GENTRY -- Though it is still unknown if any state assistance will be given to the Gentry School District for its building plans on the intermediate school campus, the school board heard on Jan. 4 that a conservative estimate for an additional $9.5 million in bonded debt to build a new school, make technology upgrades to the high school and build a new diesel mechanics' lab building, including additional classrooms for other charter school programs (three classrooms were mentioned), would require voter approval in September of an additional 3.1 mills in taxes on real and personal property to pay for the project over 20 years -- until 2037.
Randy Barrett, superintendent of the Gentry School District, said he thought the district would qualify for about $1 million in funds from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation -- roughly $700,000 more than it might have qualified for in its building plan without demolishing the main building and commons area of the school -- but he said there was no guarantee the district would receive any state assistance because that would depend on how the project and needs compared to other school district applications.
Barrett said he consulted with Stephens, Inc., the district's designated financial advisement company, and learned the district could pay for $9.5 million in bonded debt by receiving voter approval for an additional 3.1 mills in taxes on real and personal property. Figured into the calculation was tax money currently collected from mills for bonded debt due to be retired in 2017.
The district issued bonds in 2009 for $2.265 million which is scheduled to be retired in April of 2017.
Barrett said voters approved 5 new mills to pay for the primary school and 5 mills for the middle school, so 3.1 mills to build a new intermediate school is a good deal. He said the downside would be that the district would likely be unable to take on any other large-scale building projects until 2037.
It was also reported to the board by Judy Winslett, assistant superintendent, that a diesel mechanics' class had begun this semester with nine Gentry students enrolled and space available for three more students from outside the district. She said students could now receive graduation credits for the class which are good, not only at Gentry High School but in other area high schools. She also reported that students could receive OSHA certification as a part of the Gentry program.
Winslett said the school district had received a used diesel truck tractor for use in the class from McKee Foods and an anonymous gift of $150,000 for the diesel mechanic program. She said J.B. Hunt also agreed to be a partner with Gentry High School in the new charter school endeavor.
Building Plan History
In December, the Eagle Observer reported that, as a result of a meeting with the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to see whether the Gentry Public School District could expect to receive much assistance with plans to demolish the wing buildings on the intermediate school campus and build a new classroom building there, Barrett said he was told the district would likely only receive about $292,000 for a project expected to cost $6 million. He said the division's space calculations counted the commons area as usable classroom space and hurt the district's chances of being approved for any significant amount of state aid for the new school construction plans. As a result, Barrett proposed adding the main building to the demolition list since the building is older and has been a source of ongoing problems with its leaky roof. He proposed keeping the gymnasium, cafeteria and other classrooms in the multipurpose building but demolishing the wing buildings and all the buildings on the south side of the bus tunnel.
Barrett said the Facilities Division wouldn't approve of demolishing the multipurpose building (which includes the gym, cafeteria, music and art rooms) because it is too new -- built about 1981. Six other buildings (located between the administration building and the special education building near S. Giles) which also would be saved but not used as intermediate school classrooms were built in about 1987, according to Barrett.
According to Barrett, this would put the entire intermediate school under one roof. And, should it become necessary in the future, the multipurpose building could be replaced and reconnected via the bus tunnel to the proposed new school building.
The project, if approved, would possibly require some temporary portable classrooms while construction is underway. Barrett also said the state would likely allow the project to be completed in phases so that some existing classrooms could be used during parts of the construction and demolished later to complete another phase of the construction. He also suggested the possibility the third grade could be kept at the primary school during the construction, with fifth grade possibly being at the middle school.
In the Nov. 25 issue of the Eagle Observer, it was reported that a new sloped roof was a part of a comprehensive facilities plan which included demolishing the wing buildings at the Intermediate School campus and building a new classroom building there to be used together with the existing main building -- which included the commons area, the cafeteria and the gymnasium.
The total price tag on the new building was estimated at just under $6 million, with a new roof system priced at approximately $525,000, but the district planned to seek partnership funding from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to reduce that amount. Barrett said at the October meeting that it was not yet known if the state would contribute anything toward the Intermediate School projects and the district would need to ask voters to approve a millage increase to pay for all or part of the projects.
The Gentry School Board voted Oct. 19 to move forward with plans to build the new classroom facility at the Gentry Intermediate School, build a sloped roof on the main building of the Intermediate School, renovate systems at the high school and the new agriculture building at the high school and renovate the old agriculture building or put up a new metal building to house a new diesel mechanic training facility at the high school as part of the school district's new focus on career and workforce education.
According to Barrett at the October meeting, total cost for all the projects was estimated to be approximately $8.6 million. State Partnership Funding for the projects would be sought, which could be as much as $2.7 million if the projects qualified for funding at 31.5 cents on the dollar, leaving approximately $5.9 million for the district to fund. If state funding is received from the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation, the school district would ask voters in the 2016 election for a millage increase of 4 to 5 mills. Should no state assistance be received, the board would ask voters for 6 to 7 additional mills to pay for the projects.
General News on 01/13/2016