ROGERS : Charter school seeks funds for expansion
Posted on Friday, March 21, 2008
ROGERS — The founding board of the Benton County School of the Arts will explore options to finance a $ 2. 5 million building expansion to accommodate growing enrollment.
The kindergarten through eighth-grade charter school, which opened in 2001, needs six more classrooms and a “cafeterium” — a combination cafeteria and performing-arts center — to provide adequate space for students, Superintendent Gary Moore said.
Students need more space to complete the school’s alternative curriculum, which emphasizes project-oriented learning.
“Even though we’re a public school, we still have a lot of challenges that a normal public school might not face,” Moore said.
Charter schools are public schools that are exempt from some of the laws that govern traditional public schools. In return for the flexibility, the schools are held to stricter standards for student achievement.
Benton County School of the Arts doesn’t have to meet the same per-pupil space standards as traditional public schools, but it still tries to do so, Moore said.
The school opened with two classes of students in kindergarten through eighth grade and has since added a kindergarten through fifth-grade class.
The school’s charter caps enrollment at 500 students, and there are 451 now. More than 50 students have enrolled in next year’s kindergarten class, but only 30 eighth-graders will graduate.
Without the benefit of prop- erty-tax funds, charter schools must finance facilities, transportation, supplies and equipment out of per-pupil operational funding provided by the state.
Traditional public schools use per-pupil funding only for teacher salaries and classroom materials.
Benton County School of the Arts receives $ 5, 619 from the state for each of its students, and much of that pays the lease payment on its building. State law forbids charter schools to carry debt. Administrators issue the lease payment, equivalent to a mortgage payment, to the Benton County Charter School Organization. That nonprofit organization carries the debt for the school and the Northwest Academy of Fine Arts, a charter high school in Rogers.
“It puts quite a strain on our revenue,” Moore said.
Founder Mechel Wall said the chartering organization will try to refinance its $ 8 million of debt associated with the two campuses, seeking a lower interest rate and a longer repayment period in order to lower payments. Interest rates as high as 14 percent force Benton County School of the Arts to make $ 45, 000 monthly payments.
Under the refinancing plan, the school would pay $ 22, 000 a month to cover the lease and the cost of the expansion, Wall said.
The School Board will appraise neighboring properties, which it would purchase for the larger building, and finalize construction costs before getting Department of Education approval of its bond package. Wall plans to seek private investors to cover the effort. Local banks have tightened lending requirements in light of downturns in the real estate market, making a private solution preferable, she said. School officials hope to begin construction by fall. “These kids and their teachers work really hard, and we need to give them a facility that honors that,” Wall said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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