Tempe, Ariz.-based Academies of Math & Science (AMS) is again seeking to open a K-8-grade public enrollment school in Fort Smith that could open in 2026 or 2027 and have an enrollment cap of 810 students.
AMS submitted a request with the Charter Authorizing Panel of the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) in February to open charter schools in Fort Smith and Jonesboro. That request was set to be heard during a March 20 meeting, but minutes and the transcript from that meeting indicate the item was not discussed.
The revised amendment, which was submitted by AMS on July 28 to Darrell Smith, assistant commissioner with the Arkansas Office of School Choice and Parent Empowerment, seeks to add a K-8 campus in Fort Smith with an enrollment cap of 810 students, and to boost the AMS total enrollment cap in Arkansas to 1,560 students.
AMS now has a K-8 school in Little Rock with an enrollment cap of 750 students. The Jonesboro campus is not on the new amendment request. The amendment is set to be heard during the panel’s Aug. 7 meeting.
“AMS Schools-Arkansas (AMS) is seeking an amendment to open one (1) new campus within the boundaries of the Fort Smith School District,” AMS noted in its request. “The Fort Smith campus, as an open-enrollment public charter school campus unconfined by district boundaries, expects to obtain most of its students from within the boundaries of the Fort Smith (FSSD), Alma (ASD), Charleston (CSD), Greenwood (GSD), Lavaca (LSD) and Van Buren (VBSD) School Districts.”
The AMS requests lists two possible Fort Smith locations for the school: 2121 Towson Ave., and 3300 Harris Ave. The Towson location is a former retirement village, and the Harris Avenue location is the site of what was once Trusty Elementary. The Fort Smith Public School District closed Trusty at the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
According to AMS, the Fort Smith campus will open in 2026 if it acquires the former Trusty facility, and will open in 2027 if it acquires the Towson Avenue property.
The financial estimate provided by AMS to the ADE is based on an enrollment of 753 students on a Fort Smith campus. The estimated revenue in fiscal year 2028 is $8.417 million, and rises to $8.864 million in fiscal year 2032. The estimated state funding per student in the first fiscal year is $10,276, and increases to $10,797 in fiscal year 2032.
Estimated net income for the Fort Smith campus in the fiscal year 2028 is $402,883, with that rising to $433,077 in fiscal year 2032.