LINCOLN, Arkansas — A boundary dispute between the Prairie Grove School District (PGSD) and the Lincoln Consolidated School District (LCSD) is headed to the Arkansas Board of Education (BOE).
According to the Arkansas Department of Education, PGSD filed a petition to change its school district boundary, which affected LCSD, who objected to the proposal.
Concerned parents referred the petition to the Prairie Grove School Board, who unanimously voted to send it to the state board for consideration.
In a letter to the board on April 16, 2024, Prairie Grove Superintendent Lance Campbell requested consideration of the citizens' petition that would adjust the boundary lines of the districts so a parcel of land would move from LCSD to PGSD.
The letter claims that the matter was brought before the Prairie Grove School Board on Aug. 15, 2023, and a public meeting on March 12, 2024, allowed public comment on the proposal. Five residents of the listed area spoke in favor, stating that they had 29 signatures from residents in favor of the change, while no one spoke against it.
"The main reason the parents requested this change was the comparable distance that their children have to travel to their respective schools in the Lincoln District compared to the Prairie Grove District," Campbell said. "One parent stated that their child would have to travel 19.6 miles from their residence to their school in the Lincoln School District, while their child's school in the Prairie Grove District is just four miles away."
According to Campbell, the proposed adjustment would impact around 200 acres, which currently includes around 17 residences. He says that residents in the area estimated that the amount of property taxes paid in that area equated to somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000.
"Many of these parents have had children in the past and present who use school choice to allow their children to attend Prairie Grove Schools. However, as you know, that transfer does not include transportation," Campbell added.
Included with the superintendent's letter and a copy of the petition is a letter from an affected parent. She writes that the "zoned district(s) for both Prairie Grove and Lincoln were created many years ago and are due a much-needed checkup aligning closer with our population growth and geography, and the proximity of many homes."
In response, Lincoln schools sent an objection to the proposal to the board, claiming that it would affect property assessments that would consequently impact bond payments.
"We passed a millage in 2010 to build a new high school. Property assessments and projected growth were factored into that decision," a letter from LCSD Superintendent Mary Ann Spears said.
Even past the more immediate effects on the district, Spears noted that she fears the precedent an approval of the adjustment may set.
"Given the current environment of school choice and inter-district board transfers, such a move would establish a precedent where patrons would frequently request boundary adjustments. We currently have students who live within the Prairie Grove School District who have either choiced or transferred to our district. I am confident that they would prefer their property tax dollars go to Lincoln," Spears said.
The Arkansas Department of Education then sent notices to both districts, informing them of the opportunity to make their respective cases at a Board of Education hearing on June 13.
During the meeting, the BOE voted to table the discussion until July, in hopes that the two districts would resolve the issue on their own.
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