Berryville school board hears update on LEARNS Act

Berryville School District Superintendent Owen Powell recently updated the district’s board of directors on the LEARNS Act signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Powell said he discussed the new law with the school board at its regular meeting Monday, March 13.

“We spent time talking about the salary schedule mandates that are coming and the voucher system and how all of it might affect Berryville schools,” Powell said.

Powell admits the new law has everyone a little anxious.

“I think we’re all concerned,” he said. “The state sent out the preliminary allotments to schools and to do the minimum, if we’re just following the law, the bare minimum of what it requires is going to cost Berryville School District about $1.1 million. Just to get us to what the law says.

“The law says that a $50,000 base pay for certified teachers and at least a $2,000 increase for every certified employee that is currently already making $50,000. So, everybody will at least get a $2,000 raise and then some will get much more than that.”

Some teachers, especially those early in their career, will get raises close to $14,000, Powell said.

“For us to do the bare minimum of what the state is requiring it’s going to be $1.1 million and the preliminary allotments that they recently sent out, Berryville’s portion of that will be right at $980,000,” Powell said. “So, we’re looking at being right at $100,000 short.

“It’s good and bad. You know, in the past there have been a lot of unfunded mandates, so in all honesty, I was pretty happy to see that at least we’re going to be pretty close on the money that it’s going to cost and what they’re going to give us.”

In another update to the board, Powell spoke about plans for a new pre-K building on the elementary campus. The district will advertise for construction bids for three weeks.

“Once we open those bids, after we advertise those, that will give us a really good idea of how much the building will actually cost,” Powell said. “We have some preliminary estimates and those are anywhere from $300 to $325 a square foot.”

BOARD ACTIONS

The meeting, which was approximately 30 minutes long, did include some board approvals.

The board approved a $22,000 fuel bid for diesel for buses and district equipment.

The board also approved a resolution, that with only one uncontested school board race, voting will be done by absentee and early voting only at the Carroll County Courthouse.

“The resolution was to not open polls, just do early voting,” Powell said.

The board also approved the purchase of a Spartan mower.

“Our current mower is close to 10 years old,” Powell said. “We’ve got a big campus and that mower has put in a lot of hours.”

Personnel changes approved by the board included the resignations of custodian Dan Wallace and instructional specialist Ashley Sharp at the end of their current contracts. The board approved the hires of Kayleigh Armer Stringer as a special education paraprofessional and the transfers of Renee Correll from intermediate music to K-5 ALE for remainder of the school year and Chandra High from high school literacy to high school art for the 2023-24 school year. The board also approved contract renewals for all certified staff for the 2023-24 school year.

Powell reported that the district enrollment as of March 7 was 1,806.