RISON - In light of a major overhaul of public education currently underway with the state legislature in Little Rock, Superintendent Craig Dupuy told the Cleveland County School Board Tuesday night it might be wise to hold off on any millage request until the district gets a better idea of what state funding might look like in the future.
Dupuy made that remark in response to a question from board member Helen Browning after Dupuy had outlined some of questions surrounding how the state will pay for Gov. Sarah Sanders' proposed LEADS education program.
Over the past few months, the board has been discussing what projects might be included in a possible third millage request. However, Dupuy said Tuesday they board may be having to ask for a millage to support maintenance and operations depending on the how the proposed education reforms will be funded.
On Monday, bills were introduced in the legislature that will implement many of the goals in the governor's plan. Dupuy said he met with other superintendents online Tuesday to discuss what impact it could have on the districts.
"It's going to be a small school burden," he told the school board. "It's going to be tough if she doesn't fund it." While much of the reporting on Sanders' plan has been about the goals of the plan itself like raising teacher salaries and implementing a school voucher program, there has not been much revealed on how the plan would be funded over the long term.
Dupuy said he suspects a funding plan could be filed sometime next week or the week after. He said it will be very difficult for small districts to survive if the state does not provide the money to pay it.
One of the most publicized parts of Sanders' plan is to increase the starting teacher pay to $50,000 per year. The minimum starting pay is currently $36,000.
Dupuy gave the school board a spreadsheet during Tuesday's meeting detailing which teachers would have t...
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