Government directory/Arkansas/Independent school district
U.S. Census government inventory · ID 178089

Mena School District.

Independent school district in Arkansas · Census county area: Polk.

Independent school districtSchool districtFunctioning
School system at a glance

Students, schools, and public money.

Election.org connected this entity to its fiscal year 2024 Census finance record by exact government ID and to its 2024–25 NCES district and school directory by exact agency ID.

1,697students in the finance record
5operating schools connected
$13,556current spending per pupil
Who runs this Arkansas school system

Lee Smith is the state-published superintendent.

The statewide directory also names the people responsible for public finance, safety, civil-rights access, special education, nutrition, family services, technology, and public information. Those useful contacts appear first. The source does not publish the school-board roster, so Election.org does not pass administrators off as board members.

Named contacts
9
Mapped board zones
Exact state ID
5703000
District leadership

Lee Smith

Superintendent

District phone479-394-1710501 Hickory Street, Mena, AR, 71953
Who to contact

People responsible for the services families use.

8 current-directory contacts
District leadership · Student and family services · Civil rights and access

Bridget Buckley

Assistant Superintendent · Students experiencing homelessness · Title IX · Foster-care liaison

Public finance

Alyssa Hostetler

Treasurer · Business manager

Public information

Ronald Hobson

Public information

Safety and access

Bryan Torix

School Safety Coordinator

Student and family services · Civil rights and access

Christy Thrailkill

Special education & early childhood · Section 504 access

Student and family services

Shanda Craig

Family engagement

Student and family services

Amy Bartow

Child nutrition

District operations

Nathan Stone

Technology Coordinator

How board seats are organized

The state zone layer returned no mapped board zone for this district.

That can be consistent with at-large elections, but the absence alone does not prove an at-large plan. Election.org keeps the election method unresolved until a district or election source says it.

The board roster is still missing

Named administrators are not a substitute for elected governance.

  • Current board-member names, officer roles, seat numbers, terms, and vacancies
  • The exact at-large or zoned election plan when the GIS layer returns no zones
  • Upcoming filings and candidates, certified result history, and campaign disclosures
  • Normalized meetings, agendas, minutes, votes, policies, contracts, vendors, and decision history

Source: Arkansas Department of Education School Personnel Directory and Arkansas Secretary of State school-board zones via the Arkansas GIS Office, checked 2026-08-30. Election.org omits every person-level email, phone, fax, and street address from the personnel export; only district-level contact fields are retained. A dated directory row is not proof of continued service after the snapshot.

Six years of enrollment and school finance

See what changed—not just one year.

Exact federal identifiers connect 6 annual Census records for this system. Source dollars stay visible, while spending changes are also converted to constant 2024 dollars.

Census annual tables ↗
Enrollment1,6973.7% lower than 2019
Current spending / pupil$13,55611.2% higher than 2019 after inflation · 36.4% higher than 2019 nominal
Total expenditure$27.1M32.8% higher than 2019 · nominal
Debt outstanding$22.4M0.9% lower than 2019 · nominal
Enrollment reported by Census
2019: 1,762; 2020: 1,763; 2021: 1,734; 2022: 1,724; 2023: 1,745; 2024: 1,6971,7721,7301,688201920202021202220232024
Current spending per pupil (2024 dollars)
2019: $12,191; 2020: $11,554; 2021: $12,173; 2022: $12,837; 2023: $13,475; 2024: $13,556$13,836$12,555$11,274201920202021202220232024
Funding mix over time

Federal, state, and local shares

201914.8% F71.9% S13.3% L
202013.8% F73.2% S13.0% L
202121.6% F67.7% S10.7% L
202228.1% F61.1% S10.8% L
202326.0% F61.9% S12.1% L
202417.1% F68.9% S14.0% L
View the 2019–2024 values as a table
YearEnrollmentSpending / pupilTotal revenueTotal expenditureDebt
20191,762$9,936$18,675,000$20,394,000$22,560,000
20201,763$9,533$18,845,000$17,830,000$22,895,000
20211,734$10,515$21,153,000$19,378,000$21,820,000
20221,724$11,976$24,138,000$22,671,000$22,125,000
20231,745$13,089$24,656,000$24,606,000$22,435,000
20241,697$13,556$25,149,000$27,074,000$22,365,000

Source-reported nominal dollars. Amount fields are converted from source thousands to dollars. No inflation adjustment is applied. An exact identifier links published source rows; it does not erase consolidations, closures, reorganizations, or other real institutional changes between years. Constant-dollar comparisons use BLS CPI-U series CUUR0000SA0, annual U.S. city average; this is not a local cost-of-living index. Joined by exact Census PID6 or NCES LEAID; names are never used.

Schools this system operates

Explore the schools—not just the agency record.

NCES source ↗
Where the money comes from

$25.1M in reported revenue.

Census finance source ↗
Federal17.1%$4.30M
State68.9%$17.3M
Local14.0%$3.52M
Total expenditures$27.1M
Current spending$23.0M
Instruction$11.8M
Support services$9.34M
Capital outlay$3.26M
Debt outstanding$22.4M

Fiscal year 2024. Census source amounts are published in thousands of dollars and converted here to dollars; per-pupil fields are published as dollar amounts. Revenue percentages are reproduced from the source.

District contact

MENA SCHOOL DISTRICT

Regular public school district that is not a component of a supervisory union

GradesKG12
StatusOpen
Address501 HICKORY AVE, MENA, AR, 71953
Open district website →
Still needed for a complete civic record

The federal layer is useful—but it is not the whole school board.

  • Current board members, officer roles, exact seat numbers, term expirations, present vacancies, and appointment history
  • The next election, filings and candidates, certified result history, and campaign disclosures
  • Exact attendance and board-seat boundaries for an address
  • Normalized meeting agendas, minutes, recorded votes, and decision history
  • School-level outcomes, audited contracts and vendors, and inflation-adjusted spending comparisons
The source record

A functioning Census entity.

The Census ACTIVE field is Y for this record.

Census ID
178089
Record type
Independent school district
Classification
School district
School level
Elementary and Secondary
Status
Functioning
Published contact fields

Contact and location

Mailing address501 HICKORY ST · MENA, AR · 71953-1945
Census contact/title fieldSuperintendent S Office
County areaPolk

Websites are primarily self-reported and received only limited Census Bureau quality control. County area can mean the area most served or the headquarters county when boundaries cross counties.

Published context

Scale and parent relationship

Estimated enrollment1,7452023

Evidence boundary

What each source proves—and what it does not.

Established by the published records

  • The entity or system appears in the 2025 Census listing.
  • Its Census category, identifier, and functioning/dormant field.
  • Only the location, function, population, enrollment, and contact fields actually published.
  • The current Arkansas personnel directory reports the superintendent and student-service roles shown above; the separate Secretary of State GIS layer reports the mapped school-board zones returned for this exact LEA ID.

Not established by these records

  • That administrators are school-board members, or that a person remains in the directory role after the dated snapshot.
  • The current board roster, terms, vacancies, election calendar, candidates, results, meeting votes, contracts, or—when no zones are returned—a proven at-large voting plan.
  • The exact geographic service boundary or that a reported website remains current.