A majority of voters in the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County Special school districts voted Tuesday in support of existing property-tax rates in their districts, with the Little Rock district showing the greatest support.
The votes on the tax rates, according to complete but uncertified results, were:
Little Rock School District: 46.4 mills
For 36,466
Against 23,123
Pulaski County Special School District: 40.7 mills
For 22,463
Against 21,672
North Little Rock School District -- 48.3 mills
For 9,137
Against 7,038
In the Little Rock district, which is operating under state control and does not have an elected school board, support for the existing millage rate garnered more than 61 percent of the vote Tuesday.
The vote margin on the existing tax rate was razor thin in the Pulaski County Special district, where 50.9 percent voted in favor and 49.1 voted against it. The Pulaski County Special district had one School Board seat up for election this month, but no one filed to be a candidate. Alicia Gillen, who holds the seat but who did not file for re-election, will continue to hold the seat until at least the November 2019 school election unless she chooses to resign.
This year's votes on the millage rates are symbolic at most.
None of the rates in the districts are changing, nor had any of the districts proposed changes for voters to decide.
[2018 ELECTION: Full Democrat-Gazette coverage of Arkansas races]
Millage rates have to be on the ballot at least once a year in Arkansas school districts, regardless of whether a district is seeking any change in its rate. That's required under Article 14, Section 3 of the state constitution.
If a district is seeking no change in its tax rate, then residents vote on the current tax rate. No matter how the vote turns out, the existing millage rate will remain at the current level.
Although the election outcome won't change a district's tax rate in a year when no change is sought, votes on those rates are sometimes viewed as gauges of public support or dissatisfaction with a school system.
Elsewhere in Pulaski County, the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District put its existing 48.3-mill tax rate on the ballot when it held its School Board elections in May. A majority of voters opposed the rate, but that rate remains the same.
Metro on 11/08/2018