Lawmakers OK Additional ARP Grants for Area Schools

The Greenbrier and Mt. Vernon-Enola Schools are among 45 smaller Arkansas school districts that will benefit from additional grants from the American Rescue Plan under supplemental appropriation requests that were approved last week by the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review (PEER) subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council (ALC).

According to TheCabin.net, Greenbrier School District’s $2M appropriation

… which doesn’t follow ALC’s recommendations for using the funds for teacher pay, is being used by the district for projects “to enhance safety, learning environments and air quality for students,” per meeting documents of the ALC.

In its justification sent to ALC for not following the recommendations, Greenbrier officials noted that it uses its own operating budget to improve staff salary schedules annually and has done so for 14 years and will continue to do so without the use of the appropriation.

According to TheCabin.net,

Per the appropriation request published to Mt. Vernon-Enola’s website, district Superintendent Larry Walters has marked $5,000 of the appropriation for systemic procedures in response to COVID-19; more than $25,000 for accelerated learning by purchasing “high quality instructional materials;” $170,000 for tutoring programs; $11,000 for technology; and more than $365,000 for additional pay for teachers.

With the $365,000, Walters told the Log Cabin Democrat in an interview on Friday, the district will award a one-time retention and recruitment bonus of $5,000 each for teachers; $2,500 each to full-time classified district staff; and $1,250 each to part-time classified staff.

Arkansas schools have already received a total of $1.2 billion in American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funds.

School districts approved for supplemental American Rescue Plan grants:
1. Magnolia
2. Mt. Vernon-Enola
3. Mulberry/Pleasant View
4. Marion
5. Bald Knob
6. Rector
7. Scholarmade Achievement Place of Arkansas
8. Searcy
9. Arkansas School for the Blind
10. Lonoke
11. Shirley
12. Kirby
13. Osceola
14. Hampton
15. Greenbrier
16. Glen Rose
17. Harrisburg
18. Pocahontas
19. Norfork
20. Nevada
21. Lake Hamilton
22. Ozark
23. Yellville-Summit
24. LISA Academy
25. Marmaduke
26. Alpena School District
27. Springdale
28. Bay
29. Brinkley
30. Waldron
31. Hazen
32. Cutter Morning Star
33. Spring Hill
34. Gurdon
35. Gentry
36. eStem Public Charter School
37. Lafayette County
38. Highland
39. Mena
40. Quitman
41. Monticello
42. Caddo Hills
43. Fort Smith
44. North Little Rock
45. Parkers Chapel

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