Fayetteville School District Boundary

[Snaple4]

Has anyone looked at the Fayetteville Public School District's boundary? The way I see it, most of Johnson is under Fayetteville? So Fayetteville provides water, schooling, sewer service, anything else? Why has Johnson not dissolved into Fayetteville? Correct me if I am wrong but it looks at though Johnson is not much more than a large subdivision or development that has its own security and mobile fire extinguishers

[Mith242]

Has anyone looked at the Fayetteville Public School District's boundary? The way I see it, most of Johnson is under Fayetteville? So Fayetteville provides water, schooling, sewer service, anything else? Why has Johnson not dissolved into Fayetteville? Correct me if I am wrong but it looks at though Johnson is not much more than a large subdivision or development that has its own security and mobile fire extinguishers

[zman9810]

Once in while it gets mentioned and this is a good time to do it- The Northwest Arkansas Mall and a large section around it is in the Springdale School District. All the property taxes from that area go to Springdale and it is nicknamed the Golden Boot. The decision to make it part of the Springdale District was made long before the mall was developed and of course Springdale has no intention of letting it go back to Fayetteville, but can you imagine the boost it would give to the Fayetteville School District's finances if it did?

I guess it's civic pride and resistance to change as to why Johnson is still separate. It would help them financially if they did merge with Fayetteville - they won't ever be able to provide all those services for themselves.

[Mith242]

Once in while it gets mentioned and this is a good time to do it- The Northwest Arkansas Mall and a large section around it is in the Springdale School District. All the property taxes from that area go to Springdale and it is nicknamed the Golden Boot. The decision to make it part of the Springdale District was made long before the mall was developed and of course Springdale has no intention of letting it go back to Fayetteville, but can you imagine the boost it would give to the Fayetteville School District's finances if it did?

I guess it's civic pride and resistance to change as to why Johnson is still separate. It would help them financially if they did merge with Fayetteville - they won't ever be able to provide all those services for themselves.

[strmchsr77]

Yeah, the entire Mall is in the S-Dale school district along with the areas around Walmart and much of north Fayetteville.

Here is a link to the Middle School Map for Fayetteville: Fayetteville School District Map

[Mith242]

Yeah, the entire Mall is in the S-Dale school district along with the areas around Walmart and much of north Fayetteville.

Here is a link to the Middle School Map for Fayetteville: Fayetteville School District Map

[Snaple4]

Thanks for the link to that map. It's 'great' to see so much of the area around the mall that benefits the Springdale school district instead of Fayetteville. To think of all the new retail and such that has opened up around the mall in the past 5 years or so and almost none of it has helped the Fayetteville school district.

[Mith242]

Just a question...

The millage is for Fayetteville the City.

The millage will increase the property taxes of everything within the City of Fayetteville, even the Mall District.

What happens to the money that is collected that is not under the Fayetteville School district since that is what the money is for? Does it go to Springdale or is it refunded to the property? I would not imagine that the city could use it.

[Stormcrow]

That's a very good question. I hadn't really thought about that. But I guess I was thinking that because not the entire city of Fayetteville is under one school district, then it could be possible different areas of the city are under different millages. Is the millage really for the city or the school system? If the millage increase is just for the Fayetteville School District, then areas not under the Fayetteville School District wouldn't be affected. But that's just the way I'm seeing it. I'd like it if someone who knows for certain how all of this works will speak up.

[Mith242]

Yeah sales tax certainly goes to Fayetteville. I've had this argument with people before. But the millage is a property tax. So I guess what we're all trying to figure out is how do the property taxes pan out. Yes it's in Fayetteville but in the Springdale school district. Now obviously few people live in that area. But somehow I'm pretty sure Springdale is getting some sort of money from that area despite it being in Fayetteville. Maybe the owners of the properties around the mall pay it to Fayetteville but a portion of it goes to the Springdale school district. As opposed to a portion being divvied out to the Fayetteville school district under other circumstances.

[Mith242]

We've had an interesting discussion pop up in another topic dealing with the school district boundary. I thought it might be fitting to have it in it's own topic. So I've moved them here.

[Stormcrow]

Yeah sales tax certainly goes to Fayetteville. I've had this argument with people before. But the millage is a property tax. So I guess what we're all trying to figure out is how do the property taxes pan out. Yes it's in Fayetteville but in the Springdale school district. Now obviously few people live in that area. But somehow I'm pretty sure Springdale is getting some sort of money from that area despite it being in Fayetteville. Maybe the owners of the properties around the mall pay it to Fayetteville but a portion of it goes to the Springdale school district. As opposed to a portion being divvied out to the Fayetteville school district under other circumstances.

[Mith242]

Ah, gotcha! My bad.

[Snaple4]

I had no idea that the Mall District was under the Springdale School District until just a few weeks ago. It is b/c the boarder of Springdale is so close I imagine. So why is that area part of Springdale schools?

In Fayetteville we have Hass Hall and The new school on E Sunbridge D. that are closer than the Springdale schools. Not by much but still closer. I understand why school districts don't follow city lines but you would think that they would attempt to follow the city as much as possible and deviate when there is a limitation in access that another school district could provide better (Say Fayetteville had a school 2 miles from the city border on 71B and Springdale decided to build one only a mile from the border on 71B, Fayetteville school's boundary should still be within Fayetteville and Springdale's within Springdale's). That is just my opinion. I dislike politics for reasons like this.

[Mith242]

I had no idea that the Mall District was under the Springdale School District until just a few weeks ago. It is b/c the boarder of Springdale is so close I imagine. So why is that area part of Springdale schools?

In Fayetteville we have Hass Hall and The new school on E Sunbridge D. that are closer than the Springdale schools. Not by much but still closer. I understand why school districts don't follow city lines but you would think that they would attempt to follow the city as much as possible and deviate when there is a limitation in access that another school district could provide better (Say Fayetteville had a school 2 miles from the city border on 71B and Springdale decided to build one only a mile from the border on 71B, Fayetteville school's boundary should still be within Fayetteville and Springdale's within Springdale's). That is just my opinion. I dislike politics for reasons like this.

[zman9810]

A little history on the Golden Boot area- it was a small school district that consolidated with the Springdale district around 60 yeats ago. That was back when Arkansas had thousands of districts and consolidation was common although I guess that is actually for another topic. The property tax revenue received by a school district is determined by the properties within that school district, not within the city limits. There's no sharing of property tax money and changing boundaries is possible but only if both parties agree and Springdale is obviously not going to give up anything. A sales tax like that the one used to build the new Fayetteville public library is collected only within the city limits and goes entirely to the city government because it was voted on only by the city residents.