Arkansas lawmakers gathering in Little Rock for the fiscal session should seek to increase the state’s investments in areas like preschool and disability services, advocates said Thursday morning during a news conference at the state Capitol.
“As the fiscal session kicks off, as our legislators convene here to engage in the work of making vital decisions about budgeting and how the state invests our resources, now is the time for us to make sure that we’re communicating clearly the need for those investments of everyday Arkansans,” said Syard Evans, Arkansas Support Network CEO and co-chair of the Arkansas Coalition for Strong Families. “This is not the time for us to give public dollars back to wealthy corporations and citizens in the form of tax cuts. Not while we still have so many unmet needs of everyday Arkansans.”
The coalition’s legislative priorities include extending Medicaid postpartum coverage from 60 days to 12 months, eliminating the sales tax on feminine hygiene products, allowing online voter registration and increasing funding for the Arkansas Better Chance program, according to its website.
Arkansas’ poverty rate was 15.9% in 2022, making it the fourth-highest in the nation. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families Executive Director Keesa Smith said during the news conference that one in five children in the state lives in poverty. However, she added, the figure doesn’t illustrate the full breadth of families’ challenges around making the money needed to thrive.
“What that number doesn’t consider is the number of children whose parents who get up every morning and are barely out of poverty, but they are working jobs where they don’t make a livable wage,” Smith said.
Smith described Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ proposed budget, which is a 1.76% increase over last year’s budget, as being “far below” what is needed to keep up with inflation. She said nearly 60% of the increase is going to fund Education Freedom Accounts established under the LEARNS Act, at the exclusion of “a renewed focus” on areas such as pre-K and early childhood education, mental and behavioral health, and access to maternal health care.
“When Arkansans do well, the Arkansas economy does well,” Smith said. “When we are healthy, when we get the skills and education that we need, when our children get the foundation that they need, when our communities thrive, our economies thrive.
“We need a state budget that reflects this and puts people first, not just because it is the right thing to do but because it is the critical thing to do in order to move Arkansas forward.”
Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, said she hears daily from constituents about underfunded programs.
“I think that there are some really smart ways to spend money in the short term that will save money in the long term, particularly things like tax credits for working families,” she said. “Child tax credits would be a really smart investment, and it remains frustrating to me that year over year we cut funding without thinking about how to wisely invest that money in Arkansans long term in a way that is both morally right and also fiscally sound.”
Sen. Matt Stone, R-Camden, said it’s legislators’ right to voice concerns about over- or under-funding of programs, but that lawmakers should “methodically work through what we’re doing right now.”
“The state of Arkansas just made a huge investment through the LEARNS Act,” he said. “I think we need to let the process fully unfold and see what’s going to happen before we just start putting more money in.”
