The Senate Committee on Education voted to advance the Governor Sarah Sanders Education Act on Wednesday (Feb. 22), sending it to the Senate at full strength for an expected vote on Feb. 23, but with expectations that it will be amended in the House of Representatives. The authors of the Bill also disclosed the price for the first two years of the plan.

The vote on Senate Bill 294 by Senator Brynn Davis, R-Russellville, has never been in doubt. All six Republicans on the eight-member education committee, including Davis, are listed as sponsors.

But Senator Kim Hammer, R-Benton, gave Davis a list of changes he would like to see in the House of Representatives, including technical fixes, financial analysis, financial implications for the pension system, and more. He said that if the changes were not made, it would be a breach of the Senate’s confidence. During the speech, Davis took notes and said that “one clean amendment” would be submitted to the House after consultation with the Senate. The House’s sponsor is Rep. Keith Brooks, R-Little Rock.

Another change that seems necessary is a section requiring School safety plans to be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act. As Senator Linda Chesterfield, Democrat of Little Rock, said, any discussion of school matters between two members of the school board must be held in public, and only personnel matters can be discussed privately in executive meetings.

Senator Greg Leding, a Fayetteville Democrat, argued that the Senate should send as clean a bill as possible to the House, but Davis said changes should be made in consultation with the other House.

The bill includes an increase in the state’s minimum wage for teachers from $36,000 to $50,000, as well as a $2,000 increase for all teachers and $10,000 in performance bonuses.

Davis said 39% of the state’s school districts start at $36,000, while 61% of teachers with a bachelor’s degree do not exceed $50,000 in their salary increase schedules. Ten percent of counties don’t have teachers making $50,000. The 144-page Consolidated Education Bill also provides for 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, the cost of which will be shared between the state and participating counties. Davis said the raise would move Arkansas’ starting salary from the bottom of the national rankings to fourth.

It also abolishes government-set salary schedules for teachers. Davis said the proposal gives more local control over this aspect of wages. Chesterfield said she fears some counties won’t be fair on pay schedules and there will be some legal question as to whether the state should oversee the process, a result of a longstanding Lake View court ruling.

The bill would create the Arkansas Children’s Education Freedom Accounts Program, which would give participating families access to up to 90% of the previous year’s state fund funds to be used for private or homeschooling.

The program will begin enrolling students in the upcoming academic year and will be fully implemented by 2025-2026. To participate, private schools must be approved by the State Board of Education and either be accredited or be on track for accreditation within four years.

A financial impact report released by the Department of Education on Wednesday morning said the bill would cost $297.5 million in its first year, of which $150 million is new money. In the second year, the cost will be $343.3 million, of which $250 million will be new money. No overall cost estimate was provided for the third year, when the full set of school choices becomes universal for all students.

Of these, the biggest part will be a pay raise for teachers, which will cost $180 million a year. Education Freedom Accounts will cost $46.7 million in the first year and $97.5 million in the second year. The department expects 7,000 students to take part in the program in the first year and 14,000 in the second year.

State budget director Robert Brech predicted to the committee that the education freedom bills would be worth $175 million in the third year. When questioned, Davis explained that if the third year generates more demand than lawmakers have budgeted for education freedom bills, students will be given funding on a lower pro-rata basis than the fund’s expected 90% funding.

The bill does not include a funding mechanism that will appear later. A pay increase for non-teaching staff is also expected, but the dollar figure for the increase has not been released. Democrats pushed for a $4 an hour increase for non-teaching staff, but the measure has been put on hold until the Republican plan is released.

The LEARNS bill will prevent public school teachers from teaching sexually explicit material, sexual reproduction or sexual intercourse, gender identity or sexual orientation until fifth grade. It also requires Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to review Department of Education regulations, policies and communications to identify any elements that could “indoctrinate students with an ideology such as critical race theory, also known as ‘CRT’, which is contrary to the principle of equal protection in in accordance with the law.”

Oliva said, “Coming up with a simple definition for Critical Race Theory is really difficult”, which raised questions about how it would apply if it could not be defined.

Chesterfield insisted that the lessons of history, such as slavery being the cause of the civil war, continue to be taught. When she asked the question, Davis nodded her head. Oliva said classes should teach accurate history according to standards and give students the opportunity to discuss and reflect.

Elsewhere in the bill, students who do not meet reading standards by third grade will not be promoted to fourth grade unless they have one of several exceptions. They will only be saved once.

The bill will give students the opportunity to earn a degree while preparing for a career. It is also repealing the Teacher Dismissal Act, which will make it easier for school districts to fire teachers they claim are not doing their job well.

Oliva said that while public schools are more responsible for their successes and failures, so are charter schools, which could be closed if they don’t live up to expectations. Under the bill, there could be a process of transferring an underperforming public school or school district to a charter school; however, the bill does not address how private schools or home schools can be held accountable for student achievement.

It would seem that the bill will almost certainly pass. In the full Senate, 25 of the 35 members are sponsors. Twelve of the 20 members of the House Committee on Education are sponsors, as are 55 members of the 100-member House of Representatives.

The Democrats indicated the opposition. Senate Minority Leader Greg Leding, who sits on the education committee with Chesterfield, said: “I like maybe 60-70% of a cheeseburger, but like I’ve told a lot of people, if the last 30% of a cheeseburger is still poison, then it’s still a pretty lousy cheeseburger.”

Chesterfield praised Gov. Sanders for including some of her proposals in the bill, but complained that Democratic senators on the committee didn’t see him until Monday, while non-committee Republicans saw him on Friday. The bill was filed on Monday evening (February 20).

Davies said the drafters of the bill met with many stakeholders, and while the text was not available, its provisions were well communicated to the public before it was submitted. She previously called it “the most collaborative, all-encompassing legislative partnership I’ve ever seen or been involved in.” Nothing, not a single aspect of this bill was a secret.”

The vote in the Senate Education Committee took place in the afternoon after a break in the morning session to give members of the public an additional opportunity to speak.

Dr. Mike Hernandez, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Education Administrators, said some parts are good while others need more clarification, such as what the rules will be, whether enough resources will be available, and whether teachers can be supported. Dennis Copeland of the Arkansas Rural Education Association questioned the sustainability of the funding and questioned the unintended consequences. CJ Jacoby, a trainer at Sheridan, said raising teachers’ salaries would help make ends meet.

Content Source