Arkansas awards $11.48 million toward new Paris middle school

Arkansas’ Division of Elementary and Secondary Education has listed a new middle school project for the Paris School District, with $11,475,516.91 in state financial participation through the state’s 2025–27 partnership program.

The project appears in Arkansas’ approved partnership-project list dated April 28, 2026. The entry identifies the participating district as Paris School District and names the project “New Middle School.”

What the state list confirms

The listed amount is more than $11.4 million in state participation toward the project. It is a significant state contribution tied specifically to a middle-school facility for the Paris district, which publicly identifies itself as based in Paris, Arkansas.

The funding places the Paris project among the school construction and improvement efforts included in Arkansas’ 2025–27 partnership program. For the district, the entry establishes that state financial participation has been approved for the project and identifies the amount attached to that participation.

The state contribution should not be read as the total cost of the planned school. The approved project list does not identify the project’s overall budget, and the listed financial participation does not establish that the state will cover the full cost.

Details that remain ahead

The April 28 entry also does not provide a construction schedule, project site, opening date or student-capacity figure. Those details are important for families, students and staff trying to understand when a new facility could affect daily school operations.

The funding listing by itself does not establish that construction has started. It confirms the state’s participation in a project identified for the Paris School District, but it does not set a date for completion or for students to move into a new building.

As the project develops, the district and state information that will matter locally includes the total project budget, the location and design of the building, the construction timeline and the number of students it is intended to accommodate. None of those figures appears in the partnership-project listing.

For now, the confirmed development is the state’s $11,475,516.91 financial participation in a new middle school project for Paris School District, listed in Arkansas’ approved 2025–27 partnership projects on April 28, 2026.