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Adcock makes district’s case on fiscal distress April 25, 2008 - No reporter cited

Jim Pinson
Editor

MINERAL SPRINGS - Max Adcock, superintendent of the Mineral Springs School District, appeared before the Arkansas State School Board last Monday and had their appeal tabled until the board’s May meeting.

Adcock and the district had been notified in February that the Arkansas Department of Education would recommend that the district be placed on the state’s fiscal distress list for a declining ending balance for three consecutive years.

Mineral Springs has a total enrollment of 530 students, but has been suffering from a declining enrollment for the past three years.

A total of 160 students have moved from the district in the past three years. The district has lost over $600,000 in state funds due to the declining enrollment.

Adcock revealed that the district began to reduce expenditures in the 2005-2006 school year when they noticed the declining enrollment trend.

In 2005-2006, expenditures were reduced by $187,000. They were reduced by $324,000 in 2006-2007 and another $100,000 in 2007-2008. Adcock expects to further reduce the 2008-2009 expenditures by $150,000.

The Mineral Springs District is made up of 75 percent minority students and 79 percent of the students are on free or reduced lunches.

The district has added 25 minutes to the school day for tutoring and met AYP in 2006-2007.

Of the four schools that appealed, only Mineral Springs had their case tabled. The state board ordered the ADE to visit the Mineral Springs campus and review the district’s books.

According to Sammy Jackson, the district’s bookkeeper, the district will have an ending balance of $548,459.

In February, Jackson was asked to fill out a financial statement by the state. Jackson reported a projected ending balance of $579,390.

Adcock stated that the only mistake that the district may have made was waiting until the years’ end to code teachers into federal categories and NSLA categories. Adcock believes that the late coding provided the state with a distorted view of the district’s finances.

“I truly feel that we should be looked at as an exemplary district to have overcome the walls that we have overcome,” Adcock said. “You can look at our demographics, AYP scores and declining enrollment. With all this, we will still have a $500,000 carryover.”

A state department official will visit the Mineral Springs campus Thursday to look at the district’s books.

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