"A strong commitment to save their schools"

From The Morning News of Northwest Arkansas

Greenland Schools Continue To Work Toward Fiscal Stability
New sales tax revenue will help restore long-term year-end balance
Last updated Wednesday, March 11, 2009 7:22 PM CDT in News
By Rose Ann Pearce
THE MORNING NEWS

GREENLAND -- The sales tax revenue earmarked for the Greenland School District will help stabilize the district finances beyond 2010 but probably won't get the school district off the state's fiscal distress list any sooner.

Julie Johnson Thompson, public information director for the Arkansas Department of Education, said voter support of the sales tax issue will have a positive impact when the state education department staff and the State Board of Education receive another quarterly report from Greenland in April.

Greenland Superintendent Roland Smith said it was doubtful the state would remove the district from fiscal distress earlier than the two-year timeframe allowed by state law. The state removed the Greenland School Board and took control of the district in June 2008. Once in fiscal distress, a school district is expected to get its finances in order in two years.

Smith has consistently said he believes Greenland can do that.

While voters wrapped up voting Tuesday, Smith met with about 60 patrons at Greenland High School, telling them he continues to believe the district will end the current fiscal year on June 30 with a balance of $150,000 and projected that could climb to about $400,000 by the end of the next fiscal year on June 30, 2010.

The goal for the district is to get the ending balance back to $800,000, the same level as 10 years ago before the district began sliding financially. The state education department generally recommends a school district have an ending balance between 7 percent and 10 percent of its budget.

"We have no intention to spend the sales tax. It will be put in reserve to build it back," Smith said, noting the sales tax proposal has not been a part of the district's financial planning.

The district is expected to receive about $100,000 a year for two years from the sales tax approved Tuesday. By a margin of 134 to 28, voters extended by two years a sales tax, set to expire in June. The tax was originally used for sewer improvement.

Smith noted voters in the city and the school district have, in the last nine months, approved a sales tax, a millage increase and a bond refinancing for building repairs and new buses.

"That indicates a strong commitment to save their schools," he said.

Greenland Schools Moving Forward

From the Fayetteville Morning News. The Greenland school district continues to climb out of their hole after the state DoE took over the district.

The community there is pulling together. How many corporate contributions can Morrisville expect if they are made to a board whose president flatly tells clients not to invest in Morrisville?

Greenland Schools Still Moving Forward With Improving Finances
Cox Communications donates $600 to district's art program
Last updated Thursday, February 12, 2009 9:03 PM CST in News
By Rose Ann Pearce, THE MORNING NEWS

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Greenland School District continues to make progress toward digging itself out of its financial hole, Superintendent Roland Smith told about 50 employees and patrons Thursday.

In a 60-minute presentation in the Greenland High School cafeteria, Smith touched on a number of issues that have occurred since August, including the success of students in and out of the classroom; volunteers who have stepped up to raise more than $80,000; and school officials and local patrons who spent hours getting the school grounds in order after last month's ice storm.

There were also reports on monthly expenditures on different accounts in the district budget, which show the different is spending $125,211 less from July to January this fiscal year from last fiscal year for salaries and operation.

Smith is making monthly reports to the community since the Arkansas Department of Education took over financial control of the district last July for because of its financial difficulties.

Smith upped his estimated year end balance to $150,000 for the current fiscal year ending June 30, 2009. His previous estimate was $137,000.

Looking ahead to the 2009-10 fiscal year, which begins July 1, Smith projected Greenland should have "a very health $450,000 minimum ending balance." And, he added, by the end of the next fiscal year, by June 30, 2010, Greenland should be in the range of having a reserve fund of 7 percent to 10 percent of the total operating budget, as recommended by the state.
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Over the past 10 years, Greenland ending year balances have fluctuated from a high of $866,302, in 1998-99 to a low of $1,994 in 2007-08. That figure includes an operating loan of $621,000.

In other reports, athletic director Lee Larkan announced a new program at the high school to encourage students to complete homework assignments in class and at night.

A team of teachers is volunteering to provide additional tutoring in math and literacy before and after school. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the additional time if they need help.

"When you don't do homework, getting a zero is no option," Larkan said. Students who are referred to the tutoring sessions have no option either. If a student misses two sessions, parents are notified. By the fourth absence, the student, parents, teacher and either Larkan or Principal Hope Dorman will have a sit-down conference at the high school.

The district also received a $600 donation from employees at the Cox Communications office in Fayetteville for the district's art program. Elementary art teach Carol Moeller said the money will be used to expand the clay and tile art program.

Greenland: Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

Here's an update on the beleaguered Greenland Arkansas school district.

July 10: Fundraiser anchors efforts to keep Greenland School District independent
The Board of Education set a lofty goal to raise $ 321, 000 in donations or pledges by Sunday afternoon in its efforts to convince the state the district shouldn't be annexed due to financial shortcomings. A major piece of the fundraising will be the "Save the School" fundraiser [Ed Note: Nice name!] planned for Saturday on the school campus. The district is also asking for pledges in hopes that getting as close to the number as possible will convince the Arkansas State Board of Education not to annex Greenland to another system.

July 12: TIMELINE: Greenland's Financial Woes

July 12: Optimism The Word For Greenland Residents
Mounds of clothing and boxes filled with everything from puzzles to a pair of rubber boots is the last-ditch effort to save the Greenland School District. Optimism is the word for many in Greenland in the face of Monday's decision by the state Board of Education which could force a neighboring school district, such as Fayetteville, to swallow Greenland's. The rummage sale and auctions at the school's campus are all supporters have left to erase the district's negative balance of some $400,000.

Then came the decision from the state board of education yesterday: The Arkansas State Board of Education spared the Greenland School District from annexation and instead opted to place the district under state control for the foreseeable future Monday. Education Commissioner Ken James said he would formally notify the Greenland Board of Education of the decision by letter, which is standard procedure in a takeover. He will give the board reports on district progress with improving its financial situation every three months. He will appoint his own superintendent and dismiss the school board as part of the change, he said. The board voted 5-0 to defer annexation and assume control of the district.

Greenland Update

The July 14 D-Day for the Greenland, Arkansas school district is rapidly approaching. So what's going on?

June 24: Greenland counters the seven reasons for annexing the district.

June 25: They fired their superintendent. The Pennsylvania Avenue psychic says, "I knew that."

June 26: Good news: District deficit isn't $300,000. Bad news: It's $139,000. School board starts passing the hat at board meetings. Emperor nods approvingly, directs Reba Dunford to buy a REALLY big hat.

June 27: The neighboring Fayetteville school district says, "No thanks. Stay right where you are."

June 28: The neighboring West Fork school district says, "Greenland! Come on down!" Just kidding. The hot potato gets passed from Fayetteville to West Fork to...

June 29: School's future is a source of angst in community. Madame Marie reports she's two-for-two.

June 30: The district borrows $121,000 to maintain solvency. The loan raises the district's debt liability at that bank to $621,000.

July 1: ...the neighboring Farmington school district, who says, "thanks, but we already have students."

While I treated the Greenland situation rather lightly in this post, this is a lose-lose situation all around. No one wins in this tragedy. Especially the students.

Substitute "Morrisville" for "Greenland". "Fayetteville", "West Fork", and "Farmington" could be "Pennsbury", "Bristol", and "Council Rock". All of a sudden it starts to hit home how serious this situation is.

These students are treated like latter-day Typhoid Marys, rejected at the schoolhouse door by a George Wallace wannabe. *Some* of the financial problems are not Greenland's fault. Some of the forced Winslow annexation's financial issues changed the complexion of Greenland's budget. And now with this extremely fresh example, the neighboring school districts look at their bottom lines and fervently pray for this cup to pass. How many of these same conversations have been held within Bucks County school boards over the past six months since the Emperor announced he was interested in selling our kids to the lowest bidder?

I really do hope that Greenland can come out of this intact.

I hope the Bulldogs can too...

Greenland Update

No real news just yet. The Arkansas Dept. of Education isn't announcing anything until mid-July, but the surrounding districts are already scrambling to assess the impact. This is what Pennsbury and any other targeted potential pasture for our farmed high school students is doing.

This is a great quote: "It may come down to where it doesn't matter what any of the school districts want," said Tim Helder, the board president. "The state board may just tell us how it's going to be."

Yup. That's pretty much the way it will go.

West Fork Board Considers Financial Impact Of Greenland
Surrounding School Districts Awaiting State's Decision
Last updated Thursday, June 19, 2008 9:54 PM CDT in News
By Bob Caudle
The Morning News

WEST FORK - Greenland School District's financial woes are not confined just to Greenland.

Diane Barrett, the superintendent of West Fork schools, said a preliminary look at absorbing certified staff members from Greenland and bringing them up to the West Fork school salary schedule would cost about $1 million.

"Those are just rough figures," Barrett stressed.

Greenland school officials received a letter from state department of education June 13 informing them the school district faces being dissolved because of fiscal distress.

The West Fork School Board met in special session Thursday night to discuss the impact on West Fork if the Arkansas Board of Education annexes Greenland schools into contiguous school districts.

Barrett told the board she doesn't have sound financial figures yet, and there's no guarantee West Fork would be the only school forced to take Greenland staff members and students.

The Department of Education recommended to the Board of Education to immediately annex Greenland schools into another geographically contiguous school district. The other schools mentioned by the department as possible destinations for Greenland students are Fayetteville, Elkins, Farmington, Mountainburg and Prairie Grove.

Greenland will have a chance to appeal the recommendation at a meeting of the state school board at 9 a.m. July 14. The contiguous school districts also can attend the meeting to present a case on whether they want Greenland schools.

"It may come down to where it doesn't matter what any of the school districts want," said Tim Helder, the board president. "The state board may just tell us how it's going to be."

Helder said the best outcome would be for Greenland to win its appeal and be able to keep its school.

"Maybe Greenland can present information at the appeal hearing that shows they've gotten their ducks in a row," Helder said. "We do have empathy for what Greenland's going through."

Barrett said she participated in a Thursday morning meeting with superintendents of the other contiguous schools.

"The consensus seemed to be the board will look at things geographically," Barrett said. "We have to look at the financial impact. But we don't know if the board is going to consider that."

About 15 people attended the meeting, including two Winslow patrons, Leta McGuire and Velma Duncan.

Both are members of the Winslow City Council, and both expressed bitterness about the closing of Winslow schools after Winslow was forced to annex and chose Greenland.

Duncan said Winslow residents don't want even to consider going to Fayetteville.

"We don't want Fayetteville's tax base and they don't want us because it's too far to bus us," Duncan said. "We'd petitioned Greenland to just let us go since they blamed this whole mess on us. But they wouldn't listen."

Duncan said West Fork already has about 80 percent of former Winslow students after Greenland closed Winslow schools.

Helder said the West Fork School Board will meet again, tentatively at 6 p.m. June 27. Any input from West Fork on the Greenland annexation must be into the state board by noon June 30, Barrett said.

"We need to meet when you have figures you're comfortable with and listen to your recommendation," Helder told Barrett.

Can We Learn From Example?

In my trips through the blogosphere, all sorts of school issues come to the fore, but here's one that should be of particular interest to Hellmann's Heroes.

The Greenland School District, located near Fayetteville, Arkansas, was first placed on the state's fiscal distress list in 2003. In 2004, the state annexed the Winslow School District into Greenland because of financial problems and declining enrollment.

The Greenland-Winslow merger has been described as a "not very happy marriage." The Winslow residents complain consistently that the Greenland residents do not listen to them or take their ideas into consideration. "Winslow residents were 'treated like aliens from outer space' the last time they attempted to address the school board on an issue."

Fast forwarding through the painful details, Greenland made the hard choices necessary to get off of the financial distress list, and this happened in 2006.

But finances being finances, the progress made has slipped. Not all of the financial woes were self inflicted. Arkansas state law mandates millage rollbacks under certain conditions, and Greenland fell into that category. Now Greenland needs more money. So they went to the taxpayers.

District's Future in Voter's Hands
Monday, Jun 9, 2008 @08:33pm CST

The Greenland School District is asking voters for a mill increase. Administrators say it would help keep the district off the state's fiscal distress list. The district's asking voters to approve a 2.6 mill increase. To put it into perspective, that would mean the owner of a $100,000 home would pay an extra $52 a year-- or a dollar a week. The school district is suffering from millage rollbacks made by the state. It's state law to roll back millage rates if the value of homes in the district increases by more than ten percent. In Greenland, the state's rolled back exactly 2.6 mills. "The people in this district have at one time or another approved those 2.6 mills but they've been taken away on roll backs and all we're doing is asking them to put it back where it was by vote," says Greenland Superintendent Ron Brawner. The district's already cut costs by almost $500,000 from last year, but it's not enough. If the millage hike fails, Greenland may end up consolidating with a neighboring school district. "What folks have to realize, is if this doesn't pass and we get under even more scrutiny from the state, they may end up paying Fayetteville taxes, which are quite a bit higher," says Bill Groom, President of the Greenland Board of Education. The mill increase would put Greenland at a total of 39.5 mills. That's still lower than most districts, but it might be enough to save Greenland from consolidation. "We're not afraid to ask for it if we need it, and believe me, if we didn't absolutely have to have it we wouldn't be asking for it right now," Groom says. "It's just important for people that want to keep our school here and want to support our school to get out and vote on this thing," Brawner says. Plans to restructure some bonds are also wrapped up in this millage vote. The bonds would generate around $1 million for building improvements. If approved, the mill increase would take effect in 2010.

Even the superintendent got involved:

May 12, 2008

Greenland Schools have been placed in the Fiscal Distress category. This does not affect curriculum at this time. It does mean that all unnecessary expenses be eliminated. We are in the process of attaining this goal. Some of the cuts are not what we would like, but must be done. At this time, Greenland Schools need your support. Regardless of your convictions, we need you to vote on June 10, 2008. Remember your vote affects the present student population of Greenland Schools. The millage we are asking be passed is not a new millage. We are simply asking that you renew the millage of seven years ago that has been rolled back by Amendmant 59. We have lost revenue due to these roll backs. With the increases in costs (fuel for buses being primary), Greenland Schools needs this revenue.

Should the requested millage fail, there are unfavorable repercussions. One of these could be consolidation with another district. If this occurs, your taxes would increase by a similar amount or greater amount depending on the district Greenland would have to be consolidated. Some of our students have already experienced one consolidation. Do you really want to subject them to a second consolidation. Another consequence could be that all local control would cease. This would take the form of School Board suspension and a person being assigned by ADE as Superintendent with total control. These are what your vote decides. Go Vote, June 10, 2008.

It was up to the annexed Winslow voters:

Winslow residents were encouraged Thursday to think beyond hurt feelings when voting in the June 10 millage election.

Greenland School District officials hope their patrons to the south won't be swayed by the former Winslow School District's annexation into the Greenland district and its subsequent school closings.

"There are a lot of bad feelings about this thing. We have to move forward. We have to focus on the kids, " said Bill Groom, Greenland Board of Education president.

The millage increase passed. Barely.

GREENLAND June 10, 2008 10:30 PM CDT - Taxpayers in the Greenland School District will be paying higher taxes after approving a millage increase that won by a margin of only eight votes.

The unofficial returns show the millage increased was approved by a vote of 394 for the issue (51 percent) to 386 votes against (49 percent).

"I hope it holds up," said Greenland School Board President Bill Groom after learning of the results Tuesday night. "It's too close to make any plans yet."

In a breakdown of the votes, totals show the issue passed in Greenland by 346 votes for (64 percent) to 193 votes against (36 percent). However, voters in the former Winslow School District, which is now part of Greenland, overwhelmingly turned down the proposal with 32 votes for the issue (15 percent) to 178 votes against (85 percent).

All is well. The tax increase was passed, and Greenland can continue along on the path to recovery. Then, just four days after that tax increase was passed...

Greenland School District faces forced annexation
Officials notified Friday of pending annexation vote

The Greenland School District may be annexed into a neighboring school district because of financial woes.

Greenland School Board President Bill Groom and Superintendent Ron Brawner were notified Friday afternoon the Arkansas Department of Education staff will recommend the annexation into a contiguous district to the State Board of Education on July 14.

The receiving district was not identified in the letter to Groom and Brawner. If the state education board approves an annexation, it was unknown Friday when it would take effect.

Greenland is contiguous with the Fayetteville, West Fork, Prairie Grove, Farmington, Elkins and Mountainburg school districts.

Groom said he received a telephone call from Tripp Walter, an attorney with the state education department, notifying him of a letter that was faxed to the Greenland administration office. The letter was signed by State Education Commissioner Ken James.

James talked with Fayetteville Superintendent Bobby New about the possibility of annexing Greenland into the Fayetteville School District during a telephone call Friday afternoon, New said.

Such an annexation would mean Greenland would be absorbed into the receiving district. The receiving district would have to bring Greenland teachers to that district's salary schedule and Greenland's debt would be taken over by the receiving district.

Salaries, which account for about 80 percent of Fayetteville's budget, could be a critical issue. Fayetteville is among the highest paying districts in Northwest Arkansas; Greenland is one of the lowest.

The condition of Greenland's buildings and buses, bus routes, the cost of fuel and other financial considerations also need to be examined, New said.

The school district that was forced into accepting another school district, will now itself be forced onto another school district.

Perhaps the one reader comment said it best: "Now the school will die along with our pirate pride and tradition."

Just to put it into perspective, the Winslow students could face a 25 mile bus ride to Fayetteville.

Buckle up, Morrisville! This is the roller coaster ride the Emperor wants you to experience.

• Shotgun wedding to another district
• Being ignored by the other district in policymaking
• Paying the higher taxes anyway
• Facing mandated budget cuts, no matter the cost to the students
• Facing complete loss of local control by state takeover.

You say it can't happen here? Then you didn't read closely enough. This time next year, unless we do something to stop it, the Emperor will call in the veterinarian and put the Bulldogs to sleep.