LITTLE ROCK -- For the second year in a row, voters in the Pine Bluff School District turned down a 0.9-mill increase in the Dollarway attendance zone to level the millage rate across the district.
The state-run school system will continue to operate with two rates following the July 2021 annexation of the Dollarway School District into the PBSD. Voters in the pre-annexed PBSD pay taxes at a rate of 41.7 mills, while those in the former Dollarway district pay at a rate of 40.8 mills.
With all precincts reporting, the unofficial results were:
Against ... 4,828
For ... 4,120
The millage question was voted down last November, but the issue was still hanging in the balance through early voting Tuesday, with 2,281 for the increase and 2,241 against it.
A mill is one-thousandth (0.001) of the assessed value of property, which is 20% of the property value in Arkansas.
The PBSD had not done extensive campaigning for the increase, as officials focused on having a limited-authority board instituted by January. The district, due to financial and academic issues, has been operating under the watch of the Arkansas Department of Education since September 2018, while the now-dissolved Dollarway district had been under state control from December 2015 until annexation.
Superintendent Barbara Warren said last month the millage increase request only asks voters to pay consistent rates of 25 mills for the state uniform figure, 2 mills for maintenance and operations and 14.7 for debt service. The M&O rate in the Dollarway zone is 13.8.
Warren said district leaders will have to ask voters for another increase to address construction of a new high school, which will merge the Pine Bluff and Dollarway student bodies. The decision of whether to rebuild the current Pine Bluff High School campus or construct a new one elsewhere will be left to the limited-authority board.
WATSON CHAPEL SCHOOL BOARD
Connie Compton defeated incumbent Sandra Boone for the at-large seat representing zones 3 and 5.
With all precincts reporting, unofficial results were:
Compton ... 802
Boone ... 366
Boone served as board president during the past year. She was successful in helping the Watson Chapel School District pass a millage increase directly aimed at funding its share of the cost for a new high school campus at the present junior high school location.
The Watson Chapel School District will have two new faces on its board with Compton's win. Rosemary White ran unopposed in Zone 3 and will replace Christopher Dutton.
This story has been updated from the print version, which had the headline "PB millage early vote close."