Editor's note: This is part two of a two-part series.
While the amount of stakeholder feedback was disappointingly low during two Dollarway School District community feedback forums, dual superintendent Barbara Warren said there are many dedicated people in both the Pine Bluff and Dollarway school districts that love both districts.
During the second half of the Arkansas State Board of Education meeting on Tuesday morning, Warren shared her sentiments, community concerns and her hope for the future for both districts.
The district has been under state control for almost five years. That is the maximum length of time the state can maintain control over a district. Consequently, the board will have to make a decision at its Dec. 10 meeting whether to reconstitute, annex or consolidate Dollarway with what will likely be the Pine Bluff School District. One of the biggest problems Dollarway is facing today is its falling enrollment, a situation that has eaten away at its reserves to the point of the district being broke within just a few years, analysts have said.
The district has about 921 students now. Four years ago it had 1,171, and next year, the district is estimated to have 904. Districts receive about $7,000 from the state for each student. Based on that, Dollarway's revenues will decline about $1.9 million between 2016 and 2021.
Stacy Smith, assistant commissioner for learning services in the Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, went over the pros and cons of each option but said she recommends annexation.
"I feel like it's the most beneficial to the districts as far as the incentive funding and also the continuity of district leadership of Mrs. Warren," said Smith. "Also, I feel like [it would give us] the ability to keep the Dollarway campuses open right now without them losing their identity. While they have not met all of their exit criteria, there has been significant progress made, especially in the last three years."
Reconstituting the Dollarway School District would reorganize the administrative unit. Finance and operation pros would include merging the central offices of both districts, and surplus property sales would continue to receive support from the state administration.
The district would not have access to consolidation/annexation one-time supplemental funding from the state, and the millage rates would remain the same unless locally raised through an election. The Arkansas Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) could continue level 5 support if reconstitution is chosen.
If the Dollarway and Pine Bluff districts are consolidated, the two together would make a new district. The resulting district would not be under state authority and would be locally controlled. Such an arrangement would not guarantee that Warren would remain as superintendent since a board would be in charge. The district would receive incentive funding of approximately $3.5 million over two years to support consolidation, but maximum cost savings from the merger of the high schools would not be immediate. Reduction in force would be needed to balance the budget.
Warren said a high percentage of her students in the Dollarway School District were affected by the consolidation that happened to residents north of the river in 2006 when the Altheimer School District was dissolved and brought into the Dollarway district.
"Altheimer still feels such concern over the last combining," said Warren. "I've not heard anything per se that 'we would prefer this versus that' because there is also a sense that 'it is going to happen' or 'whenever it does happen my voice may not be as loud.'"
Annexation would be under the jurisdiction of the Pine Bluff district, therefore under state authority. Continuation of that authority would ensure that Warren stays on as superintendent, collective improvement strategies could be maintained, and Dollarway school campuses could remain open under annexation if financially viable, including athletics.
"There are no plans to close any of the buildings for the next school year," said Smith. "For the future beyond that, it would be a local decision within the Pine Bluff School District to determine which buildings would remain and open and closed. There's nothing that says the campuses in Dollarway have to close."
Under annexation, no local school board would be necessary, as Commissioner Johnny Key would act as the school board. The Pine Bluff district would remain under state authority until 2023. Warren asked that the schools remain in the care of the department during the transition period to cut down on distractions.
"I'm not comfortable saying we'll be ready next year," answered Warren when Key asked when she thought the district would be ready for a school board. "I think there are people that can be ready to be trained and to be prepared as early as a year."
Warren said her job is hard but that she is happy to do it. But in order for her to continue making the improvements that take the district to the next level, she needs to reduce distractions as much as possible.
"Local support is not a distraction, but if there is another layer of governance that requires a huge amount of attention of the administration, the teachers, families and even of the supporters that come around us, then it will be even harder to do this very hard work that we have to do."
Key agreed and thanked Warren for her willingness to take on the unique role as a dual superintendent.
"Mrs. Warren gave a good rundown of her view. The opportunity of something that is going to be so new, I'm not looking at that for the first year, and I certainly concur with her assessment of that," said Key. "It would be very difficult, I think, to try to start with an appointed board at the same time you're looking at a merger of this magnitude, but I also think in the absence of appointing a board, I think setting a schedule using DESE staff and school board association staff to start having training sessions" would be beneficial.
Key said the training sessions would be vital so members of the community could learn what it means to be a board member and what their roles and duties would be, and that in the future a fully elected board would be operating the district.
Key said in his conversations with Pine Bluff Mayor Shirley Washington and other community leaders, he has learned that they see this as an opportunity for more efficient community development and economic development in order to attract people and encourage them to live in Pine Bluff. Key also spoke about the partnership with the Quapaw Tribe and the opportunities that might bring.
"The Quapaw have established their own bison and cattle farm, and it's my understanding they're looking at replicating some of that," said Key, who added that the opportunities would give students success in moving forward.
"If you think about the area of Pine Bluff, you think about UAPB and their expertise in fisheries and ag science in general and the opportunities that are possible there with some of these partnerships," Key said, "some of those things could be really appealing to keep kids and families from wanting to go somewhere else."
Warren said many potential partnerships are in the works, and those involved are just waiting on decisions to be made. Warren said she has innovative ideas herself such as virtual academies, magnet school settings and conversion charters.
"One of the immediate things that I know, if we don't do something for Dollarway, we won't be able to afford to do more than we're doing," said Warren, adding that the district doesn't have layers of support and services as some districts have.
"For the community at large, we have the opportunity, depending on which direction we go, to look back and see what we have in both places that maybe the other needs and the fiscal benefits," Warren said.
Warren said major changes are going to have to happen in order to meet the student's academic needs. As far as reducing staff, Warren said she will start internally to make certain the right people are in the right places, but she said the recruitment of quality teachers will have to come with incentives and better pay.
"People are waiting for answers. It causes some uncertainty when it's not clear what the next steps are going to be," she said. "There are a lot of heartstrings tied to this with the community operating four school districts forever, and the thought that there would be some loss is concerning. But what we have to embrace is what is it we have to do to make certain that we position our students to have the best opportunity as possible and our teachers have access to the resources and that they can focus on teaching."