It closed three school buildings and eliminated 130 jobs in recent years, including 114 in layoffs.
The district is in Phillips County, one of the poorest counties in the state. All of its 1,425 students qualify for free lunches at the schools, according to the state Department of Education.
The newly elected School Board in November immediately renewed Hoy’s contract for three years, giving him a $10,000-a-year raise. Bagley said that should quell fears about instability.
Bagley added that deteriorating facilities and overcrowding are two other problems the district is facing.
“We are in a very critical situation,” he said.
Central High School, built in the late 1940s, has leaks in its roof and floors. The foundation has shifted and there are gaps in the eaves, he said.
“We have sunlight coming in where there’s no windows,” he said. “It’s in horrible shape.”
Plans call for replacing Central High School with a new building for seventh- through 12th-grade students, which also will feature new science labs.
“We answered the objections and questions,” Bagley said.
Those who oppose the proposed increase say they still have questions.
Mike Taylor, a Phillips County farmer who once served on t̶h̶e̶ ̶H̶e̶l̶e̶n̶a̶-̶W̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶H̶e̶l̶e̶n̶a̶ ̶S̶c̶h̶o̶o̶l̶ ̶B̶o̶a̶r̶d̶ a private school board in Helena-West Helena,* said raising a millage in a district with declining population is not cost-effective.
A mill is one-tenth of a cent. School officials said the millage increase would result in a resident of the district with a home appraised at $100,000 paying an additional $195 a year in property taxes.
“We’ve seen a decline in the last 10 years,” he said. “The school had been on academic distress, then fiscal distress. Now it’s in physical distress.”
“They say they want to improve educational facilities for the students,” Taylor said. “This community cannot stand that kind of tax. There would be no money left for other improvements. We are not comfortable with throwing everything at a showcase arena and new building.”
He said the area is already struggling economically and needs more money for industrial recruitment and road repairs.
“We don’t even have a jail,” he said, referring to the April 2013 closure of the Phillips County jail in Helena-West Helena because of several violations found during a state inspection.
He said the proposed millage increase is about a 28 percent jump in taxation.
“We can’t take that,” Taylor said. “What if we pass this and we can’t pull out of the nose dive we’re in? The logic isn’t sound.
“With the track record we have, why should we expect children to come running back just because we built a new school and auditorium?”
*CORRECTION: Mike Taylor of Helena-West Helena never served on the Helena-West Helena School Board. Taylor served on a private school board in the Phillips County town. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated on which board he served.