OPENTHEBOOKS.COM: FAILING DISTRICT
SPENT $8.3 MILLION ON SALARIES IN 2016
"The (Education) department's
performance measures are inadequate and must be strengthened." Policy
Foundation, "Arkansas Efficiency Project, 2016
(May
2018) The Dollarway School District, taken over by the state in 2015, spent
$8,309,639 on employee salaries in 2016, according to public records compiled
by OpenTheBooks.com, a non-profit that advances government transparency as a
policy goal.
Dollarway
had 257 employees1 and
1,192 students2 in 2016,
according to records compiled by OpenTheBooks.com and the Arkansas Department
of Education (ADE).
Per
pupil spending in Dollarway was $12,551 in the 2015-16 school year versus the
$9,701 state average, ADE records show.
State Takeover
The
state Board of Education took over Dollarway in December 2015 after the
district fired its superintendent. The
vote was unanimous.
At the
time, fewer than half of Dollarway students scored at proficient levels on
state math and literacy exams.3 Today, after $8.3 million in expenditures,
ADE data show 89.3% of Dollarway students were "in need of support,"
with only 8% "ready or exceeding" state standards"4
in the 2016-17 school year.
PA 930
of 2017 directed ADE to support Dollarway, classified as a "Level 5"
school district.5 The designation is applied to schools in need
of "intensive support." Dollarway
was still designated as a Level 5 district in 2017-18.
About OpenTheBooks.com
The non-profit's mission to
report, "Every Dime. Online. In Real Time." The group has
"captured nearly 4 billion public expenditures," and is "rapidly
growing" its data "in all 50 states down to the municipal level.
--Greg Kaza
1 OpenTheBooks.com
2 ADE, "Arkansas
School Performance Report Cards, 2015-16," https://adesrc.arkansas.gov/
3 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, "State Board of Education votes
to take over Dollarway School District," Dec. 10, 2015
4 ADE, "Dollarway
School Performance Report Card, 2016-17"
5 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Law, vote to re-label Little Rock,
Dollarway school districts as Level 5; goal is a refocus of
accountability," July 14, 2017