School building costs rise for state
Posted on Thursday, August 31, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/165153/
The state’s share of public school construction costs increased from the $ 265 million reported in June to $ 277 million Wednesday, largely because of school district officials reworking their building projects to conform to minimum construction standards set by the state.
The three-member state Commission on Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, headed by Arkansas Education Commissioner Ken James, on Wednesday approved the revised project list that includes 64 changes for about 1, 200 projects.
“The bottom line being is that no project on this list will go forward that does not meet the Arkansas Facilities Manual,” Doug Eaton, director of the division that oversees public school facilities, told the commission. “That standard is the absolute minimum. There have been very few waivers, very few variances requested and very few variances have been granted. The few that have been granted have been in storage or in administrative areas in which administrators say they don’t need the size mandated by the standards.”
The state’s contribution to academic construction costs is authorized by the Academic Facilities Partnership Program created by Act 2206 of 2005. The purpose of the law is to upgrade and provide more equitable school buildings. The law was passed after the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the state’s public school system was inadequate, inequitable and, as a result, unconstitutional.
School districts share in the cost of the new construction and building expansions based on their wealth index, which is a formula the state uses. The state is paying a greater share of project costs in districts that have lower property tax wealth.
Some of the 64 changes in the revised list include the addition of projects that were previously rejected but were made eligible after the school districts submitted additional information about their plans.
In other cases, the projects were on the approved list but the anticipated costs changed as the state and districts worked to conform projects to state standards. Other costs on the list changed as the scopes of the different projects were refined.
In one case, an elementary school in the Gentry School District was inadvertently approved in June but was financed through another program and has been removed. Seven projects in the Cross County School District, totaling $ 101, 000 in state costs, were added to the revised list despite the district classification as being in fiscal distress. Eaton said the district had sufficient funds to finance its share of the projects.
The state’s list originally included a new middle school in the Caddo Hills School District, which is headquartered in Norman in Montgomery County.
“We had it listed as a middle school but actually it wasn’t a middle school — we just wanted more classrooms,” Caddo Hills Superintendent Donald Henley said Wednesday. “A middle school for grades five through eight had to be so many square feet, which was about double what we wanted. So we more or less changed the wording of [the project ] and sent it back in. Our project will be about 20, 000 square feet instead of 42, 000.”
The project as reconfigured will be a new building with 12 classrooms and some bathrooms to serve about 250 students. It will not have the library, cafeteria and office space required for a whole new school.
The state’s share of the project is listed at $ 1. 45 million, which will be paired with up to $ 2. 2 million in local funding, said Henley, who hopes the work can be completed by August 2007.
Plans for a new Bauxite middle school campus also were listed as a change on Wednesday’s list.
“We’re looking to get as much room as we can so our project was retooled,” Bauxite Superintendent Mickey Billingsley said Wednesday. “We’re looking at a 68, 000-square-foot building to hold up to 400 students. In the past four or five years we’ve been adding two classes here and two classes there. So, with the state’s help, we decided to bite the bullet.”
The Bauxite district is asking voters at its Sept. 19 school board election to approve restructuring the district’s existing debt as a way to raise about $ 2 million for the school. That will be paired with the $ 5. 16 million provided by the state.
If all goes according to plan, the new campus will open for the 2008-09 school year, Billingsley said.
The state’s updated list of school construction projects can be viewed at www. arkansasfacilities. com. Before the commission’s unanimous vote Wednesday, Commissioner James reported visiting south Arkansas on Tuesday and taking a side trip to see construction projects in the Hermitage School District. The projects included a new middle and high school complex.
“They are the most appreciative of these resources,” James said about the 500-student Hermitage district and its receipt of state funding for construction and repairs. “They wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without this infusion of money. It’s become a showcase of the community and you can see the pride exhibited by not only the school staff but also by community members who joined us on a tour.”