Week 4: The Story Our Numbers Tell

Happy Friday!Thank you for another strong week of work. Four weeks in, the routines are holding, the hallways feel settled, and the instruction we are seeing in classrooms is purposeful. That is not a small thing in early September, and it is the direct result of the preparation each of you put in before the first bell ever rang. Every fall, our district compiles its Annual Report to the Public, a required accounting of our finances, student performance, personnel, and programs. We are in the final stages of building the 2026-2027 report right now, and I want you to see it before the community does. This report is full of robust data from last year and this current school year. Too often, a document like this becomes a compliance exercise filed away in a cabinet. Ours tells a story, and the story is a good one. This matters for our three performance targets, too. We are working toward continued academic growth, daily attendance at or above 93.5 percent, and steady improvement in behavior and school climate. The Annual Report is the evidence base underneath those targets. Leveling-Up is not only about what we intend to do this year. It is also about recognizing the ground we have already gained, because you cannot build confidently on a foundation you do not know you have.Careful Stewardship of Every DollarMena Public Schools spent $15,264 per student last year. The Arkansas average was $16,557. That means we educated our students on $1,293 less per child than the typical district in this state, and we did it while our academic indicators moved in the right direction.We want to be clear about what that number represents, because spending below the state average can be read two different ways. It does not mean we cut corners on students. It means we run a disciplined operation and push the savings back toward the classroom. Of that per-pupil total, $5,827 went to maintenance and operations, $4,852 to teacher salaries, $1,968 to debt, $1,084 to federal grants, $633 to transportation, $613 to academics, and $287 to student extracurricular activities. Our total state and local revenue for 2025-2026 came to $19,814,344, built primarily on $7,576,627 in local tax revenue and $8,385,659 in state foundation aid, with $900,483 arriving through the LEARNS teacher minimum salary funding and $593,978 in Enhanced Student Achievement dollars. Our community funds these schools generously, and we owe them careful management in return.You can see where that discipline goes. Last year alone the district re-paved the parking lots at Mena Middle School and Mena High School, resurfaced the track, upgraded our campus and bus communications system, purchased a new bus with a wheelchair lift, added safety features on every campus, adopted a new K-5 literacy curriculum, replaced teacher and student computers, installed new cafeteria equipment and new lighting controls in the Performing Arts Center, replaced carpet and baseboards, added ceiling-mounted side goals at UBC, added academic support staff, and built the bus loop awning at Louise Durham Elementary. None of that is glamorous. All of it matters to the person standing in front of students every day.Our Enhanced Student Achievement funds, which are tied to the number of students qualifying for free and reduced meals, went toward dyslexia instruction, school security, concurrent credit tuition, and transportation, communications, and logistics. With 62.3 percent of our students on free or reduced meal plans last year, those are the exact places where a rural district either supports its students or does not. State rules require us to spend 85 percent of that allocation each year, and we do more than that.Competitive grants have also made a significant impact across our district. Over the last two fiscal years, Mena Public Schools secured $167,800 through the Stronger Connections Grant, $167,800 through the State School Safety Grant, $178,500 for High Impact Tutoring, $31,148.25 for CTE Modernization, and $31,470 through the Phone Free Schools Grant. Federal programs have provided an additional $1.2 million for district personnel salaries and benefits, supporting certified staff and instructional aides who work directly with students. These funds also provided $12,089 for staff professional development, $34,751 for parental involvement programs, $73,786 for technology resources and internet safety programming, and $83,967 for classroom instructional supports and resources. Together, these investments allow us to add people, strengthen instruction, support families, improve safety, and provide opportunities for students beyond what local resources alone could provide.What the