Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Court appearance possible for Emmet, Nevada districts

Two Nevada County school districts could wind up in court because of student attendance.

According to a petition filed with the Nevada County Circuit Court, the Nevada School District is seeking a declaration and judgement against the Emmet School District because students who live within the boundaries of the Nevada district have been attending Emmet schools without being transferred.

Under Arkansas law, A.C.A. 6-18-206 (b)(1(A), any school district admitting a student for 10 or more school days knows or should have known if the student is a resident of another district and would be liable to the resident district in the amount of money equal to the amount of state aid the resident district would have received, or $750 per year, whichever is greater.

The Nevada district claims there have been about 20 students in the last five years who have attended Emmet school while living within Nevada's borders.

The two districts adjoin one another, with each operating schools for kindergarten through the 12th grade.

The petition asks the court to declare the Emmet district admit it had a number of students attend more than 10 days knowing they should have been attending school at Nevada in Rosston.

It states the Emmet district has included these illegal students in its average daily attendance reports to the state and unlawfully received state aid for them as they actually lived in the Nevada district. The state aid, it states, should have gone to the Nevada district.

The petition claims Emmet "has knowingly and willfully deprived Nevada School District of state aid for students as set forth herein for the period of time identified." The time period began with the 1998-99 school year and extended to the 2002-03 academic year.

"The deprivation has caused the patrons of the Nevada School District," the petition further states, "to receive less in state aid than it would have received had Emmet School District not engaged in its unlawful practice of admitting students to its School District who were not residents of the District or who did not qualify for attendance in the District under an applicable law."

The petition for declaration also requests a finding specifying the number of students and their names who attended Emmet while living in the Nevada district for the aforementioned time period.

The petition seeks a judgement to be paid out of state aid only, for the dollar amount paid to Emmet for the period from 1998 to 2003 for the students involved, along with damages, attorney fees and court costs.

Dr. Gene Ross, Emmet superintendent, said he couldn't comment because he didn't want to jeopardize Emmet's position in the suit.

Emmet's attorney, William Lavender of Texarkana, also declined to comment. However, Lavender did say Dr. Ross was served with papers on July 21, and the district has 20 days to respond.

"The Emmet district denies these allegations," Lavender said, "and will vigorously defend its position. When the response is filed, we'll see how Emmet views the case."

Nevada Superintendent Rick McAfee the students in question need to be attending school in the district they live in.

The problem, he said, is not about money, but in calculating local wealth. Districts receive a base funding amount from the state based on the average daily attendance, along with the student population shown to live within a district's boundaries.

Basically, he said, Emmet is getting paid twice for students, while Nevada is being penalized twice for the same students. This is because records show the students live in the Nevada district and state aid is calculated accordingly. However, when it comes to the actual number of students at Nevada, he added, it appears as though the district is getting more money than it should per student.

These funds are adjusted downward by the state. This, McAfee said, means Nevada is punished twice while Emmet gets the students and twice the state aid for them.

"No one wants to do this," McAfee said. "I don't like being a part of it, but it's unfair to other students to lose the money twice."

Nevada is being represented by Camden attorney Allen Roberts. Roberts said the suit is based on a couple of state statutes concerning student residences.

Roberts said he met with Dr. Ross and Lavender concerning the situation, adding Dr. Ross has been served with papers on the suit, but has yet to respond.

"There could be a resolution by agreement," Roberts said, "setting up restrictions and requirements on checking residences."

He added no one wants to see this go to court.