RISON - The Cleveland County School District received some good news Monday when the Arkansas Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Commission announced that the district had been awarded partnership funding to help pay for expanding the Rison School cafeteria.
Superintendent Craig Dupuy said he learned of the award Tuesday morning when school board member Stan Sadler came across an article in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that listed the Cleveland County School District as one the recipients for the partnership funding. That announcement was made Monday in Little Rock.
Cleveland County was one of 10 districts across the state to receive partnership funding for space additions.
Partnership funding is a state-funded program that provides a portion of the construction costs associated with a pre-approved construction project. Dupuy announced during the fall semester that the district's partnership application for the cafeteria expansion had been approved by the facilities commission, However, he said it would not be until May that the state would announce which projects would be funded.
The exact amount that the Cleveland County School District will receive is yet to be determined. The amount a school district receives in partnership funding is based on the district's "wealth index," which essentially measures a school district's ability to raise funds on its own. The wealth index indicates the percentage that the state will pay for the project.
When Cleveland County submitted its partnership funding application last year, Dupuy said the district's wealth index was at about 65 percent. However, the state's updated wealth index issued for 2023-25 showed Cleveland County receiving about 76 percent of the cost.
Dupuy said he suspects that the 65 percent would apply since the application was submitted and approved during the 2021-22 wealth index period.
The district, according t...
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