BELLA VISTA, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — Bella Vista sees a push for the city to create a school district.

There are certain requirements Bella Vista must meet before forming its school district.  

According to the Arkansas Department of Education, the first requirement is an area must have at least 2,500 students.

“We have a population of 30,000 in Bella Vista,” said Jim Parsons, who is pushing for the city to form a school district.

Parsons, who lives in Bella Vista, says a major concern in sending students to the Bentonville or Gravette School Districts is the amount of time they must spend in school buses. He says many students do not return home until 4 p.m. So, he went to ADE this year to see how likely it would be to form a school district.

The petition drive is the first thing we have to do. We have to get 1,138 signatures on the petition,” Parsons said.

The petition drive will be held on November 7 at the Harps parking lot in Bella Vista. Parsons was surprised ADE didn’t turn him away due to the department wanting to lessen the number of school districts in Arkansas. According to Parsons, the department understood that Bella Vista is a unique situation.

“They are being very cooperative with us. Realizing that a town of 30,000 people and we may go to 50,000 in the next 10 years,” said Parsons. “We can’t continue to drive buses into Bentonville with the traffic congestion.”

According to ADE, another requirement the city must meet is a new school district created by detachment must be made up of students from one existing school district.