Bryant residents pass 3.6-mill increase to build three new schools

Patrons of the Bryant School District passed a 3.6-mill increase Tuesday that will pay for a new junior high school and two elementary schools that will help accommodate steady growth in the district's enrollment.

Complete, but unofficial results are:

For 4,759

Against 3,178

The increase raises the Bryant district's millage rate from 37.2 mills to 40.8 mills.

"This speaks volumes for our community," said Jeremiah Oltmans,chairman of Keep Bryant Schools Moving, a group that supported the millage's passage. "We got Step One done. Now it's up to [school officials] on what's next."

Workers will build a new elementary school on Daley Road by next year. Plans call for construction of a junior high school a year later and a second elementary school building by 2021. The district also will build a fine arts building and a high school cafeteria. Overcrowding in the cafeteria has forced the school to hold five lunch periods and many students eat outside because of a lack of room, Oltmans said.

The millage also will be used to create a three-year salary plan to recruit and retain teachers.

A mill is one-tenth of a cent. Owners of homes in the Bryant School District assessed at $150,000 will see an increase of $108 a year in their property taxes, district spokesman Devin Sherrill said during the campaign.

Oltmans, a managing broker at Crye-Leike Real Estate Services in Bryant, said several new housing developments are under construction in the district.

The district projects enrollment will increase from the current 9,300 students to 12,500 within 10 years.

District voters opposed a 4.9-mill increase in 2015 by eight votes.

Oltmans blamed the defeat two years ago on potential voters who supported the millage increase and thought it would easily pass.

"I said it before that this was a no-brainer," he said. "When the opposition attacked the superintendent and teachers' salaries, that motivated them to take it to a whole new level this election."

Kenny Wallis, the leader of a group that opposed the tax, said he was disappointed in the outcome Tuesday evening.

He said the district will be $96 million in debt because of the construction projects, adding that there are "other ways" to obtain funding for building.

"This election was based on emotions for the children [of the district]," he said. "There was very little focus on the debt and spending and waste occurring in the school district.

"Emotional voting does work."

State Desk on 03/15/2017

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