RISON - The Cleveland County School Board received a financial snapshot as to where the school district currently stands during a financial workshop held last Thursday evening, Nov. 2, in the administration building at Rison.
Jason Holsclaw, senior vice president for public finance for Stephens, Inc., the Cleveland County School District's financial adviser, led the workshop that gave the board members an update as to where the district currently sits financially.
Cleveland County has a total millage rate of 38.1 mills. Of that, 28 mills is dedicated to maintenance and operations and 10.1 mills is used for debt service. Holsclaw said the district's overall millage is just below the state average of 38.95 mills, and ranks 141st of the 235 school districts in the state. The Earle School District has the state's highest millage rate at 54.8 mills while Holsclaw said the state's lowest are at about 30 mills.
A mill, Holsclaw explained, is .001 percent of the assessed value of property. The updated total value of assessed property within the Cleveland County School District is $70,002,089, which ranked 10th in comparison to 15 school districts in the region. Those ranking below Cleveland County for assessed property value included Poyen ($17 million), Woodlawn ($34.9 million), Hermitage ($37.6 million) and Fordyce ($68.8 million).
Based on the current assessed value, Holsclaw said 1 mill in the Cleveland County School District generates $66,502 per year based on a 95 percent collection rate.
While the district is currently carrying more than $2.5 million in both bonded and non-bonded debt, Holsclaw said the debt-toassessment ratio for Cleveland County is 3.64 percent, which is well below the state average of about 9 percent for a school district. He told the board that the district "does not have a lot of debt compared to value." Holsclaw also addressed the per-student foundation funding the school district receives fr...
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