Bentonville Millage Can?t Wait

When voters in the Bentonville Public School District consider a 3.6-mill tax increase on April 13, both residents and businesses have a vested interest in the bond referendum passing.

It’s going to cost us all a lot more if it doesn’t.

The investment is expected to raise more than $71 million that will be used for desperately needed school construction. It will also enable the district to wisely pay down and refinance debt, cover necessary operational expenses and make several warranted district-wide improvements.

All of the facts are available via www.bentonville.k12.ar.us.

Included will be the construction of a $29 million elementary school (kindergarten through sixth grade) and a $22 million junior high. The latter could efficiently be expanded into a second high school at a later date – if and when voters ever decide to make that call.

But a second high school is not on the table now.

What is at stake, however, is the ability to meet the capacity for, and maintain the quality of, the community’s educational needs.

There is ample statistical evidence to justify this investment, such as:

Of the district’s 15 school buildings today, two are at more than 100 percent capacity; elementary schools as a group are at 95.6 capacity; and the district’s total building utilization is 90.25 percent.

There are more students in kindergarten through fourth grade than there is space available for fifth and sixth graders. Ditto for the middle schoolers moving up to junior high.

Already, the district pays $150,000 annually to rent 16 trailers that contain 31 extra classrooms used to handle an existing overflow of 700 students.

The last time Bentonville had less than a 4 percent enrollment increase was 1999, and it’s topped 7.4 percent six times since.

In the interest of transparency, my wife works in the district. In fact, our middle child was recently among the record 880 who pre-registered for kindergarten next fall (a 19 percent increase over 2009). Some students are even on waiting lists for placement in their own school zone.

So yes, I have a vested interest.

It’s the same vested interest all of Northwest Arkansas has in maintaining the resources that set us apart. One of our greatest assets referenced time and again is our excellent public schools. It serves every business well to keep them that way.

Corporate recruiters from the Northwest Arkansas Recruiting Staffing Professionals, a local independent association, agree completely. They say after “pay,” the second most-asked question by candidates who consider relocating here is “What are the schools like?”

Just like with college athletic programs, recruiting and retaining top talent is the lifeblood of successful businesses.

Bentonville schools are ranked No. 2 statewide out of 244 public schools for standardized test performance, according to the August 2009 Arkansas Policy Foundation Report. And there are plenty of other metrics to back up the fact they’re getting it done academically.

The district has also been a good steward of taxpayer money by making well-publicized moves to cut costs and plan efficiently. And even with the proposed increase, Bentonville’s millage would remain very competitive with the rest of the two-county area.

That also helps the city court people and opportunities.

The reality is without progress Bentonville is going to have to start cutting programs and turning students away. That typically also means turning away residents who will establish shopping, dining and other spending patterns elsewhere. That’s bad for businesses in the district.

The annual impact of the millage increase on an average $200,000 home would be about $140 annually – the relative cost of two new of video games. Money is money and no sane person enjoys new taxes in any economy. But put it in perspective.

Education is famously heralded as the single greatest differentiator for success. If we as a community are going to invest in anything, does it not make sense to prioritize where value intersects with need?

That’s a fancy way of saying Bentonville schools have more promising minds than space for them to learn. Let’s not let a “no- brainer” of a decision translate into “no new brains.”