Board Votes To Issue Bonds For New School

FARMINGTON — In a special meeting May 29, Farmington School Board approved a resolution to issue $4.5 million in second-lien bonds to help with costs of building phase two of a new Farmington High School.

At its regular meeting in May, School Board members first approved a $4 million second-lien bond issue but Bryan Law, superintendent, said he decided to ask the Board to increase the amount

“just in case” the school needs additional money.

Law said he hopes the school district will be able to break ground on a new facility around Thanksgiving. Phase 2 will be classroom space for a new high school and the building will connect to the new Cardinal Arena and Tonya McCuistion Performing Arts Center on Highway 170.

The resolution has to be approved by the state Board of Education, which next meets June 23. Law expects it to be approved because the school district’s debt ratio is still fairly low.

Kevin Faught with Stevens Investments Inc., said the school district would probably offer the bonds in September and close in October. He said the school’s annual debt service would range around $290,000 for the second-lien bond issue.

The district will use $7.1 million in state partnership money, money from a reserve building fund and the $4.5 million bond issue to pay for a new high school with an estimated cost of $12 million. Law said the building fund has about $3 million in it but he prefers not to dedicate all of that money to the new high school.

“It cost us $1 million to cash flow a month. We can’t spend all our savings,” Law said, noting he believes the district should have money set aside for any emergencies or other needs that might arise. In addition, he noted bids for the new building could come in higher than expected.

Construction plans for the new high school are in the “schematic design stage,” according to Mark Haguewood with Hight Jackson Associates architectural firm. The next step is to meet with school officials to start looking at space compared to money available, Haguewood said.

“We will have to take a good hard look at funding,” Haguewood said, noting that prices are going up because of all the construction underway in northwest Arkansas.

“We have a ways to go before we will start on the construction documents,” he added.

In other action in May, the School Board approved a policy for renting the Performing Arts Center, with rental fees based on the type of organization. The facility will not be available for individual events, such as birthday parties, weddings and anniversary parties.

The school will charge little to no cost for events sponsored by the high school, other Farmington school groups and local city, governmental or other local non-profit organizations.

Non-profit organizations outside Farmington will be allowed to rent the facility as long as they have offices or members within the school district. For-profit organizations with members in the Farmington School District also can rent the Performing Arts Center. The base charge for a for-profit organization is $250 per hour for a minimum of two hours as a facility rate and $150 per hour for a minimum of four hours for a managing director and a technical director. Other fees apply for custodial services, stage crew, security and ushers.

The Board also decided that Arkansas History, beginning with the 2015-16 school year, will be part of the eighthgrade curriculum at Lynch Middle School, instead of a required high school course.

In personnel action, the Board hired Scott Small as an eighth-grade teacher and a seventh-grade basketball coach. Small is coming from Mountain Home High School where he taught English.

Following a disciplinary hearing May 27, the Board voted to expel an 11th grade student for a drug-related charge. The boy will lose credit for the spring semester, Law said.