Tax vote sought, LR district issues wish list
Multimillion- dollar projects, upgrades at schools hinge on proposed May 9 election
The Little Rock School District released details Thursday about a planned multimillion- dollar capital improvement program that hinges on voter approval of a property- tax extension at a special election proposed for May 9.
The capital improvement program for the state’s largest district would include the previously reported construction of a high school in southwest Little Rock plus $ 40 million for renovations to the McClellan High campus, $ 5.8 million to replace the gymnasium and add classrooms at Mabelvale Middle School, $ 9.85 million for roof replacements at 12 locations, and $ 9.8 million for window replacements at 12 campuses.
Additionally, $ 12.2 million is budgeted for districtwide “modernization” and $ 5.5 million is reserved for upgrades to athletic fields and tracks.
“We hope we can get these things accomplished and continue on with even some more as we try to grow our district and become more efficient in certain areas,” Chief Financial Officer Kelsey Bailey said Thursday about the projects. “I think this is a good starting point for really reinvesting back in the district.”
District leaders sent the request for a May 9 special election on a 14- year extension of 12.4 property tax mills to Education Commissioner Johnny Key for his approval, along with the list of building projects totaling $ 160 million.
Key must approve the election plan in both his role as the state commissioner and in his position as the school board for the 24,000- student Little Rock district that has operated under state control — without a locally elected
school board — since January 2015, when six of the district’s 48 schools were found to be in academic distress. Three of the six — Baseline Elementary Academy and McClellan and J. A. Fair high schools — have since been removed from the list of academically distressed schools.
If approved, Little Rock’s special election would be the same day as a proposed special election in the neighboring Pulaski County Special School District on a similar proposal to extend 14.8 debt- service mills by 13 years to 2048.
The extension of the 12.4 mills of the Little Rock district’s 46.4 total property- tax rate would not raise a property owner’s annual tax bill. But, the property owner would pay the same annual tax rate for 14 additional years. If approved by voters, the levy of the 12.4 debt- service mills would continue until 2047. If not extended, the 12.4 mills will expire in 2033.
The extension of the mills would support the issuance of $ 202,645,000 in bonds of which $ 42.6 million would be used to continue paying off existing building debts and $ 160 million would finance new bonded indebtedness
for the capital improvement program.
The request for a May 9 special election on extending property tax mills for districtwide construction and building improvements comes just after Key approved the district’s request to close three campuses — Franklin Elementary, Woodruff Early Childhood Center and Hamilton Learning Academy — and repurpose Wilson Elementary into an alternative learning center as a way to cut $ 3.8 million in operating costs in the coming 201718 school year.
The $ 3.8 million is part of about $ 11 million in budget reductions planned for next year as part of a multiyear plan to adjust for the scheduled end to $ 37.3 million a year in state desegregation aid.
The special state desegregation aid to the district will end after the 2017- 18 school year, according to the terms of a 2014 settlement agreement to a long- running federal school desegregation lawsuit. This current year is the last in which the desegregation aid can be used for operating costs such as employee salaries and transportation bills. The money is restricted to use for school building construction and repair in its final year next year.
Little Rock Superintendent Mike Poore said earlier this week that the plan for an election and a capital improvement program is “challenging” in light of the highly contested school closures and budget cuts. But, Poore said, the district has the opportunity to fulfill a long standing commitment to build a new high school and to make other improvements without raising annual taxes.
The new high school on about 55 acres between Mabelvale Pike and Mann Road, would replace both McClellan and J. A. Fair high schools. Preliminary plans call for a three- story academic building, a 1,200- seat auditorium, multiple athletic fields and a community park to serve as many as 2,250 ninth- through-12th graders.
The school will cost an estimated $ 90 million of which $ 55 million would come from the $ 160 million financed by the proposed millage extension, Bailey, the district’s chief financial officer, said Thursday.
The proposed $ 40 million for the existing McClellan campus on Geyer Springs Road would be used to demolish and rebuild all but the two gymnasiums and the auditorium at that location. The rebuilt campus could be used as a middle school to replace Cloverdale Middle or kindergarten-through- eighth- grade school.
The $ 5.8 million budgeted for Mabelvale Middle School would pay for a new gymnasium and classroom complex, Bailey said.
The $ 12.2 million reserved for modernization would encompass replacing doors and flooring, as well as repainting campuses and replacing furniture, technology and playgrounds at multiple unspecified schools.
District leaders initially asked Key to approve a special election in March on extending the 12.4 mills but they pulled that election date request back to take more time to talk to southwest Little Rock residents about the proposed new high school and to identify the construction needs throughout the district.
Each mill levied in the Little Rock district generates about $ 3.4 million a year in revenue for the district, assuming a 97 percent successful tax collection rate, Bailey said.
The proposed May 9 election date has to be approved by the Pulaski County Election Commission as well as by Key.
Bryan Poe, director of elections for Pulaski County, said Thursday that he has not received the election request but is expecting it and doesn’t foresee any problems with having a special election May 9.
The list of projects and their estimated costs sent to Key by district leaders on Thursday are:
New high school: $ 55 million.
McClellan renovations: $ 40 million.
J. A. Fair renovations: $ 1,250,000.
Mablevale Middle gym replacement and classroom additions: $ 5.8 million.
City- required road improvements to David O. Dodd Road by J. A. Fair: $ 400,000.
Restroom renovations at Romine, Washington, Watson, Western Hills, Adult Education, Horace Mann, Quigley, Metropolitan- Building A: $ 4 million.
Roof replacements at Metropolitan Building A, Pulaski Heights Elementary and Middle schools, Baseline, Jefferson, McDermott, Romine, Terry, Watson, Henderson, Forest Heights, and district maintenance building: $ 9,850,000.
Fire alarm replacements with addressable systems: Rockefeller, Hall, Baseline, Henderson, Meadowcliff, Instructional Resource Center: $ 800,000.
Parking lot repairs at schools, administration and maintenance buildings, First Student bus depot: $ 2,050,000.
Mechanical system replacements at Metropolitan, Pulaski Heights Middle, Terry, Instructional Resource Center: $ 650,000.
Mechanical system additions and air conditioning to gyms at Central, Mann, J. A. Fair, McClellan, Parkview, Dunbar, Forest Heights, and Hall: $ 2.5 million.
Add air conditioning to kitchens and vented hood with makeup air system at Baseline, Booker, Brady, Chicot, Dodd, Dunbar, Fair Park, Forest Heights, Gibbs, Hall, Mann, Mabelvale Elem, McDermott, Meadowcliff, Parkview, Pulaski Heights Middle, Terry, Wakefield, Watson, Western Hills, Williams: $ 1.6 million.
Fresh air unit replacements at Hall, Mabelvale Middle, Pulaski Heights Middle, Bale, Jefferson, Mabelvale Elementary, Pulaski Heights Elementary, Romine, Western Hills, Williams: $ 1.6 million.
Window replacements at Central, Hall, Dunbar, Pulaski Heights Elementary and Middle, Bale, Booker, Fair Park, Forest Park, Gibbs, Jefferson, Meadowcliff: $ 9.8 million.
Modernization ( doors, flooring, painting, playgrounds, furniture, technology, etc.) $ 12.2 million.
Elevator replacements/ upgrades: $ 2 million.
Security camera and alarm replacements: $ 4.5 million
Athletic fields and track upgrades: $ 5.5 million.
Magnet school enhancements: $ 500,000.