The Joint Budget Committee Thursday (April 23) advanced an amendment to an appropriations bill that the sponsor said is needed for four isolated schools to detach from their existing districts.
The amendment presented by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, is meant to clarify the processes under which those newly formed isolated districts could detach under Act 919 of 2025, which she sponsored.
In March, patrons in Timbo and Rural Special voted to detach from the Mountain View School District. Patrons in Umpire voted to detach from the Cossatot River School District, and patrons in Kingston voted to detach from Jasper.
In a divided voice vote April 22, the Joint Budget Committee’s Special Language Subcommittee had approved Irvin’s amendment to House Bill 1007. The bill is the Department of Education’s Division of Elementary and Secondary Education appropriations bill.
The full Joint Budget Committee voted to approve the amendment along with a batch of other appropriations bills April 23. It now goes to the full House and Senate this coming week as lawmakers barrel towards passage of a $6.7 billion budget and conclusion to their fiscal session.
Rep. Frances Cavanaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, sought to separate the amendment for consideration by the full committee. It failed in a divided voice vote.
Irvin argued that the amendment should not be considered separately.
“This amendment is necessary and critical for four schools in the state of Arkansas to be open and stay open August 1,” she said. “If you vote for the substitute motion to discuss this amendment, you are going to issue a death sentence to Umpire school, Kingston school, Rural Special school and Timbo school. This was fully vetted with excellent testimony from the Department of Education that testified that all of these schools were able to detach by a vote of the people that was overwhelming.”
Act 919 allows an isolated school to separate from the district that received it as a result of consolidation or annexation. The detaching school must submit a petition to the school board stating the intent to detach. At least 350 registered voters or at least 51% of the registered voters who reside in the isolated school’s boundaries must sign the petition.
The amendment would transfer funding to the new isolated school districts amounts that are equal to 90% of the state foundation funding that is going to the existing schools. It also clarifies how school buses, textbooks and other property would be transferred. Millage rates for the new isolated districts would start at the same amounts as the existing districts. The new isolated districts would assume the debt of the existing district if the debt is directly related to the real property transferred to the isolated district. The amendment says isolated school districts would have a civil cause of action to enforce the property distribution.
Irvin said the new districts would not have enough money to operate without the amendment. She said she had hoped existing and detaching districts could negotiate the separation.
“In certain cases that has failed, and we cannot allow for stalling tactics, bad faith negotiations to close schools or to starve them out and not be able to operate,” she told the subcommittee April 22.
Irvin also told the subcommittee she had asked the Department of Education, which wrote the amendment, to be student focused and fair to students and to schools.
“I really believe with what we have in place that no school will be hurt or harmed, but that all schools will be able to be open come August 1 to educate those kids,” she said. “And without agreements, that cannot happen.”
Arkansas Department of Education Chief of Staff Courtney Salas-Ford told the subcommittee that the three existing districts that would be losing students – Mountain View, Cossatot River and Jasper – have sufficient funding to continue. Money could come from a $5.9 million consolidation incentive fund that has been unused for many years.
“We believe there’s enough there to ensure that no one’s fiscal integrity is jeopardized,” she said.
Speaker of the House Bryan Evans, R-Cabot, told the subcommittee he had received at least 150 emails and 50 phone calls from Mountain View stakeholders in the last 24 hours expressing concern. A number of Mountain View stakeholders including students were in the audience.
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