The Hot Springs School District must now devote time, energy and resources into planning for upcoming construction after spending prior months preparing for Tuesday's millage vote.
The measure to increase the district's millage by 4.4 mills and extend 10.8 debt service mills for 15 more years was included on the annual school election ballot. It was the second attempt to increase the millage in the past 16 months.
Voters approved the increase by a 51-49 percent margin, 1,087 for and 1,041 against, in easily the most precarious of 11 millage votes that took place across the state Tuesday. Eight of the 11 measures were approved by voters.
School districts have found more success recently in pursuing millage increases during the annual school election in September instead of holding special elections at other times during the year. Hot Springs' request for a 2-mill increase was rejected by voters by a tally of 627-563 in May 2015.
Five of the eight measures requesting millage increases were approved on Tuesday. All three districts that requested a restructuring of existing mills received approval from voters.
Arkadelphia was among eight of 12 districts that received millage increase approvals from voters a year ago. The district's millage increased by 5.75 mills from 38.9 to 44.65.
Clarksville and Harrisburg were two of the four districts in which voters denied millage increases last September. Clarksville voters approved a 4.8-mill increase on Tuesday, but another measure in Harrisburg was again rejected by voters.
Voters in the Centerpoint School District approved a millage increase two years ago during the annual school election. The increase allowed the district to construct a unified elementary school next to the high school in Rosboro. The elementary school is set to be completed by the end of 2016.
Hot Springs Superintendent Mike Hernandez said he was confident a month before the election the measure would pass. He and other officials spoke with many organizations in the area to raise awareness and provide information to voters.
"We tried to go to these different groups just to make sure we were providing factual information to them," Hernandez said. "We knew we would have a lot of supporters in that age range, too."
Hernandez said most groups were outwardly supportive and the district received positive feedback. He said little public opposition had been voiced until after the Labor Day weekend.
Questionable campaign materials sent to voters the day before early voting cast doubt on the outcome of the election. The district began to receive questions and complaints from residents, especially older voters.
The district received favorable news as soon as the polls closed on Tuesday. The measure trailed 727-580 after early and absentee voting. The 44.38 percent was an improvement from the 36.45 percent of "for" votes received during early voting last May.
"When we got early voting in, I saw the spread was not near as far as what I thought it would be, based on looking at early voting," Hernandez said. "I thought we had a really good shot."
Hernandez said the district will be able to begin work on some of the smaller projects soon, but he expects the process of planning for the two largest construction projects to take at least six to eight months. Some districts conduct more planning before they hold a millage election due to partnership funding provided by the state. Hot Springs qualifies for about half a percent of partnership funding.
"We didn't have anything," Hernandez said. "We are kind of behind in that sense."
Hernandez said architects could not be paid for further work until the millage increase was approved. He said no construction would have taken place without the increase.
A junior high school complex next to the high school on Emory Street and a new main structure for Langston Aerospace and Environmental Studies Magnet School account for 85 percent of the estimated $54,212,880 in costs of new construction.
The district's architect, French Architects, has provided early plans for the exterior of the buildings, but not detailed plans for the interior. The junior high will include a 1,000-seat auditorium and a 2,200-seat multipurpose arena. Hill and Cox Construction is the district's construction manager.
The new Langston building will be built adjacent to the current school, on the site of the former Langston High School. Hernandez said the district plans to engage Langston alumni to determine how to best commemorate the former school and possibly salvage areas of the current school.
Hernandez said officials contemplated integrating design elements from Langston High School, but determined a more contemporary building would be a better fit for the theme of the magnet school. Langston will remain a magnet elementary, but Hernandez said discussions are taking place to possibly tweak its overall theme.
"I think the biggest part is getting through that first grouping of drawings, because designing two giant buildings is going to be a lot," Hernandez said. "Anything that needs to be drawn is going to take a while before we get some of that up and going."
The current timeline projects the district to fully integrate its new alignment of campuses by the start of school in August of 2019. Hernandez said the switch could be made sooner with most projects projected to be completed by the end of 2018.
Plans for new projects must be submitted to the Arkansas Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation. Hernandez said Hot Springs has fewer constraints on building projects because no partnership funds will be used.
Bids for construction of the two major projects could be made by May or June. Hernandez said the district may fast track bids on dirt work before the other bids are made.
Work will begin on other projects, such as renovations to the front driveway at the current Oaklawn Visual and Performing Arts Magnet School, once plans are approved for Langston and the junior high. Such projects may be pushed back to the summer of 2018 in order to avoid any interference with operations during the school year.
The district's proposed configuration plans to move all students in grades 7-9 to the new junior high. Oaklawn, Langston, Park International Baccalaureate Magnet School and Gardner STEM Magnet School would all become K-6 schools instead of K-4.
Oaklawn Magnet would move to the current Hot Springs Middle School. Gardner would move to Oaklawn. Renovations would be made at both magnet schools. The district is seeking uses for the facilities at Gardner.
Hernandez said a committee with representatives from each campus will help shape designs of the new projects. He said parents and other stakeholders will be involved in the process.
"We want to make sure we are getting feedback as we go through the major designs," Hernandez said. "For example, we've got an EAST lab that will go in the junior high. We want to make sure that is well thought out and those kinds of things as we are designing, and not just have a cookie cutter model."
Local on 09/25/2016