McNiel questions school
I'm sure you have heard the cliche that lack of planning on your part does not make it an emergency on my part. Well, get ready. It's coming.
The word is that the Pea Ridge School administration is in the planning stages of asking the tax payers for more money to build themselves a brand new high school.
As tax paying citizens, I feel that we have the right to scrutinize the school administration's plans to spend our tax money. Every financial decision that they make will directly affect every tax paying citizen in Pea Ridge.
One thing that the parents of the children who are currently attending the school do not take into consideration is that yes, they want the best for their children's education now, but they will ultimately be paying for these decisions for 20 or 30 years into the future. If their children continue to live in this area, they will be the ones who will foot the bills, also.
According to my understanding, the school receives approximately $6,5000 per pupil that attends the school this year. Next year, it will go up to $6,647 per year. It will probably go up more every year after that as well. This is how much the state allocates to the schools for each child.
I called and spoke with the Department of Education in Little Rock and I was told that most of the schools receive an additional $3,000 per student for other school programs. It's funny that no one volunteered that information before.
According to one source, "Classroom Resources," updated June 13, 2016, Arkansas schools receive approximately $9,616 per pupil.
So, let's do the math. Pea Ridge has over 2,100 students attending at this time; 2,100 times $6,500 adds up to an approximate total of over $13 million revenue per year; $2,100 times $9,616 adds up to an approximate total revenue of $20,193,000.
According to the Pea Ridge schools' own web page, it tells us that there are eight (8) separate funds which received revenue from somewhere which adds up to an approximate total of $19,630,000.
Whether we need more space or not is not the issue with me. The issue is that the School Board should have been planning for this years ago and they should have been putting money back for this upcoming expenditure.
They are probably going to come out in the next year or to and ask the tax paying citizens of Pea Ridge for a new millage increase to fund a new high school The problem is that even with the brand new high school, it will just be a band aide because even when it is built, it will be too small.
If they can build this new school without a millage increase, I will be happy with it. But mark my words, the writing is on the wall. "Give me" is their motto.
Boyd B. McNielPea Ridge, Ark.
Editorial on 10/05/2016