Advisory panel supports refinancing school bonds

The Community Advisory Board for the Little Rock School District on Thursday voted to support the refinancing of a January 2012 bond issue at a lower interest rate as a way to free up almost $1 million in revenue.

The advisory board’s approval will now go as a recommendation to Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key, who acts as the school board for the state-controlled district and has the authority to decide whether to ask the state Board of Education to allow the refinancing plan.

The plan to resell $35 million in bonds at a lower interest rate — a move that does not require approval of voters — was discussed at a 4½-hour meeting in which the advisory board also:

■ Endorsed the selection by a district committee of new textbooks and materials for the district’s elementary school literacy program, which has been sharply criticized by some parents and state policymakers for being ineffective.

■ Sent to Key changes in the district’s personnel policies to reflect the state Board of Education’s recent waiver of employment protection laws, so the new policy language can be seen in 2019-20 teacher contracts to be distributed next week.

■ Reviewed a draft policy on eligibility, admissions and exit criteria for the district’s magnet and specialty schools, which feature unique programs and are open to students beyond the traditional school attendance zone.

■ Learned that the district is proceeding with earlier announced plans to cut about $7.5 million in expenditures for the coming 201920 school year, which means eliminating 75 teacher jobs, five assistant principal jobs and as many as 20 paraprofessional aides, bringing the total budget reductions to more than $54.7 million since the 2014-15 school year.

Kelsey Bailey, the district’s chief financial officer, told the Community Advisory Board that once the refinancing of the $35 million in bonds is approved by the state, the district and its financial adviser — Stephens Inc. — will watch the market to acquire the lowest possible interest rate on the bonded debt.

Bailey recommended that the debt service on the new bond issue be structured so that the district receives nearly all the savings from paying a lower interest rate in the first year, rather than levelizing the savings over more than a dozen years.

The money generated by refinancing the $35 million bond issue will be used for repairs and other capital improvements in the district, Bailey said, adding that the refinancing plan does not increase the district’s debt.

District staff members in partnership with the Arkansas Department of Education staff reviewed literacy textbooks from some 15 vendors and selected the Wit and Wisdom materials produced by the Great Minds nonprofit organization that also publishes the popular Eureka Math instructional materials. That would be for core knowledge such as vocabulary and comprehension. Wilson Learning’s Fundations for kindergarten through second grade and its Just Words program for grades three through eight would provide the phonics component of the literacy program, chief academic officer Veronica Perkins said.

“We believe we have the solid resources to meet the needs of our students,” Perkins told the advisory board, which wanted assurances that the new materials will align with the state’s emphasis on using research-proven strategies for reading instruction.

Perkins and Superintendent Mike Poore also described efforts to hire a new literacy director this summer, train teachers in the new materials and operate summer schools that will emphasize literacy for elementary pupils.

Advisory board Chairman Jeff Wood said he appreciated Perkins’ enthusiasm for the overhaul of the literacy program, which includes greatly expanded efforts to identify and service students with characteristics of dyslexia.

“Thank you for looking like you are bear-hugging this,” Wood told Perkins.