The Little Rock School District will ask voters on Nov. 2 to consider a 19-year extension on the collection of 12.4 debt service mills as a way to raise $300 million for two new school buildings and for campus improvements systemwide.
The School Board voted 8 to 0 Thursday evening, with one member absent, to place the measure on the ballot. It will be the third vote on the proposal in four years.
The first motion Thursday was followed by a similarly adopted motion to use a recently publicized list of school projects as a guide for spending the money generated by the extension, should the measure be approved by voters.
Board member Jeff Wood made the motion for the November election, later calling the building plan “a very bold vision for our schools.”
He highlighted the planned replacement for Cloverdale Middle on the site of the vacant McClellan High and the proposed traditional high school in northwest Little Rock.
“These will become attractions for our city to attract people to move here,” Wood said, urging people to look at the new Southwest High School, Pinnacle View Middle School and the already developed plans for Cloverdale at McClellan to get a sense of what is to come.
In addition to the two schools, the list of intended projects includes permanent classrooms to replace some portable buildings, new roofs, flooring, LED lighting, security cameras, auditorium renovations at Parkview and Central high schools, renovations of a wing at Hall High for engineering instruction, window replacements at Dunbar Middle and Central High, ventilation improvements, playground equipment and furnishings.
Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore, who has been ill for a week but has tested negative for covid-19, wasn’t at the meeting Thursday night. However, in a later text message he called the vote “a testament to good work done by the district over the past five years.” He also said it is a “show of commitment to continue to improve our learning environments.”
“I hope we are turning dirt in late December at McClellan,” Poore wrote.
The 12.4-mill levy is now due to expire in 2033. The School Board is asking to continue collecting the property tax beyond that year.
A similar tax extension measure failed in 2017 and in November 2020 — both during the period in which the 21,000-student district was operating under state control without a locally elected school board.
The district’s current nine-member School Board was elected last November and December.
The extension of the debt service mills would enable the district to raise as much as $300 million through the issuance of one or more bond issues over three years’ time. The district would then repay that bond debt over the longer term.
A decision on whether to pursue voter approval of the revenue measure has been months in the making.
Most recently, Poore and Kelsey Bailey, the district’s chief finance and operations officer, at a series of five community forums in recent weeks, have presented a draft list of $300 million in projects — including a replacement of the McClellan School building — that could be financed with the proceeds of the 12.4-mill tax extension.
The Little Rock district is among four Pulaski County entities seeking voter approval of tax plans this second half of 2021. Other elections coming up in Pulaski County are:
Sept. 14 — A 1 percentage-point sales-tax increase to the city of Little Rock’s overall local rate to 9.625% when accounting for state and county taxes. The increase would take effect in January if voters approve it, and it would sunset at the end of 2031. The proposed increase is projected to generate $530 million over 10 years for improvements to parks, the acquisition of new city vehicles, construction of an indoor sports complex, repairs to roads and new exhibits at the Little Rock Zoo.
Nov. 2 - The Pulaski County Special School District, which includes territory both inside and outside of the Little Rock city limits, is asking voters to approve restructuring of the district’s bond debt as a way to raise $80 million for building expansions at Mills, Robinson and Maumelle high schools and at Baker Elementary. The restructuring is not a tax increase for property owners, nor does it require the extended levy of the 14.8-debt service mills beyond the current 2048 expiration rate.
Nov. 9 — The Central Arkansas Library System is asking voters to add 0.5 mill to Little Rock’s current operations and maintenance millage rate, which draws on property taxes. The increase would raise the rate from 3.3 to 3.8 mills and generate as much as $2.4 million in additional revenue annually.