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Wood tells board Supreme Court decision means Searcy District must deal with two major issues

BY DALE ELLIS

Managing Editor    23 Jan 2002

In an informational presentation to the Searcy School Board, Superintendent Tony Wood apprised board members of some of the issues that will be faced locally in the wake of the Arkansas Supreme Court's decision to uphold a ruling by Judge Collins Kilgore that declared the state's educational system to be unconstitutional.

Two major issues, reorganization and the tax structure, will have to be dealt with, Wood said. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed in 1992 by the Lake View School District that charged inequities in the state's funding of education.

By the time the final ruling was handed down, the education system had been found to be not only inequitable, or unfairly divided between districts, but inadequate as well, that there is not enough money to go around in the first place.

"We're going to have a very expensive and lengthy adequacy study," Wood said.

He said a major concern is to what degree local control of schools will be affected. A speech by Governor Mike Huckabee to the legislature on January 14 intimated that local control of schools may be taken over by the state.

"We are very conscious of the discussion of school reorganization," Wood told the board.

The millage issue, property taxes which fund school districts, was an issue brought up by the supreme court, Wood said, which he said placed over 240 districts out of compliance.

The problem, he told the board, is that school districts must have a total of 25 mills to fund maintenance and operations, but many districts have routinely made up shortfalls out of excess debt service millage. That practice was allowed by the state legislature in enabling legislation passed in 1997 to codify Amendment 74, which set the 25 mill level.

"It was very clear in Amendment 74 that it was available millage," Wood said.

Currently, the Searcy School District has 10.2 mills dedicated to maintenance and operations, and over 23 mills dedicated to debt service, with just over eight mills actually required to pay the district's debt. The remainder was converted to maintenance and operations in compliance with Act 1300 of the state legislature, which allowed the practice.

What is required now, Wood said, is a restructuring of the millage distribution, which will require the district to call in all its current bonds, pay off the debt, and pass a new millage structured according to the mandate of the Lake View decision.

"Some form of action must be taken to prevent the assessment of an additional 15 mills to our taxpayers," Wood said. He noted that, if nothing is done, the quorum court will be required to increase the millage dedicated to maintenance and operations to 25 mills, an increase of 15 mills.

Even at that, Wood said a small increase will be required.

"Perhaps in a range of two to three mills," he said, "as we get in there and study the issue."

Assistant Superintendent Earl Walton presented comments on standardized testing, the result of which has statistically placed Arkansas students at or near the bottom in some published test scores. Walton questioned the wisdom of placing educational focus on one test or another, which often leads students to fall short in other areas of education, he said.

"There needs to be careful thought in how we go about testing and assessing students," he said, noting that there is more to education than testing. "It's a more complex issue than is often presented."

Citing a recent advertisement that ran in a number of newspapers contending that Arkansas students were rated poorly compared to national average test scores, Walton questioned how that conclusion was arrived at.

"To see that ad," he said, "you would believe every child scored below average in some nationwide test. What test?"

Walton noted that several tests are currently in use, not all of which are used throughout the nation, a practice that can skew test results. He said that, at Searcy High School and other districts in White County and Arkansas, students consistently scored higher than the national average in the ACT test, a standard college admissions test.

"Not knowing what test they're talking about tells you that you need to dig a little deeper," he said.

He also cited conflicting test results, such as those revealed in the National Association of Educational Progress (NAEP) test and the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test.

"The NAEP test says we're lousy in science," Walton said. "The TIMSS test says we do quite well."

He noted that many factors go into performance, including socio-economic status, saying that often the more affluent the parents, the more exposure the student has to experiences that enhance his or her education.

"We need to tell our teachers and kids who are doing a good job that they are doing a good job," Walton said, "and ease up just a little bit and stop telling them they aren't learning anything."

In other action, the school board approved new insurance coverage for the district for the 2003-2004 period. The current policy expires February 1.

Wood explained that the premiums for the district will increase from $53,875 to almost $145,000 but that the cost could be held down somewhat by splitting the coverage.

The board approved coverage of property and contents through the Arkansas School Board Association, at a premium of $122,000. Vehicle coverage will be maintained through the Arkansas Department of Education at a cost of just over $22,000.

Board president Jim Davidson presented board member Linda Benson with an award which she was chosen for at the recent Arkansas School Board Association's annual meeting. Benson was one of 59 school board members chosen as a school board master member. He praised her influence on the board, saying that Benson has often provided a calming presence whenever discussions have heated up.

"She lets us four men go off on the tangents we go off on," Davidson said with a laugh. "She just crosses her arms and lets us go for a while. Then, when it's time to get to business, she says, 'that's enough,' and we snap to and get to business."

After a brief executive session, the board approved the contract extensions of both assistant superintendents, Calvin Estes and Walton, through the 2004-2005 school year. Wood's contract was extended through 2005-2006.

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