GREENLAND : New exec sees district afloat this year, but work awaits
Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008
GREENLAND — Tentative figures show the Greenland School District will end its current fiscal year in the black, but it will take aggressive fundraising to maintain financial solvency into the next school year and gain independence from state control, the district’s state-appointed superintendent said Tuesday.
Education Commissioner Ken James appointed former Rogers Superintendent Roland Smith to take over the fiscally distressed district after the Arkansas Board of Education voted in July to take it over and dissolve its school board. Smith has a maximum of two years to heal the district’s financial woes, including a projected negative balance of $ 427, 000 at the end of the current school year.
He held his first monthly meeting with Greenland residents Tuesday, receiving a standing ovation from 100 attendees encouraged by his financial update.
“Very preliminary” figures show the district may be able to trim $ 1 million from its annual operating budget through staff cuts and restructured debt, Smith said.
“As good as these numbers appear in regards to this year, this is not enough when we look beyond this year,” he said.
The state board’s decision whether to return independence to Greenland or dissolve it into neighboring districts hinges largely on its ability to maintain solvency beyond the current school year, Smith said. To do so, concerned parents and community members will need to continue aggressive fundraising efforts to raise between $ 200, 000 and $ 400, 000 to help repay a $ 600, 000 cashflow loan due in December and provide carryover funds for 2009-2010, he said.
The district’s poor financial situation can be attributed to “well-intentioned” overspending of operational funds, the outstanding cash flow loan and overstaffing in several areas, Smith said.
In addition, nearly 130 students left the district over the summer, taking state-provided per-pupil funding with them.
While contracts have already been set for the current school year, Smith expects staff cuts made through attrition will save more than $ 800, 000 previously committed to salaries and benefits. Teachers and staff members who left before school started in August weren’t replaced, reducing certified staff from 87 to 74 and classified staff from 54 to 46. The district likely will announce additional staff cuts in January in other overstaffed areas, he said.
A bond issue, passed in the spring, will allow the district to refinance its bonded debt, providing $ 1 million for facilities projects and relieving $ 212, 000 of debt payments, Smith said. Beardsley Public Finance will open bids for the $ 6. 4 million of bonds Sept. 10.
It’s important to “tighten up” every area, trimming non-essential items and taking creative approaches to existing spending, Smith said.
Transportation off icials bought two used buses, which sell for $ 85, 000 new, from the Rogers School District for $ 1, 000 each. Administrators have renegotiated pest control contracts, trimmed a week from their contracts and worked on energy savings plans to provide additional money. “We are trying to work on the little things as well as the large things, and the little things begin to add up,” Smith said. After the meeting, parents stayed to organize fundraising efforts. The group has worked to hold at least one large fundraiser a month, said Mary Smith, who is the mother of a sophomore and a Greenland High School graduate. She said parents would work to go beyond quilt sales and pie auctions. Some children have even e-mailed talk show host Oprah Winfrey to ask for help. “Even our big is not big enough,” Smith said.
To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com
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