GENTRY — School board members approved a request from Jon and Kim Faulkenberry to be exempted from out-of-state tuition for their three children to continue to attend school in the Gentry School District even though the family’s legal residence is now 100 yards across the state line into Oklahoma.
The Faulkenberrys had resided within the Gentry School District, and JonFaulkenberry still farms within the district, but the family now resides in Oklahoma because the farm land is for sale.
Jon Faulkenberry explained that he wanted his children to be able to continue attending Gentry Schools but could not afford to pay the out-of-state tuition fee of approximately $6,000 per student because his employment position had been discontinued.
Faulkenberry said it would also be twice the driving distance from his hometo school if his children attended Colcord Schools rather than continuing to come to Gentry.
He said he brought the request to the school board because residing on the farm within the school district during the school year might not remain an option should the farm sell.
“There’s nothing that I know of prohibiting you from granting this request should you choose to do so,” Gentry School District superintendent Randy Barrett told board members.He further explained the Faulkenberrys would still need approval from the Colcord (Okla.) School District should the board grant their request - approval which has been granted.
Board members voted unanimously (except for Scott McCollum, who was absent at the special meeting) to waive the outof-state tuition for the Faulkenberry children, in grades nine, eight and six.
Barrett also reported to the board an estimate of lost revenue based on preliminary data from the Benton County property reassessment.
Barrett estimated the district would have approximately $200,000 less to work with for maintenance and operation of the schools, beginning in fiscal year 2013.
The decline in incoming tax revenue is not as great as feared, Barrett explained.
“While it’s going to be a slap in the face, it’s not going to be a cutting off of the head,” Barrett said.
In order to comply with federal law which requires the cost of a paid lunch to be the same as the federal government pays to provide a free lunch, the school district was required to raisethe paid lunch price by 10 cents, Barrett said.
A number of student transfer requests were approved, including one from the Decatur School District based on a corrected application, with documentation, changing a student’s race or ethnicity on the application from Caucasian to Native American. While the student transfer request could not have been accepted as a Caucasian due to statemandated racial quotas, it was legally acceptable if the child applied as a Native American.
Also approved at the special meeting was the hiring of Wakeeta Neal as a gifted and talented teacher for the district.
News, Pages 5 on 08/17/2011