Superintendent Jonathan Crossley presided over the meeting, which began at 6 p.m. and ran just over an hour. Early voting for the millage begins Feb. 17, with Election Day set for March 3.

The millage increase would see the rate paid by Hope School District property owners increase from 34.7 to to 39.7 mills, which is the state average.  Voters in the HPS school district will see on their March 3rd ballots a measure that would approve or disapprove this proposal.  

By way of comparison, Hope’s millage of 34.7 falls well below those of Fouke (49), Jacksonville (48), Magnet Cove (48), Genoa Central (48), Spring Hill (42) and Prescott (41), a fact Crossley drove home Monday night by having the audience read off the names of those towns from a slide shown on a screen in the room.

Crossley opened by asking those in attendance to explain their connection to Hope and why they cared about the millage campaign, setting a conversational tone that continued throughout the meeting.

Marilyn Marks, a longtime educator in the district and current Yerger Middle School principal, said her concern was rooted in both academics and the safety of the buildings and environments inside.

“We’re doing so much to move the needle academically,” Marks said. “We’re working with outside agencies. We’re offering tutoring opportunities, but we have to offer that basic safety. A kid cannot learn if the facilities around them aren’t safe.”

Marks said Hope’s aging buildings put the district at a disadvantage when compared to nearby communities.

“When I graduated, we had probably about 100 kids going on to college,” she said. “Now they had about 25. We have the same community, and part of the reason for that is our facilities.”

Debbie Malek, a Hope High School graduate from the Class of 1968 and retired teacher, said she knew what a successful millage campaign could accomplish.

“I believe in public schools, and I want to do everything I can for us to get this millage passed, because I know it’s important,” Malek said.

Malek shared advice she said came from her son Bart Bledsoe, who serves on a school board at another Arkansas district that recently passed a millage.

“In order to pass a millage, because it concerns property taxes and affects everyone, you have to have a plan where you divide into teams and you contact people personally,” she said. “You are accountable for their yes response.”

Crossley then walked the audience through the scope of the proposed projects, repeatedly emphasizing that the campaign is focused on what he called “warm, safe and dry” facilities rather than athletics or cosmetic upgrades.

“We are ranked 207th out of 235 school districts in terms of millage rates,” Crossley said. “You cannot go much further down than we currently are.”

He said many of the district’s buildings are between 50 and 80 years old and carry negative facility scores, with the Yerger campus rated at negative 70.

“Deferred maintenance is not a plan,” Crossley said. “This is not an athletics millage campaign. These are things related to what our school district needs to thrive and survive.”

Crossley detailed major HVAC needs at Clinton Primary, saying the campus has 96 rooftop units and that four had already failed during the campaign.

“This is not a matter of if,” he said. “It’s a matter of when.”

He said Clinton Primary alone needs approximately $3.5 million in HVAC work and that the district has applied for state partnership funding that would cover 74 percent of that cost — but only if the local millage passes.

“We have two and a half million dollars sitting on the table,” Crossley said. “If we don’t pass this millage, we cannot pay the match, and we lose that money.”

Crossley said the same issue applies to security upgrades across the district, including secure single‑entry points at campuses that currently lack them. Only Beryl Henry has such an entry point.

“We’ve applied for about $2.6 million in state partnership money,” he said. “But the state is not going to fund a dime of it if we don’t show local commitment.”

He warned that failing to pass the millage would leave the district facing millions in emergency repairs without state assistance.

“If units go down and facilities are condemned, that’s five and a half million dollars we have to come up with immediately,” Crossley said. “For a district our size, that’s not a scalpel. That’s dynamite.”  He said this lack of funds may indeed result in staff reductions.

Several speakers described safety and traffic concerns at Yerger, particularly during student pickup.

“Our kids deserve better,” one speaker said. “Our parents deserve better.”

Crossley also addressed the deteriorating condition of the football stadium, saying the district spends tens of thousands of dollars each year simply to keep it from being condemned.

“These are not things I can make up,” he said. “This is real. This is happening in this district.”

As the meeting continued, Crossley broke down the cost of the proposed millage for homeowners, saying the average assessed property value in Hope is about $82,000.

“For the average homeowner, it’s about six dollars a month,” he said, observing that was about hal the cost of a meal at Wendy's.

He also warned that delaying action would only increase costs.

“The price of HVAC units has gone up 25 percent in the last five years,” Crossley said. “If we don’t do this now, the ask later will be much higher.”

Several speakers stressed that the millage would also support teachers by improving classroom conditions.

“This is obviously for the kids,” said retired educator Robin Townshend, who is helping lead the organizing effort as chairperson of Friends of Hope Public Schools. “But it can be for the kids and for the teachers.”

Another teacher said the district has gone more than four decades without a millage increase.

“I taught 33 years in that classroom, and we never got a millage increase,” she said. “Our kids deserve better than that. Our teachers deserve better than that. We deserve better than that as a community.”

As the meeting moved toward its conclusion, the focus shifted from information to action. Attendees were asked to sign up to help knock on doors, make phone calls, stuff envelopes and display yard signs.

“If 200 staff members brought two people to the poll with them that voted yes, we would win,” Crossley said. “It’s simple math.”

By the end of the meeting, tables around the room were filled with sign‑up sheets as participants committed to volunteer roles.  The meeting had been an information session, pep rally and organizing meeting for the millage campaign.

“This is the future of our actual community,” Crossley said. “Can we please send the message to our youth that we believe in them?"