Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Nevada board learns of governor's newest plans

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's latest educational plan could leave fewer smaller school districts than his original idea.

This is what the Nevada School Board was told at its regular October meeting. Under the new plan, according to Superintendent Rick McAfee, there could be 77 small school district left, whereas the governor's initial plan would have left 80.

McAfee said there have been rumors floating around about the possibility of a special legislative session being called since Huckabee released his plan  a plan not endorsed by the Little Rock Chamber of Commerce.

"The pressure is on for the governor to hold the session," McAfee told the board. "He would like to have a consensus going in. But, when he revised the plan it was supposed to be more friendly to smaller districts."

Under Huckabee's plan high schools must have at least 425 students in grades 9-12. "When the results came out," McAfee said, "there would have been 77 districts left in place, not 80 as under the former plan. I think there will be more than 100 districts if the numbers hold up. I don't see this plan making it through the House, but he has a consensus in the Senate. More representatives are from areas with small districts."

One of the reasons Huckabee may refuse to call a special session, McAfee said, is because the legislature may recall his omnibus authority and the votes are there to do this. The bill McAfee was referring to was passed in the regular session slipped through with a section in it giving the governor the power to close school district.

In addition, the governor's authority to appoint the education board is in question, McAfee said. The legislature would like to be able to select at least half of the members of the Arkansas Department of Education, he added.

Nevada High School would be one of the schools in danger as there are only 125 students in grades 9-12. Overall, the district has a student population of 440 children from K-12.

NHS, McAfee said, was originally designed to house 500 students, so it would be no problem if the legislature goes the way that's least expensive. He said it would also be the best use of the facility.

According to McAfee, as of July 1, 2003, all ADE employees were unemployed and had to be rehired. They were hired at level 99 in director's positions. What this means is they negotiated their salaries, but can be fired at the will of the governor with no recourse whatsoever.

"My argument with Huckabee," McAfee said, "is the people of south Nevada County have already sacrificed to better their children's education." This was done when five school districts voted to consolidate and create the Nevada Special School District. Those districts were: Cale, Laneburg, Bodcaw, Willisville and Rosston.

Under an order by the Arkansas Supreme Court, an education plan must be in place by Jan. 1, 2004. If this isn't done, the court will step in and mandate what the state will be required to do to make sure all children have an adequate and equitable education. "I'd hate to have this happen," McAfee said, "as the court has no experience in education.

"There is a rumor Arkansas could go to the Missouri plan. This would leave all K-8 school alone, but create regional high schools."

There are currently 700 high schools in Arkansas, with the state talking about reducing this number to 100, he said. At this time, there are three high schools in Nevada County.

If the county were required to have a regional high school the transportation problems would be a nightmare, McAfee said. In some instances there would be students who would have to spend another hour riding the school bus to get to and from school.

"The governor agrees some districts may remain because of where they are," he said, adding this could work in Nevada's favor as it's more than 15 miles from the next closest district. "But, he's not tipping his hand to say. So now we don't know, but I wish we did.

"We need to have faith things will be all right for the children. But we need to work as well."

McAfee suggested board members and patrons of the district contact their local state representatives and senators, letting them know how they feel about the situation. Representatives are Robert White of Camden and Chris Thomason of Hope, while the senator is Percy Malone.

"We'll have to fight it in the legislature," he said. "We need to call and write them. They want to hear from the people.

"Rural districts are what make Arkansas great," McAfee continued. "But the reason for the decline in student population is when they go to college and get more training, they have to leave to get jobs. Economic development is the key to success."

Another problem in the region, he said, is the lack of available housing, including public housing, especially in the south part of the county. "Nevada is the only district in the 17-district cooperative that doesn't have any public housing," he said.

More housing, McAfee continued, would entice business and industry to the area, as people would move to be closer to their jobs.

"The Nevada School District created a program to get people back in school and provide a good education," he said. "We want parents to be part of the school and are developing a program for this. As parents get more involved, there will be a resurgence, but without jobs, it'll be tough to get people to move in. There are a lot of issues involved."