State lawmakers attempted to poke holes in a proposal by the Bentonville School District to donate land to a nonprofit developer to build housing for teachers and staff.
With affordable housing scarce in growing Benton County, Bentonville School District officials proposed an plan to hand over 9 acres of land from its high school campus to a nonprofit that would build about 100 affordable housing units for district employees and those who qualify for federal rental assistance.
The plan was met with a lukewarm reception Tuesday from members of the House and Senate Education committees, as some legislators didn't like the idea of a school district trying to get into the housing business.
Sen. Joshua Bryant, R-Rogers, called for the hearing after learning about the school district's proposal this summer. Lawmakers met at the Capitol to discuss the school district's proposal but not to take action, with Bryant saying the gathering could serve as an "opening dialogue" for possible bills in the 2025 legislative session.
"If we had to vote to approve this, I'd be a hard 'no' on this," said Rep. Stephen Meeks, R-Greenbrier. "I just don't think it is the school's responsibility to provide housing for their employees."
"Honestly, because we can do something doesn't necessarily mean that we should do something," Rep. Ron McNair, R-Harrison, said.
The school district voted 5-1 in November to approve a plan to donate district land so the Rogers-based non-profit Excellerate Foundation can build housing for school staff. Debbie Jones, superintendent of Bentonville Public Schools, said the deal for the land donation has not been finalized as the district is "hammering out details with an agreement."
The project is estimated to cost $20 million to $25 million and would include options to rent or own. Of the 100 housing units, 50-60 would be two- and three-bedroom apartments for rent, which the school district would have influence over who can live there but not final say due to federal and state funding sources.
Other dwellings would be reserved exclusively for school staff with 20 one- and two-bedroom apartments that the school district would have say over who can live there, and 20 one- and two-bedroom homes, estimated to be priced at $180,000 to $200,000. A small community center also is planned to be a part of the housing property.
Jones said the housing plan would be another benefit the school district could use to recruit teachers, especially with the rising cost of homes in Northwest Arkansas.
"We, like most districts across the nation, are facing a shortage of teachers," Jones said. "The pipeline is getting smaller, and so really this was an attempt to address that situation."
Sen. Jim Dotson, R-Bentonville, said he liked "the overall project" but said he opposes the plan because the district has chosen to donate the land to a nonprofit rather than sell it to a developer.
"As a taxpaying, millage-rate paying citizen of the Bentonville School District, I'm very frustrated by this," Dotson said.
Jones said if the district were to sell the land to a developer, the housing built on it would not be affordable for its staff.
Bryant asked a hypothetical question about whether the school district could donate land to build a food pantry if food prices increased ,asking "At what point do we say education is education, housing is housing, food is food?"
"The big difference between housing and food insecurity is food insecurity is being addressed," said Kelly Carlson, president of the Bentonville Schools Board of Education. "Our problem with affordable housing is not being addressed because our teachers can't find housing; they can find food."
While there was pushback from Republican lawmakers, the proposal received approval from the Arkansas attorney general's office which said in an opinion that the district's plan to donate land for an affordable housing project would be legal.
"Because the plan you have described fulfills the statutory and constitutional conditions necessary for a school district to donate real property, it is my opinion that Bentonville School District's proposed land donation to Excellerate Foundation would be lawful," according to a November opinion prepared by Assistant Attorney General Kelly Summerside.
Representatives Hope Duke, R-Gravette and DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio, criticized the district for not holding community town hall meeting regarding the proposal. Jones defended the project's transparency, saying the school board has discussed the project during its public meetings.
"Most people are going about their lives and they're not reading the school board minutes, they're not watching the [meetings] online, they're not coming to school board meetings," Duke said. "I personally believe if you do something this big you better be proactive with it within your community."
Information for this article was contributed by reporter Al Gaspeny of the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.