Act 989 of 2007 amended Ark. Code Ann. Sec. 6 – 21 – 112(f) by expanding the responsibilities of the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation to develop and implement a statewide facility needs priority list that provides a methodology for prioritization of state school district facility needs and comparing the school district advancement of improving facility conditions with school district master plans. The development of that methodology resulted in the Arkansas Facility Condition Index (ARFCI).
The ARFCI is derived to measure the relative total facility needs of every school in the state. Patterned after the Facility Condition Index, the ARFCI is a ratio of a school’s current condition, life cycle, and suitability costs divided by the replacement cost for the school. The Division used the ARFCI in a review of Academic Facility Partnership Program school replacement projects submitted for the 2007-2009 biennium, to prioritize the schools with the greatest needs. Generally, only schools ranked in the top one-half of greatest facility needs, statewide, were approved to be replaced this biennium. The Division will update the ARFCI indicators and rankings every two years to assist with the reviews of Partnership Program project applications.
The Division computed the ARFCI of every state school and developed a ranking list to reflect state-wide facility needs from greatest (1) to least (1129). Data used was developed from the 2004 state-wide assessment contained in the Division’s APPLE data base.
ARFCI state-wide rankings and supporting data may be found on the Division’s web site at www.arkansasfacilities.com.