By DAVID NICHOL
T-H Staff Writer
Gov. Mike Huckabee defended his education reform plans Wednesday, and said higher standards will mean more course offerings and may mean some consolidation.
Speaking at East Arkansas Community College, Huckabee said there was no choice but to try improving public education to comply with an Arkansas Supreme Court ruling, which said Arkansas Public Schools are inequitable and inadequate. The court gave the state until Jan. 1 to correct the problem.
"If there was a way that I felt that we could legally defend leaving the same system in place and leaving everybody happy -- and afford to pay for it -- believe me, that would be my plan," he said.
Huckabee said that although the figure of 1,500 students had been used as a possible cutoff for consolidation, he said there was no "magic number" and schools which perform well and efficiently would not have to consolidate.
"If they are doing well, and that means offering a broad curriculum to their students...and they can do it on an amount of money that's reasonable, nothing would happen to them," he said. "They could stay like they are. That 1,500 is not arbitrary."
Huckabee explained what he meant by requiring schools to be more efficient. He said the state's average expenditure per student is about $5,800. The expenditure per student at Lake View, which brought the suit that led to the Supreme Court decision, is $7,338. The expenditure at Forrest City is $6,131, at Brinkley it is $5,400 and at Rogers --with a reputation for being a good school -- it's $5,300. He said if small school districts are not required to become more efficient, all the money from expected statewide tax increases would go to the smaller districts in what he called the "Robin Hood approach." He said schools like Forrest City wouldn't get any more money, even though Forrest City citizens would be paying more.
"(Lake View gets) $7,338, which is $1,500 more than the state average, $1200 more than Forrest City, $1,900 more than Brinkley, and $2,000 more than they get in Rogers. Yet I promise you, every one of these schools offers more courses, has more opportunities and options for students (than Lake View)," Huckabee said.
"But here's what the judges said. It doesn't matter if (Lake View) gets $2,000 a year more than Rogers. If we have to put another '1' in front of it and make it $17,338 (to Lake View) in order to offer the kids comparable education, the new money has to flow here (to Lake View) before it starts flowing (to other schools).
He said a $700 million tax raise would be paid by everyone, but 80 percent of the population might never see it in their schools.
"I hear a lot of politicians telling me that some of the things I'm proposing are unpopular," Huckabee said. "You think unpopular? Raise taxes -- the largest tax increase in the history of the state -- and not even touch 80 percent of the students, and I'll show you unpopular. Right now, a lot of people think we're going to spend a lot of money and improve everybody's school district and improve everybody's per student expenditure. And we're not -- not under the court order. What is going to happen is that schools, many of which are already getting more, will get even more."
He also defended his proposal to expand the required curriculum, saying that the "three R's" are not enough. He said studies have shown that students who have a rigorous course of study in high school do better in college. Some critics of the governor's plan have said emphasis should be placed on improving the core curriculum.
"We're going to have to have a level of course offerings that will give a kid exposure to the arts, to all the range of mathematics and science, and that includes, by the way, equipment and facilities."
He continued, "One of my questions that I want to ask is, why did we have a Blue Ribbon Commission and spend half a million dollars if, when we got the results from it, we completely ignored it?" he said. "A half million dollars, 18 months, and 20 people appointed to study it, and we ignored everything they recommended."
Huckabee also said the state will work with school districts as much as it can.
"But the further that time marches on, the less options the state is going to have and the less charitable and generous the state can be, because then we're working against a court deadline that we've already missed."
He said as he planned originally, the time frame was for school districts to declare by March 1 of 2004 that they could meet new standards.
Huckabee said he believed the Supreme Court would give the state some time, because recruiting the needed teachers cannot be done overnight.
"That's even if we could find all the physics teachers -- and we can't, they're not there," he said. "In the last five years, Arkansas' colleges have produced 1,200 coaches. Guess how many physics teachers we have produced out of our four-year colleges? One physics teacher. Twelve hundred coaches. We've got a problem in education, all right. We win ball games. We need to be winning a future for our kids."
He said he likes sports, but not at the expense of education.
"We are exploiting some kids when they're 16 or 17 years old. And we're enjoying ourselves by putting them out on ball courts and fields, and we are vicariously living our own athletic failures through those kids out there playing," he said. "And we're not focused on whether they're going to pass geometry or algebra. We're concerned with whether they're going to catch the pass that's thrown to them...how many adults in those stands really care what's going to happen to that kid four years from now, whether he has a decent enough job to make a rent payment? And let's not blame the kids. There is something wrong with a generation of adults that would exploit kids for our own enjoyment, and not care what happens to them in the classroom as much as we care about whether or not they win a game for us."
Huckabee also said that no matter what is done with the state's education system, there will be more lawsuits. He said the question would be whether the state could defend itself the next time around.
"I don't want to make it where kids are poor and lawyers
are rich," he said.
By KENDALL OWENS
T-H Staff Writer
The Delta Regional Airport Authority received $60,000 in grants today to assess the feasibility of the proposed regional airport plan.
According to a press release from the offices of U.S. Senators Mark Pryor and Blanche Lincoln and Representatives Marion Berry and John Boozman, the $60,000 in funding was a part of over $992,000 in funding approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation for regional airport improvements in Arkansas.
Due to 2003 regulations, the grant funds could not be given to the DRAA for this fiscal year, so the airports in the cities of Forrest City and Wynne each received $30,000 which must be allocated to the DRAA study.
"Because of the regulations governing the grant process, we're really having to do double paperwork to get the grants, but this will get the ball rolling with the engineers. Both cities were granted the $30,000 each which will go to the engineers to begin the feasibility study which is a part of the overall master study that has to be completed," said Dr. John Kerr, chairman of the DRAA.
According to the press release, the DRAA will manage the grants on behalf of the two cities.
Other airports across the state receiving funding were: Blytheville
Municipal, $402,237 to widen and rehabilitate a taxiway to the
FAA standard width and promote safety; Carlisle Municipal, $245,000
to improve runway safety by improving the grading and drainage
in the runway safety area, rehabilitating a taxiway, remarking
the airport and installing taxiway reflectors; Newport Municipal,
$135,282 to repair deteriorated portions of the runway pavement,
apply new paint over the existing faded runway makings and study
and prioritize future development options; and Russellville Regional,
$150,000 to improve the runway safety area to decrease the potential
for aircraft damage should the aircraft undershoot, overrun, or
veer off the runway.
The Mustang 17 connection with areas north of Forrest City has been damaged again by the weather and will probably remain that way, according to Steve Murray, Mustang 17 manager.
"This is the third time we've had major damage to the system that connects us to the cable that serves Caldwell, Colt and other areas in the county," Murray said. "Since we don't have any income, we simply can't afford to fix it again."
Mustang 17 is the local cable station operated by the Forrest City School District and shown as a public service over East Arkansas Video cable service. It is also shown as a courtesy on Classic Cable which serves Madison, Widener, Hughes and Horseshoe Lake.
Two years ago, wireless transmission equipment was purchased through a grant from the Forrest City Schools Education Foundation, and installed through a grant from Rural Utilities Service.
Mustang 17 programming was transmitted from the high school to a relay on the state police tower on Barrow Hill Road, then re-transmitted to the head end of Curtis Cable, owned by Independence Cable company, on Barrow Hill.
"Lightening knocked out the modulator and receiver at Curtis Cable's head end over a year ago," stated Murray. "Curtis Cable replaced the modulator. Eastern Arkansas Communications was contracted to repair the re-transmission system on the state police tower and they repaired it."
The transmission tower on the high school was also destroyed by winds and the Mustang 17 staff repaired it.
"We finally got it fixed," Murray said, "and we were ready to re-establish our connection. That's when the storm came this week and undid everything we had done. We don't have any grants right now and we don't have any income; so, we're on hold as far as repairs are concerned."
Murray added that the wireless re-transmission system may not be the answer because it is constantly subjected to weather conditions.
"There are a couple of other possibilities to permanently solve the problem. One is a direct cable hookup and the other is sending out a broadcast signal rather than one that has to be directed. Both ways are expensive. I'm working on some grant possibilities, but until then we will continue the way we are," Murray said.
By ALAN SMITH
T-H Staff Writer
The new Palestine-Wheatley School District Superintendent John Manning lead a house cleaning of sorts at the PWSB meeting held early this week. While the meeting itself was brief, eight issues facing the members were ironed out with votes.
Most notable was the proposed settlement of two lawsuits brought against PWSD in 2001.
Manning first mentioned a lawsuit brought against the PWSD by the Forrest City School District. "I have received a letter from Mr. (Frank) Morledge on the Forrest City lawsuit. It states that we can settle for $80,000. I recommend that we settle this and get it behind us." The suit, according to the St. Francis County Court Clerk's office, is sealed, so official details were not available on the matter. The board unanimously voted to settle the suit.
"We also have the Riffle case," continued Manning, "That was something that we never should have done and will never do again. They say we can settle for $16,000. I feel that we should do this."
According to the complaint, the Riffle suit was filed on Nov. 26, 2001. It involves seven teachers employed by the district. The suit alleged that overtime and travel was not paid to the teachers who were required to travel for school business. Again, the members voted unanimously to settle the suit.
Scott Pearson, of Raney and Beardsley, Inc., presented the board with a proposed restructuring of the district's debt. The restructuring was approved by the citizens in the district during a special election in May. The vote allows the PWSD to move 13.1 mills of debt service to the maintenance and operations to meet the 25.0 mill requirement stemming from the Arkansas Supreme Court's ruling on the Lake View school case.
"We have figured a plan for the resturcturing," stated
Pearson. "The closing and transfer of funds is set for July
30, at 9:30 a.m. I need the board to pass a resolution to accept
the refunding bonds." According to a recap presented by Pearson,
the bonds are refunding bonds in the amount of $960,000. The board
unanimously approved the resoultion.
Aubrey Jayroe, the incumbent for Forrest City School District 7, Position 1, has filed for reelection.
Jayroe joins the incumbent for Forrest City School District 7, Position 2, Wayne Jones and Pat Flanagin in filing for the Forrest City School Board positions that will be determined by the annual school election set for Sept. 16.
Other filings countywide include Hughes School District 27, where Edward Watt has filed for Position 6 (at-large), to complete the term of Betty McGruder. Also in Hughes, incumbent Hudie Hardaway has filed for reelection to Position 7 (at-large).
No one has filed for the two positions in the Palestine-Wheatley District 23. Rodney Hicks is the incumbent in Zone 2, and Gail Gardner is the Zone 3 incumbent.
The deadline to file is Monday, Aug. 4, at 4:30 p.m.
A wreck on the interstate this morning sent three people to the hospital.
According to the report by State Police Cpl. Kelvin Stewart, the accident took place at the 239 mile marker, under the new overpass being built for the Forrest City bypass.
A 2000 Peterbilt 18-wheeler, owned by Southwest Freight Lines out of El Paso, Texas, had a wheel bearing failure and lost a wheel.
The driver, who was not identified as of press time, pulled onto the shoulder, put out emergency triangles and went to find the wheel.
A 1995 Chrysler driven by Shawndetta Thornton, 33, of Hot Springs, struck the rear of the trailer and the side of the tractor, then overturned.
Thornton was pulled from the car by the two passengers, Jimmy Hamilton, 44, and Kenyon Taylor, 12, both of Hot Springs. They were all taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Forrest City. Information on their condition was unavailable at press time.