DECATUR : Residents vow support for ailing school district
Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/233324/
DECATUR — Bill Montgomery spent his childhood walking the dirt roads of Decatur.
His eight brothers and sisters moved away, but Montgomery stuck around and became mayor.
Little has changed in the tiny town since then, the 1974 graduate of Decatur High School said.
The town covers just 2. 3 square miles. Its streets are paved now, but the population — about 1, 300 at last count — has remained small, and folks have kept the friendly attitude that helped his mother, a widow, feel comfortable raising her family here.
Changes in the past year have rocked the town.
Major employers pulled anchor, taking jobs with them. A sagging real estate market seeped into the city limits, and rapidly rising gas prices threatened quality of life for the rural residents, who were forced to drive farther just for food when Hooper’s Grocery closed on Main Street.
Residents waited anxiously Thursday as the Arkansas Board of Education met to consider annexing their financially struggling school district. Many feared that such a move could be fatal to a town in search of consistency.
“It’s personal to a lot of people,” Montgomery said. “If we lost our school, our community could just dwindle away.”
The state board voted not to annex the school district, opting instead to take it under state control, dissolve its board and appoint a new superintendent. The new leader will have a maximum of two years to clean up its finances before the board will reconsider dividing it and merging it with neighboring Bentonville, Gentry or Gravette school districts.
MIXED EMOTIONS At the annual Decatur Barbecue on Friday, residents nibbled on chicken cooked over a cinder-block pit in the city park — trading feelings of relief that their children would have schools to attend when classes start Aug. 18 and disbelief that district leaders had mishandled their taxes in what Arkansas Education Commissioner Ken James called “a gross, gross mismanagement situation.”
“We want to have these schools not just one more year, but many more to come,” middle-school teacher LaVonn Foreman said as she sold fundraising T-shirts that said “School’s out for summer, but not forever.”
Parents, teachers and students have raised $ 136, 000 through car washes, raffles and chili suppers and received a $ 100, 000 pledge to be paid over several years.
High school English teacher James Garner, who worked with Foreman at the barbecue, said residents were hurt by an apparent mishandling of money that put the district at risk.
“I spend so much time in that classroom and with kids after school. For someone not to do their job, that really upsets me,” he said.
Bill Goff, the Education Department’s assistant commissioner for finance and administration, said Thursday that the district reported more than $ 1. 3 million in the bank at the close of the 2006-07 school year.
But by July 21, Decatur was $ 94, 747 in the red.
Without intervention, the debt is projected to grow to $ 510, 251 by the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2009, Goff said.
Former bookkeeper Tina Murray, who resigned in May, turned herself into Decatur police Friday after an investigation by the Benton County prosecuting attorney’s office indicated she took $ 41, 471 from the struggling school system by writing checks to herself and inflating her monthly pay. She faces charges of theft of property and forgery, both felonies. Before Murray’s arrest, rumors spread through the town that police planned to make an arrest related to the district’s finances. “Just an arrest can’t undo all of the damage that’s been done,” Garner said. “It’s just one more thing in a series of things that have been painful for this town to take.”
‘ONE MORE THING’ The Decatur City Council voted in July to eliminate three staff positions and make other payroll reductions, saving about $ 80, 000 a year, Montgomery said.
The city was forced to use about $ 45, 000 from its reserves to pay operating expenses after revenue declined for several months, he said.
Financial difficulties have become familiar for many Decatur residents.
In April, Black and Decker Corp. announced plans to shut down its power-washer plant in town, eliminating 82 jobs in a closure finalized Friday.
In July, Simmons Foods completed a buyout of Peterson Farms, which employed about 1, 000 people at its headquarters and hatcheries.
The Peterson family owns much of the town’s property. The effects of the sale remain unclear, but some employees have been laid off, and residents are unsure of how the buyout will affect the identity of a city built around the poultry company.
“We’re glad to at least have our schools,” resident Linda Crawford said. “It will give us some time to get our feet on the ground after all of this.”
Crawford runs the First Baptist Church food pantry, where the demand for emergency food supplies has increased throughout the spring and summer. She expects to see even more families as the last round of Black and Decker layoffs wraps up this week.
Too much change has been difficult on the small town, where residents value the familiar, Crawford said. “You can see a baby born and watch it graduate from high school here,” she said. Montgomery has hope that his city can survive the changes of the past year. “There have been changes, and we’ll see more changes,” he said. “But the spirit of the people of Decatur is great.”
POOR OVERSIGHT Dale Query, past president of the Arkansas Rural Education Association, said it’s not unusual for rural towns to rally around their schools under the threat of consolidation. “You move into a larger district and you lose that intimacy,” he said. “There’s a lot more anonymity there.”
The association opposed bills signed into law by then-Gov. Mike Huckabee that called for the annexation of 57 districts with fewer than 350 students, fearing the effects the closures would have on small communities.
In cases of fiscal distress, the association prefers state control over annexation, Query said.
“If it is a management issue and it can be fixed, fix the problem where it is,” he said. “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.”
The association will ask legislators to explore whether the state’s per-pupil funding formula can adequately support smaller districts, which must spend disproportionate amounts of their budget on things like transportation for their relatively large coverage areas, Query said.
But Decatur’s financial situation is one of poor oversight, not inadequate funding, residents said.
James will appoint a new superintendent before the start of school, with hopes that he can aggressively restructure the district’s budget and avoid annexation.
Fundraisers have committed to gathering money to support sports and activities that may be cut from the school’s budget.
“We want to salvage all we can,” Foreman said. Resident Cynthia Foltz said people need to pack School Board meetings the way they pack football games, providing accountability for district leaders who are spending taxpayer money. “There needs to be change,” she said. “The whole community needs to be involved.” Foltz moved to the town 22 years ago and immediately felt welcome. She felt safe at home with her two children while her husband, a truck driver, was on the road for days at a time. If the school district can find financial solvency and maintain its independence, she’ll watch her grandchildren graduate from Decatur High School one day. “From day one, this has been home,” Foltz said. “But without those schools, this town will die.”
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com