FAYETTEVILLE : Board in opposition of Greenland merger
Posted on Tuesday, June 24, 2008
The Fayetteville School Board will vote Thursday to oppose state efforts to annex Greenland Public Schools into a neighboring district.
Associate Superintendent Randy Willison will ask the board to approve a resolution opposing Fayetteville as the receiving district for the annexation and a separate resolution of support for Greenland’s efforts to remain an independent district.
The State Board of Education will consider merging the 930-student Greenland School District with one of six neighboring districts at its July 14 meeting. Leaders of the districts — Elkins, Farmington, Fayetteville, Mountainburg, Prairie Grove and West Fork — will first explain to the board whether or not they want to be targets for the annexation.
Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New said the district, considered by many to be the most likely annexation partner, spent last week weighing the financial implications of the move. Much of the cost would be personnel-related, he said. Greenland teachers’ pay would be raised to Fayetteville levels if the districts merged. Greenland’s starting teachers with a bachelor’s degree and no experience earn $ 30, 008 a year. Fayetteville’s starting teachers earn $ 40, 500.
Commissioner Ken James wrote a letter detailing plans for the annexation three days after Greenland voters approved a 2. 6-mill property tax increase.
At a meeting last week, Greenland Superintendent Ronald Brawner denied the state’s claims that the district would end the fiscal year $ 300, 000 in debt. Residents at the meeting wrote checks and dropped money into a tin bucket to raise a $ 4, 000 retaining fee for lawyers the school board hired to represent it at the July 14 meeting.
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