Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders brought her Arkansas LEARNS town hall meetings to the Heber Springs Community Center on Tuesday evening. It was part pep rally, part pop quiz, as Sanders, and area legislators spoke to the capacity crowd of regional community leaders and educators.
She spoke about the shortcomings of one-size-fits-all public education and the ambitious fixes brought forth in the Arkansas LEARNS Act.
“Is this a perfect piece of legislation? Absolutely not. But we know it is absolutely imperative to see our state change the trajectory that we are on, and move up to the top of the ladder, where we know we belong,” Sanders said.
At times in the past, educational reform in Arkansas has been taken in small steps, she said. Arkansas LEARNS is the largest investment in public education in decades. Sanders is an alumna of Ouachita Baptist University, so she said she’s had experience in the modern college classroom as a student. She’s also a mother of three, ages 11, 9, and 8. Two factors she considers unique to the first woman governor of Arkansas that may provide remarkable insight when it comes to crafting education legislation.
Like many Arkansans, Sanders said she was tired of watching Arkansas rank at the bottom, especially in educational benchmarks.
By raising the base pay for new teachers to $50,000 overnight, Arkansas went from being ranked 48th in the nation for teacher pay to the top five states for new teacher pay. Every teacher in the state received a $2,000 per year raise. Incentives are being set in place for educators who want to further their career by going into high-impact specialties such as special education. Hourly support staff also saw a $2 per hour wage increase.
Wages are just the beginning, Sanders said. The Legislature also created a facilities construction budget for the next five years. Arkansas Department of Education Secretary Jacbo Oliva said there’s more to be done, and more will be done, but they had to start somewhere.
Oliva has only been in Arkansas for six months, but said he’s hit the ground running with the legislation. The more nuanced parts of the legislation will need more crafting and the investment of time to get the comprehensive overhaul right, he said.
For example, providing programs and pathways to early learning spaces in rural areas where pre-K students can develop their reading and soft skills (like getting along with others, self control, being responsible, empathy, and manners), Oliva said. That early learning component could look like partnerships with community centers, faith-based organizations and civic organizations to reach those families. Currently, reading comprehension testing doesn’t begin until third grade, even though it is an essential part of comprehension. Only about 35 percent of Arkansas third-graders can read at grade level.
The Arkansas Department of Education recently launched the Education Freedom Account portal for parents and schools who are interested in participating in the program this fall. Sanders told the crowd it’s not a blank check.
Private schools and home-school families will have to administer the ADE’s standardized test to assess and account for student learning. They will also have to purchase the textbook and curriculum materials from a specific provider. Oliva added the LEARNS Act is about building up the public school system.
“There is value in building up the neighborhood public schools. That’s where most families grow up, that’s where their parent’s went to school, their parents’ parents went to school, they play together, they want to go to school together,” Oliva said.
