Plans for a new high school in Pocahontas, a new elementary school in Bryant, and a new elementary and middle school in Bentonville are among the construction and building improvement plans to receive $64.7 million in state aid.
The three-member Arkansas Commission for Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation on Friday allotted the state aid to 68 projects in all, including 41 that were proposed for the current fiscal year but for which the state didn’t have money at the time.
The newly approved funding is the state’s share of the cost of the local district building projects — a percentage of the total project cost. The state’s share is determined by a district’s student enrollment and its local property tax wealth, with wealthier districts qualifying for smaller percentages of state building aid.
The financial aid for school buildings is the result of Arkansas’ Academic Facilities Partnership Program. Lawmakers created the program in 2006 to modernize public schools in response to a state Supreme Court decision that had declared Arkansas’ public schools inequitable, inadequate and unconstitutional.
“This is good news for Arkansas students,” Arkansas Education Secretary Johnny Key said Friday about the projects, particularly the agency’s efforts to pick up the unfunded fiscal 2019-20 projects. “This is definitely a good day. And I think doing this within the budget is a good example of our being good custodians of taxpayer dollars. “
Key is chairman of the commission whose other members are Larry Walther, director of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, and Bryan Scoggins, president of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority.
Just nine of the total 68 projects are categorized as new spaces.
In addition to the schools planned in Pocahontas, Bryant and Bentonville, the new space projects include additions to George Elementary School in Springdale, an arts and music wing at Ouachita Elementary, career education space at Poyen High, elementary and middle school classrooms in the Harmony Grove School District in Saline County, and a performing arts center in Fouke.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.