The Arkansas Legislative Council on Friday approved Arkansas Tech University's request for $12.65 million in spending authority for its use of American Rescue Plan funds.
Arkansas Tech said it plans to spend $5.5 million of those funds to replace and renovate heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems for three major classroom buildings, Witherspoon Hall, Crabaugh Hall and Dean Hall; $5 million for emergency financial aid grants to students; and $2.1 million for students' unpaid balances owed to Arkansas Tech.
At the request of Senate President Pro Tempore Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, the council referred to Arkansas Legislative Audit a review of Arkansas Tech bypassing the state Department of Finance and Administration before paying $1.1 million in emergency financial aid grants to students.
"I just wanted to make sure that they didn't intentionally bypass our process, so hopefully they didn't," Hickey said afterward.
Regarding the referral of this matter to Legislative Audit, Arkansas Tech spokesman Sam Strasner said, "We do not have a comment on that at this time."
Arkansas Tech University counsel Thomas Pennington apologized to state lawmakers on Monday for the school bypassing the finance department when it provided the grants to students. Arkansas Tech wants to use the federal aid to reimburse itself for giving the grants, he said.
Arkansas Tech was the first state higher education institution to try to draw down American Rescue Plan funds and "we messed it up and I am here to acknowledge that error and I'd ask the university not be punished for this isolated mistake," he said Monday. Arkansas Tech has received American Rescue Plan funds totaling about $22 million, he said.
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Hickey said Monday that Arkansas Tech violated state law by not sending the federal funds to the state treasury and then having the treasury pay the school before the grants went to students.
On June 18, the Legislative Council approved Arkansas Tech's request for spending authority to use $1.1 million in the federal funds for emergency financial aid grants this summer. In March, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law to provide coronavirus aid.
In other business, the Legislative Council on Friday approved two of Arkansas Tech's contract proposals and a renovation project.
A $120,000 contract is with Garver LLC of North Little Rock for planning and engineering services for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning projects, and the other contract proposal is a $250,000 increase, to $1.15 million, in a contract with Carnegie Dartlett LLC of Westford, Mass., for marketing and advertising services focused on student recruitment and brand awareness.
Arkansas Tech proposed increasing the projected cost of the Williamson Hall renovation, where a fire occurred in 2019, from $3.4 million to $4.2 million with insurance settlement proceeds covering 88% of the cost and a state grant the other 12%.
The action Friday came after the council's Review Committee on Monday declined to make recommendations to the full council on the proposed contracts and proposed project.
Rep. Fran Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, said Monday that she proposed delaying action on two of the proposals because some lawmakers have questions about the curriculum of the Arkansas Governor's School and who is in control of the school, held at Arkansas Tech. She said lawmakers also have questions about Arkansas Tech's use of American Rescue Plan funds.
A Legislative Council co-chairman, Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage, said Friday the Joint Performance Review Committee plans to look into concerns raised by some lawmakers about the Governor's School. Some lawmakers were concerned about materials related to racial issues.
The Governor's School is funded through a grant administered by the Arkansas Department of Education, Strasner said.
Arkansas Tech is in the third year of its first three-year term as the host location for the summertime Governor's School. On June 10, the state Board of Education approved Arkansas Tech as the host of the Governor's School for 2022 through 2024.