Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Prescott voters asked to pass restructuring issue; District also seeks 3 mill for new construction

Patrons of the Prescott School District will be going to the polls Tuesday, May 13, to allow the district to restructure its bonded indebtedness and raise the millage rate 3 mill.

Because of a ruling by the Arkansas Supreme Court in the Lake View School District's lawsuit over school funding, all districts in the state must have a minimum of 25 mill for maintenance and operation (M&O).

The Prescott district is 7.6 mill short on having 25 mill for M&O. However, the Prescott School Board is proposing to restructure the district's bonded indebtedness and transfer 7.6 mill from debt service to M&O, thereby giving the district 25 M&O mill.

In addition, the district is seeking a 3 mill increase so it can do some necessary construction.

This includes putting a new roof over the first grade section of Prescott Elementary School, upgrading the air conditioning in the fifth and sixth grade building at McRae Middle School and building a multi-purpose complex on the Prescott High School campus.

The multi-purpose complex will be a field house for the Prescott Curley Cub athletic teams, will house a distance learning lab, be storage space for the Prescott athletic department, house the facilities for the family and consumer science course and extra classrooms.

Before the legislature ended its regular session in April, Jodi Mahoney, of El Dorado, managed to get a bill through both houses that would prevent school districts from entering into contracts of more than $75,000 without approve of the Arkansas Department of Education.

Prescott Superintendent Hyacinth Deon said the Prescott School District received authorization from the ADE to go ahead with its building project should the measure be approved at the special election.

Along with talking to the ADE, Deon contacted Rainey and Beardsley, the bond holding company, and was told the district's plans wouldn't be affected as the bond permit is good until May 30.

However, under the court's ruling, if local voters don't approve the change, the local quorum court is required to step in and approve a tax increase so the districts involved will have 25 mill for M&O.

This would mean residents of the district would have an extra 7.6 mill added to their real property tax next year, as the tax would be in effect as of Jan. 1, 2004.

Deon said Mahoney's bill was to prevent those districts that could be consolidated from running up debt the state would be responsible for later on.

"We're not trying to gouge our patrons," she said. "We're 7.6 mill short for the required 25 mill for M&O, and we're trusting the people to do what's right."

Fliers about the election are being sent home with students, and given out to all churches in the area.

Members of the board have spoken to the various civic clubs about the election as well.

Other reasons for the construction, according to Deon, is to prepare the district for the possibility of having to expand its student population to 1,500 under a proposal by Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Before the session, the governor submitted a plan which would require all districts in the state to have a minimum of 1,500 students, though there would be some exceptions. The plan has been modified, somewhat, but reports are the governor is holding fast to the 1,500 number of students.

Deon said Prescott is likely to be a host school for smaller districts in the area should the governor's plan come to fruition.

Jeff Haynes, a member of the Prescott School Board, put it succinctly at a recent board meeting when he said, "We can pay 3 mill now, or 7.6 later."