Gulen Charter School Lisa Academy is DENIED an expansion

By John Lyon
Arkansas News Bureau jlyon@arkansasnews.com The Times Record | 0 comments

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LITTLE ROCK - The state Board of Education voted Monday to classify the Dermott and West Side Cleburne County school districts as fiscally distressed because of declining fund balances.

The board also rejected a Little Rock charter school's request to expand.

The Dermott School District had an unrestricted fund balance of more than $1 million as recently as the 2008-09 school year, but that balance has dwindled to $14,947. Declining enrollment has led to a reduction in the district's funding.

Dermott did not appeal the classification.

The West Side Cleburne County School District had an unrestricted fund balance of $3 million in 2007-08, $2.1 million in 2008-09 and $909,103 in 2009-10. Its current balance is $633,359.

West Side Superintendent Steve Lucas did not appeal the classification, but he told the board the district has a plan for turning its finances around.

Lucas said the district has experienced declining enrollment, and it is one of four districts that have been ordered by the state to hand over property tax revenue that exceeded the required level of per-student funding.

The district also launched construction projects, including a new gym, at a time when revenues were expected to increase, but revenues have "flatlined," he said. A millage increase was approved for the gym, but the project went over budget, he said.

Board member Ben Mays of Clinton said the board sees districts get into financial difficulties "all the time" because of spending on athletics.

"The only way then to climb out of the hole is by reducing opportunities for kids academically to pay for the sports program that went over budget," he said.

Fiscally distressed school districts have two years to improve their finances or face mandatory consolidation or annexation. They also may not incur any debt without prior written approval from the state Department of Education.

The board also denied a request from LISA Academy, an open-enrollment charter school in Little Rock, to raise its student cap from 600 to 800 and allow it to add grades 4 and 5. The school now serves grades 6-12.

Board members noted that LISA's high school did not meet adequate yearly progress last year.

Superintendent Cuneyt Akdemir said the failure to meet yearly progress in one year was not statistically significant because the high school has fewer than 40 students per grade, so one student can affect the school's score.

"Lots of data shows we are providing a quality education in our high school," he said.

According to statistics provided by the school, LISA Academy ranked third among Arkansas public schools in benchmark test scores in 2008-09. In 2009-10, the school ranked 16th among public schools in the state.

Mays noted that 27 percent of LISA Academy's students are eligible for free and reduced lunches, whereas at other schools in the area, typically 60 or 70 percent of students are eligible.

Akdemir said the school compares favorably to other schools with similar percentages of economically disadvantaged students.

State education officials provided a chart comparing the performance of economically disadvantaged students at LISA Academy in 2010 with economically disadvantaged students at 18 other schools with free and reduced lunch counts within 10 percent of LISA's.

According to the chart, LISA's middle school students ranked 5th among the schools in literary proficiency and 15th in math proficiency. Its high school ranked 5th in literary proficiency and 18th, or second to last, in math proficiency.

"When I look at the comparison of LISA Academy with other schools that have the same socioeconomic demographic, I'm not impressed (that) the statistics tell me that LISA is doing anything other than assembling a group of socioeconomically advantaged students out of the area, where they're a precious commodity, and by doing that you can have better test scores," Mays said.

A motion to approve the request failed in a 2-6 vote.

The board voted unanimously to grant a request from the Little Rock School District to surrender the charter of Felder Alternative Learning Academy, a conversion, or district-operated, charter school for students in grades 6-12 with behavior problems.

LISA ACADEMY IS PART OF THE COSMOS FOUNDATION OUT OF TEXAS.