Poole, Watson urge voters to approve millage increase
PRESCOTT – Roughly 50 people showed up for the final public meeting on the proposed millage for the Prescott School District.
Robert Poole, superintendent, said he wanted people to have the correct information about the proposed 5.9 mill the district is asking for to build a new primary school and improve school security, along with building parking lots at the site of the current Prescott Elementary School and behind the visitor’s bleachers at the football field.
He said the Arkansas Department of Education’s Facilities Division ranked PES a negative 22 out of 100. He told those gathered the district has taken good care of the building, but it’s more than 60 years old and is worn out. He compared it to a car, saying the owner could do everything possible to keep it running, but there’ll come a time when it has to be replaced. The modular buildings behind PES, he said, are in poor shape with the ceilings falling in and the floors falling through.
Poole pointed out building codes have changed a lot in the past 60 years and it would cost almost as much to repair and renovate the current PES as it would to build a new one. He said the figure is 97 percent of a new one, and the district would still have an old building.
The children of the district, he continued, deserve the best and safest schools possible and need to feel safe when they’re in school. He added parents need to feel safe sending their children to school as well. “If we have the opportunity to do this (build a new elementary school) now, why wouldn’t we?”
He talked about how the district’s buildings are used for community events, saying a gospel concert will be held in the Sports Arena Saturday night, and several events have been held in the Prescott Junior High School cafeteria. Poole said it’s good to have such facilities for the public’s use and it would be nice to have another one as the district is glad to have events held in its facilities.
Along with building a new primary school, he said, funds from the millage would be used to improve security by putting video cameras everywhere legally allowed, putting a 3M screen over the windows in the PJHS cafeteria to make them stronger, putting new security doors in all buildings, having one access to each building and metal detectors at the main doors of each building. If a child, or anyone, enters and sets the detectors off, he said, they’ll be pulled aside and asked to empty their pockets or backpacks to see if they’re carrying anything dangerous or prohibited. With the plans for the new school, he said, if it’s built it’ll be the most secure school in the state. The primary school, he added, will have bullet resistant glass as well as the secure doors and metal detectors.
He pointed out the district built PJHS without a millage increase, and two years ago installed air conditioning in the gym, put a new roof on Prescott High School and installed new seating in the PHS auditorium, also without asking for a millage increase. These projects were done by refinancing the district’s bonded indebtedness, which, he said, is no longer an option.
The district, he continued, isn’t wasting the people’s money and is using it exactly the way the district said it would. “You can all see what we’ve got. It’s something to be proud of.”
Poole offered to personally go the courthouse and find out exactly how much more those at the meeting would be paying on their property taxes. He said a house appraised at $50,000 would see an extra $4.42 a month on its property taxes, while a home appraised for $100,000 would add another $9.83 a month to the taxes. The requested 5.9 mill will apply to personal property taxes as well as real property taxes.
State Rep. Danny Watson urged everyone to vote for the millage, telling them they should believe what Poole says. The new school, he said, will be a “plain Jane” building with nothing extra (aside from the increased security). He told the audience the partnership money with the state isn’t always guaranteed, but the $5,179,373.86 being discussed is. He pointed out if the millage issue fails, there are other districts in the state waiting to pass a millage and get their hands on these funds. Watson added it wouldn’t be good if it fails when the information reached Little Rock.
He said he understands there are people on fixed incomes, retirees and knows the poverty level of the district along with the per capita income. “I understand people are strained, but think about what’s at stake.” He said the district’s test scored are good and there are a lot of good things going on in the district.
Poole said it’s not possible to go overboard when it comes to the safety of the children and the community and the district will do whatever it can to keep the children out of harm’s way.
He said the partnership money is shrinking every year and it’s competitive when it comes to getting it. The reason Prescott was approved, he added, was because of the condition of PES. He said construction costs will rise at $800,000 a year and it will only cost more to build a new primary school if the measure fails this time, with the district asking for even more millage.
To get the state funds, he said, construction on the new school has to begin by Nov. 2020 or the money could go to another district. He told the audience it will take about 18 months to build the new school and will generate around $18.6 million for the local economy and could help attract people and business to Prescott and Nevada County.
The proposed new building will be on the practice field by the bus garage, while the current PES will be demolished and turned into a parking lot. Poole said children have to cross the street now and this would have all students on the same side of the road.
He also said this is the last project the district will need in our lifetime as it’ll be more than 20 years before anything else is needed. The school, he continued, is the heart of the community and attracts residents and businesses.
If all goes according to plan, he said, there will be $123,000 left over from the construction funds, which isn’t much. He told the audience of the soil problems the district encountered for PJHS and the parking lot.
During the question and answer session, he said this is a 30-year bond and the district would have to go before the public if it wants to extend the bonds. He added the bonds could be paid off sooner if more businesses come to Prescott.
