Education Committees - Senate and House

Members, if you'll take your seats, we'll get started momentarily. Good afternoon members. Good to have you all here today for this joint committee meeting on education. Um, take up item B first. I need a motion to approve the August 20th, 2024 minutes. I've got a motion 2. All those in favor. I oppose nay, I have it, we will adopt those minutes. Item C is a discussion of the adequacy recommendations and members, if you'll give me just a little bit of uh non-parliamentary latitude, uh, just for a little moment of personal privilege, um, I would like to ask, uh, all of. Staff from BLR who have worked tirelessly, uh, many, many hours, thankless hours, uh, putting and compiling the monthly data for us over the last years we have studied adequacy in Arkansas. I would just like to ask them to please stand, and members, would you please give them and those in the gallery a big hand. They, they spend a whole lot of time putting a whole lot of data together for us and I just don't want them to ever think that we take that for granted or that we are not appreciative of their efforts. Members before you, you have uh some different handouts. The main one is handout number 3, that is the proposed 2024 adequacy matrix recommendation. Looks like a uh Excel spreadsheet in blue. I wanna just kind of go through some talking points, um, just some items for consideration, uh, in our last meeting, uh, you were given the summary report of which you took home with you. We ask you to do some homework, and I want to personally thank each of you who took the time. To dig through those manuals to write up your recommendation to the various different topics, uh, to give very thorough explanations, uh, as to what your recommendation would be. Uh, I appreciate very much that we have said we are going to be the education state, uh, and that we are going to make sure that we're adequately funding, uh, education in the state of Arkansas for all of our kids. Um, Homework was submitted back in to staff. Staff took that to BLR and then we asked them to put that collaboration together to populate all that out and give us a report of what that looked like taking into consideration some different averages on numbers of where that might land. Um, So taking into consideration the research and the recommendations submitted by you, the members of Joint Education. Leadership of the House and Senate Committee makes the following recommendations that you see in your handouts and I want to just point out a few of the highlights, um, that I think you will find of interest and to address those issues that you felt like were most important. Everyone has on their minds school safety. That's an important issue, special education. Uh, mental health. Uh, is very important, um, we have also noted through many meetings and conversations, the need, uh, that's expressed by Senator Chesterfield as she has advocated on behalf of classified staff, uh, are bus drivers, or cafeteria workers, our janitors, uh, and even so parlaying into that mental health and school safety piece, uh, where our SROs, our CSSOs fall into that, making sure that we can recruit. retain, uh, and have staff there, more people, uh, in the right places in our schools, helps make those schools safer. So looking in terms of full-time employees, what we call in this study is FTEs for school staffing. You'll see an increase in special education FTEs from 2.9 to 3.2. And in school counselors, which in the Matrix reference guidance counselors, but I think we all know as we work with our schools, our different, uh, avenues of education across the state that they are expected to do a whole lot more than just guide. Um, they quite often are the front person, uh, that's handling these mental health issues with students and with co-faculty. And so we're increasing that from 1.11 to 1.61. Brings total recommendation for FTEs and school staffing to 36.51. You'll receive, you will see that most of the items in the Matrix have't adjusted, uh, an adjustment to reflect a cola of 2.48% for each year. Items that receive some different treatment. Uh, include the item of health insurance, um, both as a line item from Desi and for the per participating member contribution from districts to EBD. This is not a number that we set. That number is set by EBD. It's a number that we take and adopt. It does take our matrix and somewhat inflate it because it's just a pass through, uh, it goes to the schools and then from the schools it comes back in, but that does fall upon that spreadsheet. All of that came through the reflective recommendations from Siegel, our consultant, and it's meant to keep health insurance system solvent for the long term. That increase in health insurance rate as well as the COLA adjustments are reflected in the salary recommendations. The per pupil amount for technology has been reduced by $15 each year to reflect lowering the overall cost of technology. Uh, we have seen through the data that has been presented over the last 3 bienniums from, uh, BLR and the surveys that they do across the districts across the state. That the amount of money coming from the state to the schools is not being utilized for the full amount for technology. The district's been able to rely heavily upon federal funding for that and through different grants, and we've seen that number continue, uh, to be in the Delta, uh. And so we're trying to reduce that to better align the money that we're allocating for technology to go to the schools for technology. As I mentioned on other salary, other employees salary enhancements to address needs of hiring and retaining classified staff and corresponding with the increase of health insurance for those staff members. We're providing an increase in the first year of the buying of $6 per pupil and an increase of $8 per pupil in the second year. That puts a significant Interest, uh, into our classified employees. We also are seeing as we've talked to districts across the state and from the data that has been. Presented to us uh through the surveys of BLR that the competitiveness in the marketplace for substitutes continues to grow and the ability to get substitutes and to be able to retain those, especially those certified subs who are working in long-term capacities, um, as, um. As a the increases need there for those substitutes due to the addition of maternity leave for teachers through the Learns Act, we are seeing a greater demand not only for the need and number of substitutes, but long term subs and what we have been funding previously is just not applicable in the marketplace now, so we are increasing. Um, the per pupil funding for substitutes, $7 per pupil in the first year of the biennium and $12 per pupil in the second. Operations and maintenance, uh, we're increasing that by 3%. Uh, you know that building costs are up, fuel costs are up, food services up, uh, and so to better reflect where we currently are, uh, across the state with inflation in our districts, we felt that a 3% increase there, uh, just a, a half a point Higher than the 2.48, uh, was noted and worthy. There were no changes in funding made for professional development or in categorical or additional PD, um, So the foundation funding under this matrix for this 26 school year would be 8162 per pupil. And the per pupil funding for the 27 school year would be 8371. If I have any questions. I see. No questions, Representative Brooks. You are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have a motion. I'll accept your motion. I move at the Joint Committee on Education approved the final 2024 adequacy study report, including the foundation, categorical and supplemental funding recommendations made today in the handout, proposed recommendations for adequacy 2025 to 2027. This recommendation includes a line item for the Department of Education's contribution to the employee benefits division on behalf of Educator Health Insurance for an amount of 150.6 million in 2026 and 156.7 million in 2027. That's a proper motion. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second. Any discussion on the motion. Seeing no discussion, I'll take a vote on that motion, all in favor of adopting this joint recommendation. From this joint committee that will be sent to the governor. To the Speaker of the House and to the President of the Senate on or before November the first. All those in favor say aye, oppose nay. The eyes have it, motion passes. Thank you all very much for your work on that. Um, members, we need to have one little uh kind of housekeeping order that we need to take care of. Uh, I will make this motion. I move that in order to sufficiently fund health insurance for public school employees during the 2425 school year. The House and Senate Education Committee recommended the ninety-fifth General Assembly, legislation be passed during the 25 regular session to increase the monthly amount paid by public school districts and charter systems to the employee benefit division from $234.50 per participating member per month to 312 per participating member per month. This increase should reflect in the matrix as an increase to the foundation funding amount for the 2425 school year from 7771 to 7809 per student and the amount paid to EBD by the Department of Education for public school employee health insurance from $142 million to 144.8 million. That is my motion. Do I have a second? Second, any discussion on that motion, and I will be glad to give further explanation to that if anyone has a question. asked that you left. So members, what we're having to do with this is because EBD has asked us to increase in order to keep the the funds solvent to 312. We are six months currently into that 24, 25 school year. So we will have to run legislation in the January session to back that up 6 months, uh, to get that current and active, um, And then that will be noted as an amendment to the current matrix, and then that will be reflected in the new recommended matrix going forward. Since Chesterfield, you're recognized let me make that motion and then you carry it. He recognized that motion that you made. So we have a, uh, um, we have a motion by Senator Chesterfield to adopt. We have a second. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor of the motion say aye, oppose nay, ayes have it. The motion passes. Is there any other business that needs to come before the Joint Education Committee. In regards to this topic. You are recognized. I'm not sure education is going to meet again. We are not, are we? No, ma'am. Well, not for this purpose. I believe we will have a meeting in December. Yes, ma'am. It has been my honor to serve on this committee since 2003. And I want to thank you, uh, To our chairs and to my fellow committee members for the hard work. This is indeed hard work. And it means then that we put aside so many personal Um, enmities that may arise. And we move ahead for the good of those whom we serve. And while we are very, very much considerate of the certified and classified personnel that are a part of this. What we do is for the children. What we do is to make sure that every child has a certified qualified teacher that they have classified employees that have their best interests at heart. And to do this over and over and over again and to be blessed with some of the greatest staff in the world. It has been my honor to be a part of this, and I thank you all so very, very much for putting up with me and my little Picadillos and And comments over these last several years. Thank you so very, very much to Dessie and to Higher Ed and all of those whom we serve. I appreciate you all so very, very much. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Chesterfield. Your years of service to education in the state of Arkansas, both as a teacher, uh, and as an advocate in the legislature on behalf of education does not go unnoticed. And as you said, while we don't always agree in having to put sometimes personal agendas aside, uh, there's never been a moment in, in my time of serving with you that I did not 100% believe that, that your efforts were because you were 100% vested in the topic and personally felt like you were doing the right thing and, and that's to be applied. So thank you for your service. You will be missed. Members Like, uh, as just briefly mentioned, uh, we currently do not have a meeting on the agenda, nor do we plan to have a meeting, uh, in November. Um, we will get this submitted to the governor, to the Speaker of the house, and to the President of the Senate, our recommendation. Um, we are looking at a meeting in December, uh, the first part of December, uh, for the joint committee to meet, uh, to talk about some, some higher ed education topics, uh, and, uh, it should prove to be a very interesting meeting and but we will get that information out to you in a very timely manner, uh, if we can get that on the schedule. With that, we are adjourned.