Education Committee - Senate
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Transcript
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Bills discussed (28)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1934
Act 867
· 4 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1934 Cozart TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING AUDITS OF SCHOOLS.”
|
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING AUDITS OF SCHOOLS. | Cozart | Notification that HB1934 is now Act 867 |
|
HB1701
Act 847
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…IBLE COURSE IF STUDENTS REQUEST THAT THE COURSE BE OFFERED. HB1701 J. Mayberry TO PROHIBIT THE REQUIREMENT THAT A STUDENT PART…”
|
TO PROHIBIT THE REQUIREMENT THAT A STUDENT PARTICIPATING IN AN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY, INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITY, OR … | J. Mayberry | Notification that HB1701 is now Act 847 |
|
HB1747
Act 852
· 3 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1747 Dotson TO EXPAND THE TYPES OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS AND EVEN…”
|
TO EXPAND THE TYPES OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS AND EVENTS THAT MAY BE DISCUSSED, READ, OR … | Dotson | Notification that HB1747 is now Act 852 |
|
HB1847
Act 858
· 3 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1847 J. Mayberry TO REVISE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS REG…”
|
TO REVISE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS REGARDING SITE SELECTION FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FACILITY … | J. Mayberry | Notification that HB1847 is now Act 858 |
|
HB1020
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…tle SB118 K. Hammer TO REQUIRE CAMPUS FREE SPEECH POLICIES. HB1020 Warren TO ALLOW OUT-OF-STATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE TO BE CONS…”
|
TO ALLOW OUT-OF-STATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN DETERMINING A TEACHER'S SALARY SCHEDULE. | Warren | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1498
Act 832
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SIONS OF ITS ASSUMPTION OF AUTHORITY IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS. HB1498 Speaks TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHO…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOL COMPUTER NETWORK. | Speaks | Notification that HB1498 is now Act 832 |
|
HB1626
Act 1016
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1626 Cloud CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY OF THE B…”
|
CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY OF THE BIBLE COURSE IF STUDENTS REQUEST THAT … | Cloud | Notification that HB1626 is now Act 1016 |
|
HB1648
Act 1018
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1648 F. Allen TO INCLUDE CERTAIN ARKANSAS CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS A…”
|
TO INCLUDE CERTAIN ARKANSAS CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS AND HEROES IN THE TEACHING MATERIALS REGARDING AFRICAN-AMERICAN … | F. Allen | Notification that HB1648 is now Act 1018 |
|
HB1702
Act 848
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…CUMSTANCES UNDER THE TEACHER EXCELLENCE AND SUPPORT SYSTEM. HB1702 Speaks TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A N…”
|
TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A NEWSPAPER OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BOND … | Speaks | Notification that HB1702 is now Act 848 |
|
HB1785
Act 854
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1785 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION RESIDEN…”
|
TO CREATE THE GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION RESIDENCY EXPANSION BOARD; TO REQUIRE THE BOARD TO DISTRIBUTE … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1785 is now Act 854 |
|
HB1901
Act 1026
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…Cozart TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING AUDITS OF SCHOOLS. HB1901 F. Allen TO CREATE THE ACADEMIC SUPPORT SCHOLARSHIP. PENDIN…”
|
TO CREATE THE ACADEMIC SUPPORT SCHOLARSHIP. | F. Allen | Notification that HB1901 is now Act 1026 |
|
SB118
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB118 K. Hammer TO REQUIRE CAMPUS FREE SPEECH POLICIES.”
|
TO REQUIRE CAMPUS FREE SPEECH POLICIES. | K. Hammer | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB232
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB232 K. Hammer TO CREATE THE FREEDOM OF CONTRACT IN HIGHER EDUCA…”
|
TO CREATE THE FREEDOM OF CONTRACT IN HIGHER EDUCATION ACT. | K. Hammer | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB387
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB387 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF LOTTERY PRO…”
|
TO REQUIRE THAT A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF LOTTERY PROCEEDS BE NET PROCEEDS THAT ARE USED … | Elliott | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB508
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…CATION IN A NEWSPAPER OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BUDGET. SB508 B. Davis TO AMEND THE MEANS BY WHICH FUNDING IS DISTRIBUTED…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEANS BY WHICH FUNDING IS DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE PRODUCTIVITY-BASED FUNDING MODEL. | B. Davis | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB509
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB509 B. Davis TO DISTRIBUTE FUNDS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENC…”
|
TO DISTRIBUTE FUNDS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE TRUST FUND TO CERTAIN FOUR-YEAR STATE-SUPPORTED INSTITUTIONS OF … | B. Davis | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB538
Act 815
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…THE CHAIR CONCUR IN HOUSE AMENDMENT Number Sponsor Subtitle SB538 J. Sturch TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE CODE WITH RESPECT TO O…”
|
TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE CODE WITH RESPECT TO OPEN-ENROLLMENT PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL AND TRADITIONAL … | J. Sturch | Notification that SB538 is now Act 815 |
|
SB591
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…F NET PROCEEDS USED FOR SCHOLARSHIPS INCREASE YEAR BY YEAR. SB591 Elliott TO PROMOTE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION AMONG ARKANSANS…”
|
TO PROMOTE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION AMONG ARKANSANS; TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS COMMUNITY REMEMBRANCE COMMISSION; AND … | Elliott | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB605
Act 1083
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB605 A. Clark TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE C…”
|
TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDING. | A. Clark | Notification that SB605 is now Act 1083 |
|
SB619
Act 1084
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…HE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDING. SB619 L. Eads TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANS…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD. | L. Eads | Notification that SB619 is now Act 1084 |
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SB620
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…MENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD. SB620 B. Johnson TO CREATE THE CAPITAL PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP PILOT…”
|
TO CREATE THE CAPITAL PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP PILOT PROGRAM. | B. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB633
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB633 G. Leding TO REQUIRE AN EVALUATOR LICENSED BY THE STATE BOA…”
|
TO REQUIRE AN EVALUATOR LICENSED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PLACE A PUBLIC … | G. Leding | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB666
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SCHOLARSHIP. PENDING FISCAL IMPACT Number Sponsor Subtitle SB666 Elliott TO ONLY PERMIT SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS TO DISCIPLI…”
|
TO ONLY PERMIT SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS TO DISCIPLINE STUDENTS OR ACT IN THE CAPACITY OF … | Elliott | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB668
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ICER WHEN STUDENTS OR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES ARE AT RISK OF HARM. SB668 K. Hammer CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASS…”
|
CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS BEING IN NEED OF LEVEL 5 … | K. Hammer | Sine Die adjournment |
|
HB1404
Act 828
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1404 Speaks TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A N…”
|
TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A NEWSPAPER OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BUDGET. | Speaks | Notification that HB1404 is now Act 828 |
|
SB553
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB553 Bond TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT UND…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE … | Bond | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB664
Act 1088
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB664 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSM…”
|
TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSMENTS AND DYSLEXIA SCREENINGS; TO REQUIRE READING AND … | Elliott | Notification that SB664 is now Act 1088 |
|
SB667
Act 947
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB667 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT YOUTHS UNDERGO READING ASSESSMENTS…”
|
TO AMEND AN EXEMPTION TO THE ARKANSAS CLEAN INDOOR AIR ACT OF 2006. | K. Ingram | Notification that SB667 is now Act 947 |
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- October 9, 2026
Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:00
air. We'll announce today that we're going to get through as much of this as we possibly can, and we will meet again on Friday morning at 9 o'clock. Hopefully, I know the Senate House has some bills, and that will be our last meeting, is Friday morning at 9 o'clock. Because I think next week we'll be gone. Okay, so we're going to go a little out of schedule here and Senator Ballinger would you like to come forward and do House Bill
Speaker 9
0:30
1626 please and you have an amendment yes Madam Chairman I do so there's an amendment and essentially amendment what it does the concern that the committee had was on the 15 students having the ability to basically push for and develop the class. While obviously I thought that was a good idea, at the same time we do understand that
and in order to satisfy some of the concerns of the members of this committee, what we've done is to just basically take that out altogether and then direct the Department of Education to develop basically the curriculum, and it's not really a curriculum, but it's to identify resources and to develop the material for an approved Bible course, which is exactly what they said that they're on path to doing, and that they'll get that done pretty quickly, and so this language is the actual language that we got directly from the Department
of Education, and so at this point, I think that takes away most of
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:40
the concerns. Do I hear a motion? The question is
Speaker 9
1:51
so what the amendment does it functionally is page two it deletes lines 32 through 34 so that's if you right at the end of the bill the place that actually has the 15 student mandate and then it replaces it with the language there in the which is the department education shall by
19-20 school year, identify, develop, and approve Bible course for high school credit that meets the requirements in subsections A, B, and C of this section. Yeah, well, they should be. That's what I got in a text from Senator Key. Well, so the language is not in there saying that there's nothing in the code saying that they will. yeah correct right right right any other
Senator Jane English
Unverified
2:41
questions from the committee do i hear a motion
all in favor aye all opposed thank you okay you passed your amendment
Speaker 9
2:53
okay thank you very much and so with the bill as amended essentially what the amendment does is really the gist of the bill it just directs the department of education to develop the material for the schools and so how this benefits you know for representing clouds perspective who originally brought this bill how it benefits him is is that actually you know that process i think will enable it so schools can more easily offer that curriculum as the schools decide and so having
Senator Jane English
Unverified
3:19
said that i'm closed and appreciate a good vote is there
anybody in the audience would like to speak for or against the bill anybody on the committee that has questions Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? All in favor? Aye. Okay, you passed your bill. Thank you very much. And so now
Speaker 9
3:47
we'll quickly move you over to 1747, House Bill 1747. So House Bill 1747 is representing Dodson's bill. So within Arkansas Code, there's a section that deals with American Heritage.
heritage this doesn't develop that doesn't it doesn't promulgate that but what it does is expand on the documents that are listed within it so if you if you look you know page one of the bill it just deals with local school boards boards of directors shall out teachers administrators basically this is the materials to teach and then it basically includes the first 10 10 amendments of the Constitution. Of course, the Bill of Rights is listed. Thomas Bain's pamphlet, Common Sense, Executive Orders of the Presidents of the United States, Northwest Ordinance,
President George Washington's Farewell Address, the Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address, and any other document of historical significance related to the founding of the United States or the state of Arkansas. And then it also says that a school system can, that's not obligatory, but can develop a standard for graduation that includes having a fundamental understanding of those documents. And having said that, I'm happy to answer any questions or be closed and appreciate a good vote.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
5:01
I have questions from the committee? Yep. Is there a problem with this? I mean, is
Speaker 17
5:10
there a problem right now with their doing this? You know, honestly, I'm going to say that the answer from my perspective
Speaker 9
5:16
is yes, but I'm a history teacher who thinks that this kind of stuff is really, like, important, and I get into it. So I think some of the understanding of civics is not there. The understanding of our founding is not there like it should be. But the truth is I don't know that that's necessarily relevant to this,
other than, you know, within Arkansas Code, we have certain documents that are listed that are incurred reading. I think there are other ones out there like this that is just expanding what's in the code and encouraging kind of a broader understanding of some things. And it isn't like that there's any particular agenda with the documents that are included other than just a better understanding of our founding and the philosophy and basis of that. So, for example, all
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
6:02
of these things are required to be taught.
I'm looking at page 3 right now, Senator Ballinger. Page 3, the very last thing, required that a public high school teach public high school students about the nation's founding documents blah blah blah and then you have ABC under there these things are these things already it's required to be taught explicitly or implicitly I mean well the answer
Speaker 17
6:31
to that is within the standards that's been developed there's no doubt that
Speaker 9
6:36
those are required reading within standards I
don't know that there's any other code section that requires teaching of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, or representative readings of the Federalist Papers, but what I would say is that within the American history standards, those would all be included. That's my question. Is there anybody in the
Senator Jane English
Unverified
6:59
audience who would like to speak for or against the bill? Madam
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
7:04
Chair, I'd like to ask the Department of Education a question. Certainly.
Speaker 56
7:12
Good morning, Stacey Smith, Arkansas Department of
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
7:24
Ed. Ms. Smith, I'm just wondering about the explicit layout of what shall be taught, and I know we've kind of tried to avoid that in legislation and do it through the standards. So my question is, within the standards, is there a leeway for this to be taught as opposed
to outputting it in a bill like
Speaker 56
7:49
this? So what I ask my curriculum instruction folks to do is take our existing standards and
Speaker 59
7:54
do an alignment to these specific things that were mentioned in the bill to our standards, and they're all currently in our current standards somewhere, either explicitly or implicitly within the standards, every
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
8:05
single one of them. so if some school has not taught for example explicitly okay I'm
sorry when at what time are these supposed to be taught at what grades is there is that
in here somewhere or is it just somewhere in our overall education matriculation that these things would might will be taught because what I don't want to have happen for example somebody's in the 10th grade let's just say and they haven't yet heard about
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
8:37
the executive orders of the presidents of the United States but that's not a
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
8:43
cause for somebody to center flowers and
Speaker 9
8:47
this is this is my fault because of
you know I've picked up to run this bill but if you'll look on page two line 30 so so d before you get down to one two and three it makes it real clear that you know the last last sentence is you know public a public school district may and then one two and three require it so it is required if the public school district adopts it so so this is not yeah this is right so each one of these things are required but only only oh each one of these things
Speaker 64
9:14
could be required but it's all optional for the district to adopt it or not so as long
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
9:20
as you're telling me that mean that we're not
if the two of you together are fine we are not putting a
mandate in that specific things are taught in legislation like this which kind of worries me uh not kind of a lot but if it's already somewhere in the
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
9:36
standards and we are not creating something brand new i maybe can live with that would be my assessment of it and and that is
Speaker 68
9:46
your assessment too as well is smith is that
Speaker 59
9:48
correct it is and on the part at the bottom that said that the public school will ensure um we even did a cross-reference to the arkansas civics exam that's requirement now for all graduation and a
lot of these same key elements pop up
Speaker 68
9:59
in that all right thank you thank you both very much okay
Speaker 70
10:06
any other questions from the committee well madam chair i guess i miss miss miss explained it but i guess
Speaker 74
10:12
i kind of had the same thought that what scares me is senator elliott about some of this but it is permissive but on the first part that that's not the message they You can, the administrator or teacher can post any of those things, which added some to that list.
Speaker 9
10:32
Well, and so that is, so it is permissive to the extent of it's permissive to the teacher. So this, in A, the original language that we aren't changing or touching, it says that a school district shall allow. So the school district has to allow a teacher to incorporate these things if the teacher were to choose. But it's not a requirement from I guess Senator Ballinger. I
Speaker 74
10:54
guess one thing I got it jumped out at me is Back years ago when I was in the house that we had some really You were a history teacher, right?
I'm sorry Yeah, okay We had some really serious discussions and some bills down there dealing with Thomas Payne and It's kind of I'm glad because he was really a framer. Yeah read his stuff But you know he was very involved, but for some reason there were some group of people didn't want to
Speaker 85
11:19
have him noted Yeah, you put this in there. Yeah, we're
Speaker 17
11:23
putting a with there was we've had a big fight over Thomas Payne
Speaker 9
11:27
day or something like that And there's real a lot. He was a he was a character. All of our founding fathers were characters But Thomas Payne in particular was a was a rogue, but but a brilliant man obviously in common sense without it was with probably our
Speaker 17
11:42
Revolution and it's never happened What is
Senator Jane English
Unverified
11:54
a second. Second. All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Thank
you very much. You passed your bill. Thank you very much, committee. Okay, I'm going to let Representative Cozart come and bring his bill. He's
always kind to let me do mine. Turn about. Fair play. It's House Bill 1934.
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
12:18
thank you madam chair ladies and gentlemen house bill 1934 is an act to amend the law concerning audits of schools and basically what this dude is currently schools have two options presenting their financial audits regulatory basis or alternative basis however schools Schools presenting financial audits on the regulatory basis can no longer be considered
a low-risk auditee because of the recent interpretation of federal guidelines due to having two options. So legislation would give schools, this legislation would give schools one option, a regulatory basis, and there's only two school districts out of the 235 that are currently using an alternative basis, and they both have been contacted, and they're okay with this. So we would just like to change that to where we do a regulatory basis. That's basically the gist of the bill. Senator Hendren.
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
13:23
So we're doing away with the option for a school district to hire a professional firm to conduct it? Well, you're probably right. I mean, in my 15 years on the board, we did that a couple years, and we just found out it was more expensive and really not as efficient. But I guess, why are we seeing it necessary to remove that option? Well, I'd have to
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
13:46
get someone else to come up here and tell you exactly the reason. But like I said, because it does put you in a, it takes away the low risk part of out.
So it just makes it where it's more, you're at more risk with the federal, new federal guidelines. Can I ask, I've got somebody to probably answer that question for you. This came from my school district in Hot Springs. And I know there were quite a few others that were really interested in doing this. It's a pretty good cry across the state, but
Speaker 103
14:19
I'll let Dr. Abernathy try to explain that. Thank you, Madam Chair. Richard Abernathy, Executive Director of AAEA, and no, it does not prohibit private accounting firms from conducting an audit.
School districts currently have two options, alternative audit and then regulatory audit. So nearly everyone, I think there are two districts right now, Alma and I believe it's Bentonville, that have done the alternative type of audit. Everybody else has already done the regulatory audit. So the interpretation that has just come down that if you have options out there, then it increases your risk for an audit. And so this would just eliminate the alternative and make sure everyone does a regulatory audit, which
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
15:04
So do the schools, Bentonville, and Alma that are doing this now agree with this? Yes.
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
15:08
It's good to have somebody smarter at the table. Thanks, man. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, committee.
Speaker 109
15:44
Let's see, let's try House Bill 1701, 1847 and 1701, 1847, if
Senator Jane English
Unverified
16:39
Okay. Okay, which bill are you going to do first? 1847. House Bill 1847. Stop one moment.
We need to amend the rules to move it from pending to on
the agenda. So I need a motion. Second.
All in favor? Thanks. Okay. Go ahead. Thank you, Madam. This bill, I
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
17:25
basically say, is an ounce of prevention equals a pound of cure. We are finding that sometimes the school district will build a brand new building in an area. and the concerns of the facilities are all met but after the school is built there's a traffic
problem and you can imagine how many different traffic problems you can have when you have school buses and school crossings and various things lots more traffic at certain times of day and what we're trying to do is instead of after the school is built a phone call to the highway department to say hey we've got a problem let's try to prevent that from happening and allowing the school district and the highway department to work together on the front end before anything before the ground gets broken and and construction begins also with this bill we're allowing the
school district to partner with the highway department so that we can move things along even quicker that's what the bill does i've got the highway department here with me to explain they've worked with ade on this on all the wording we also have the support of aaea the the Superintendents Association on some wording so that it is a May, so no school district has to partner with the highway department, but certainly it is an option. It's one more thing that's
out there to help them move projects along quicker.
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
18:53
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I see you've set aside where you can't use partnership funds, but you still could use if there's a millage to build a high school, you could make road construction part of that millage. So having just passed a $300 million highway plan, is this really just a way to get into education funding now for transportation needs? Yeah. Gil Rogers
Speaker 127
19:21
with the Arkansas Department of Transportation. That's not our intent here at
all, Senator. The idea is that every school district would have its needs met through our statewide transportation improvement program, the four-year plan that we have. It'd be better met by this bill by allowing the school districts to notify us at the beginning of a project as opposed to after completion. And then those school districts that so choose, no requirements there, anything from if they want to pay for all of the expenses to have it done this year, to a degree of partnership between 0 and 100 with the department
in an effort to try to move the project up to meet with, in the event there is, a difference between the date of opening and the date that the construction is scheduled. Well, let's suppose
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
20:07
the district's building a $20 million high school, and you guys come and
say, well, it's going to cost us $4 million to upgrade the roads to support that. And they say, well, we don't have that. We can't pass that. Where are we at now?
Speaker 127
20:20
Well, it would fall within the normal planning process of the department as a project that we're going to know, we're going to be basing these off the six-year plan that is filed by the school districts.
We've worked with the Department of Education. Brad Montgomery is going to provide us with access to the database from the school districts that identifies schools that are going to be. So ideally, we're going to eventually hit a point where we're looking six years ahead every year to make a determination as to whether we need to include these in our future programming, and we can start incorporating those into the statewide
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
20:55
plan. Again, I don't think I have a problem with the notification process. So long as this notification is not used by the highway department to leverage their way into desperately short facilities funding
when school districts go out and tax themselves to build a high school, Normally the economic growth and so on that comes from that is enough to justify the infrastructure upgrades. That's the way I've seen it, whether it be the city or the county or the highway department. And I just hope the highway department doesn't use this to start trying to
Speaker 127
21:25
leverage it into education dollars. That's not the intent, and we honestly don't know how this is going to pan out once we start moving forward. Hopefully, the four-year planning process will be sufficient to make it such that the school's needs are met, as well as the state highway system.
But just in the event they're not or the school has other ideas for what it wants to do, it may have reserves, it may have additional borrowing power, no requirements on the school district. They will all be programmed, and everyone will see where their highway improvements are incorporated. Most of the time, they're going to be fairly minor. but we've run into in the past some significant expense based upon planning without consultation and so it's it's it also allows us to hopefully up front avoid those additional expenses and say
if you do this it's going to take significant highway reconstruction in order to do this and that's going to take
Senator Jane English
Unverified
22:24
a while thank you so i guess i have a question so i'm thinking about a school in my district that's usually the city takes care of those road needs. How does the highway department get
into basically, let's say, Sylvan Hills High School in the middle of Sherwood?
Speaker 130
22:43
Well, I can't speak to Sylvan Hills because I'm not familiar with its
Senator Jane English
Unverified
22:47
location well enough. Overall, I'm trying to think about how does this, I mean, I understand the plan.
Speaker 132
22:53
I don't understand the money. Well, it depends on whether there are needs to the state
Speaker 127
22:58
highway system as a result of the construction of the school. For instance, we have a new school, Don Roberts Elementary, on Highway 10. The entrance to the school is off a city street, but it adjoins Highway 10, and traffic backs up onto Highway 10. Had we performed a traffic impact analysis, we may have delineated matters that needed to be addressed at the outset,
such as maybe a waiting lane for those wanting to turn right into Don Roberts that could have been incorporated into the plan and we could have at the same time it was opening the highway department would have used its state funds to make that correction for the benefit of the school district and so it may it may be on a city street but if it impacts the highway system that's what we're
Senator Jane English
Unverified
23:39
trying to find out so we're not talking about the roads from the school to the highway. We're only talking about the highway. That's correct. Or
Speaker 111
23:48
if the school sits on a highway, like in my district, it sits right
on a highway. So, I mean, it just kind of depends. But this is just state highway.
Speaker 127
23:57
Currently, typically, the way we find out about these is when we get a request for driveway permits, because those are designed with engineering factors involved. And oftentimes, we go out and we provide the driveways, but the highway department's not in any way involved with With traffic mobility in those areas and you're still talking about a state highway at that point some of which may have 55 mile an hour speed limits or 65
Senator Jane English
Unverified
24:22
What a concept people working together
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
24:31
That's the goal here. Yes, ma'am Senator Johnson Thank you madam chair Mr. Rogers, I share Senator Hendricks concerns As I've watched, and no offense to you, of course, your agency kind of going beyond its original constitutional mandate and getting into some areas that are dubious concern to me about what you're doing, but like maybe, you know, funding scholarships or things in higher education.
But be that as it may, this seems like a good idea, and you brought up the Roberts Elementary situation, which is right on the periphery of my district. If this were in place at the time that Roberts Elementary was being planned, would that have alleviated some of the problems that we sometimes see, especially during the hours? That's the hope. I mean,
Speaker 127
25:20
it took a while for that school to get constructed.
At the same time, if there is significant expense associated to highway modifications that are needed as a result of that, then we can plan for those. And let me tell you a little bit of the history of the bill. Because, Senator Hendrion, if you'll remember when we talked about this prior to the session, you had asked the director about how much those traffic impact analyses would cost, and he estimated between $100,000 and $200,000 per school, and at which point you said this will never pass and at which point we modified our plan to bring that into the highway department
and we'll perform that function so that we can make an analysis in order to better serve the traveling public on our highways. And so that's the type of thing we're talking about doing here is we just want to make sure that our highway system is ready to take care of the impacts from new construction. It won't even apply to new construction on existing facilities. It would only be new facilities total. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 130
26:15
Yes, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Any other questions from the committee? Is there anybody
Senator Jane English
Unverified
26:25
in the audience who would like to speak for or against the bill?
All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Thank you very much. You had one more? I do.
Speaker 111
26:43
If I could go ahead. What is it? Go ahead. What's the number? It is 1701. 1701. House Bill 1701.
Speaker 159
27:20
Okay, we need to vote to suspend the rules to hear the bill. Second. All in
Senator Jane English
Unverified
27:37
favor? Is there an amendment on this bill? No, but it came
late, and it's not on the agenda.
So in order to put it on the agenda, we have to have a vote of the
Speaker 162
27:59
group. 1701. It's on the agenda. It's on the agenda.
Speaker 163
28:03
I thought it was on the agenda. It's on the agenda. Second page. Oh, it's not on one.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
28:08
It's not on one. All right. Okay. I'm sorry. Sorry. That's okay. We'll get it together
Speaker 111
28:13
here. All right. Proceed. Okay. everyone's got a copy of it okay well let me let me explain there is a growing
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
28:22
trend that we're seeing in our school districts where in order to participate in an extracurricular activity the student is being told that they have to go to XYZ gym or train with XYZ coach mr. or mrs. whomever in order to be involved in that extracurricular activities the parent doesn't have a choice as to what coach that is what gym that is what facility they might want to
train at they're being told in order to be on this team at a public school you have to pay X amount each month to a certain place and I've got a problem with that. I feel that when that occurs, you are taking away parents' options. I have no problem with a school district telling the students or a coach telling the students that you may
participate in an activity through a certain coach, but when it becomes a mandatory in order to be on this team, it's concerning. So if you look at this bill, what I'm really trying to address is in the very last section and it's on page 2 lines 9 through 13 and it says a public school student who participates in an extracurricular activity interscholastic activity or organized physical activity shall not be required to pay for individual or group instruction in order to participate in
the extracurricular activity interscholastic activity or organized physical activity. Basically, the kids who have more wealth are the ones that are able to afford to be in those activities, and we are limiting those who don't have as much wealth from participating. And I think that in public school, it should be open to everybody, and it shouldn't count on the dollar amount that your parents bring home. And that's what I'm trying to address. I
know some people had concern does this also mean that the school district has to pay for athletic shoes or dance costumes or band instruments and that is not addressed in this bill at all if you see it just says to pay for individual or group instruction and I'd be happy to take questions thank
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
30:52
you madam chair and thank you representative Mayberry for taking my question could you
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
30:56
give me a for instance because I I was in charge of drill team and pep club
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
31:03
and we did engage in some instructions so they get out there and not make fools of themselves are you talking
Speaker 172
31:17
about that or what what are you talking about because just an example would be nice
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
31:23
sure so we might have a cheer coach for example tell the students in order to be on this team you must take classes at XYZ gym on Wednesdays at 5 o'clock outside of the school this is not in school this is the gym that's down the street
you have to take a gymnastics class at 5 o'clock on Wednesdays mandatory and we're not paying for it. Our booster club is not paying for it. Your parents have to pay that $60 a month fee to that private location. Parents don't get to pick. There's no process of, let's just say there's three different gymnasiums in that community or in that city. There's no vetting process of even
which one's going to get the business. So there's a great possibility, and I'm not saying this is happening but there's a great possibility that a coach could get some kickbacks on that because now they're sending 20 members to that particular private location to get business and again I'm just trying to level our camp then
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
32:31
excuse me this is not the drill team camp to which the
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
32:38
example let me explain it a lot of times there are camps over the summer. If the school district is paying for it, this does not affect them.
If the booster team is paying for it, this does not affect them. The school can even ask for the students to participate in that and encourage them to participate because that's a good thing. You are going to get more training from this. But if they say, if you don't go to this and your parents don't pay for it, you can't be on this team. So just a small little example, I have a seventh grader who's doing track right now, first year doing track, and she wants to learn how to pole vault. And the coach at our school district is not a pole vaulting coach. And so he has
admittedly said, I can only help her so much. And if she wants to get better, you might look at getting some private lessons. I have no problem with that. That's what we need to be told as as parents and we need to make the option should we invest more in our child and I have no problem with that. They can encourage outside training but if that coach were to say in order to be on this track team you must take from Joe Smith at this location to learn how to pole vault
that's when I have a
Speaker 109
33:59
problem and that's what we're trying to address. Thank you.
Senator Mathew Pitsch
Unverified
34:34
Thank you. Senator Matt Pitch. I'm here with House Bill 1785 from Representative Lee Johnson and Representative Justin Boyd. Basically, this is an act concerning medical education grants and loans. It's to create a graduate medical education residency expansion program. We already have one of those with UAMS, but we now have two DO schools in the
state. This bill is to establish a structure to distribute support from private and public sources for the development of a GME program. There are no funds at this time. This is strictly setting up the structure and process. Representative Johnson and Representative Boyd have worked at length with UAMS and with RCOM and the Jonesboro D.O. School. If we are to increase the number of primary care physicians, just graduating doctors isn't the answer alone.
We've got to have residency. They have to serve three to five years in residency. It's tough for small rural hospitals to generate an entire residency program to make it pay for itself. RCOM is committing to help do this, working to fundraise, et cetera. It's a great bill. It costs almost a million dollars to start a residency program for a hospital. It's usually three to four years before a hospital can expect to break even on a new residency program. ARCOM is an accredited entity to assist hospitals in developing those residencies
and is actively working on a program as a financial partner with hospitals in its region, and it wants to see that happen statewide. Madam Chairman, I'm open to answer questions. I do have experts if we need technical, this is strictly a vehicle being set up that hopefully will
Speaker 198
37:26
Thank you, Madam Chair, Committee, Eddie Cheatham, State Senate District 26, House Bill 1404 is very simple. Currently, as you well know, current school districts must publish
their district budget newspaper in the county in which they reside. What's happened in the last few years, we see more and more small town newspapers closing. So all we're doing is expanding this to counties where that newspaper may be another county, but it circulates in your county. That's basically all we're trying to do. Okay, Senator Elliott, currently right now, school district is dealing with the district's budget.
Every year they publish it in a local paper inside the county. What's happened in rural Arkansas, especially newspapers are closing down, and there's not a newspaper in the county the district sits in. So all we're trying to do is saying that they can use a paper next door in another county that circulates in your county. That's basically all we're trying to do. Still must publish the budget. It still must be circulated in that school district, even though the paper is located outside the county.
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
39:11
so there were there was an issue of very early in the session regarding a bill like a bill like this or a sentiment like this regarding the statewide newspaper that democrat democrat is that that's correct
Speaker 198
39:33
that's they have there's no opposition and so
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
39:35
this is is what's rectifying what what their concern was and let it be noted i'm saying something really nice about the
Speaker 198
39:42
democrat is that senator i'm i'm i'm not sure about which particular bill i know there was some there's actually been some legislation in the past where would go online forget about the local papers published it online but that but this deals with local papers in another county but the the democrat is not against this it's my understanding i've got a guy behind me that's supposed to know if we need to know okay and actually we have a lot of school districts right now that are actually breaking the law because there's not a
paper in their county okay yeah right so we're trying to fix that okay Friday law firm worked on this along with those districts to be sure that we still have available to the local people newspapers but it might not be coming from there inside their county who's that guy behind you mr. Abernathy
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
40:36
he's very smart when you have to claim it he would love to answer a
Speaker 211
40:41
question he likes to come up here and ask for questions all I wanted to
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
40:46
get a clarification for it to be sure I kind of know
what I'm doing if this is back to the original thing I mentioned with the Democrat Gazette having some concerns about being cut out in advertising all over
Speaker 101
41:01
the state thank you madam I'm Chair Richard Abernathy, Executive Director of AAEA, and we appreciate Senator Cheatham bringing
Speaker 103
41:06
this forward, and he's exactly right. We would actually like to be in compliance with the law when we can, but there's more and more local newspapers and counties that are closing down. So Friday Law Firm is actually one that brought this to our attention because it affects, in this bill, budgets, and the next bill will be bond issues that's specifically published in the newspaper in their county.
and as newspapers close down we're having a problem with compliance so we're not we're not trying to not publish we're going to publish it in newspapers so that part's not changing I think some controversy earlier would be forgetting the newspaper and just publishing online this is not what this bill does so we will continue publishing in the newspaper but if they don't have one in the county then it'd be elsewhere with circulation in
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
41:53
the county But you don't know whether or not this doesn't in any way, intentionally or not, this doesn't in any way have anything to do with that original scenario I talked about?
Speaker 103
42:04
No, this is a completely separate issue. We're not trying to circumvent anything. We just want to maintain compliance. Yeah, I mean,
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
42:11
I see. I understand. That makes sense. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
42:17
Chair. Senator Cheatham, is there still a newspaper in Ashley County? Actually, there's two. How long that's
Speaker 202
42:24
going to be, I don't know. One in Hamburg, one in CrossFit. Okay. The reason,
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
42:29
you know, obviously I'm concerned. I want there to be one there or two there.
But if, for example, good Lord forbid they close, then this would, say, allow them to advertise in a newspaper in Drew County. And that had circulation, and I know their circulation is audited because that's something that newspapers do. Then that would allow them to meet that requirement. It wouldn't necessarily force them to go to the statewide paper or to a regional paper, but just something that would be verifiable that the general public know.
And I also assume that this budget information is available on the district's website, and perhaps that could be directed to them as a secondary way to make sure the public needs. That's correct. Is that correct? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank
you both very much. Thank you, ma'am. Hold on. Just stay right there. Just in case. The
Speaker 220
43:25
audience would like to speak for or against
Senator Jane English
Unverified
43:28
the bill. What is the will of the committee? Second. All in favor?
Aye. All opposed? You passed your
Speaker 198
43:42
bill. Madam Chairman, can I run 1702? It's very similar. What? While
Speaker 205
43:49
Joyce's questions are fresh on my mind, we'll run this one. 1702. 1702. Okay,
Senator Jane English
Unverified
44:17
House bill. Oh, I'm sorry, you got another one.
Speaker 198
44:23
That's right. Yes, House Bill 1702, Madam Chair. Yeah. Okay. 1702. This bill is identical to the previous bill, except it deals with the sale of bonds. The first bill dealt with district budgets must be published. sale of bonds must be published same question same answers I don't think they trust me
Senator Jane English
Unverified
44:48
other questions from the committee 1702 Any questions from anybody in the, oh, sorry, go ahead.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
45:21
Senator Cheatham, is there a way we can kind of come up with all the ones we need to change related to these public notices and maybe get an omnibus bill in the future that takes care of them? Do you
Speaker 198
45:32
know if there are more out there like this? You can spend your time in the interim
Speaker 238
45:37
working on that, Senator Johnson. I need more assignments. Thank
Senator Jane English
Unverified
45:43
you. Motion at the proper time, Madam Chair. Anybody in the audience? Nobody. Anybody on the committee?
Do you have a motion? Second? All in favor? All opposed? Thank you very much. Thank you, committee. Thank you, Chairman. Okay. Okay, do we have
Speaker 242
46:04
somebody else, anybody here from outside that we need to? All right, are you doing
Senator Jane English
Unverified
46:12
Fred Allen's bills? Yes. Oh, okay, all right, okay. And those numbers are 1648, 1648.
I just
Speaker 117
46:39
wanted to get those people from out of here.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
46:50
get theirs out
so they can get out house bills
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
47:08
what did you say that was oh thanks okay thank you madam chair I would ask that we adopt the amendment
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
47:15
to house bill 1648 which deletes the name the names after dr. Martin
Senator Jane English
Unverified
47:21
Luther King jr There are comments from the committee?
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
47:26
Do you have a question? So the amendment just takes out all the names? It's after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Oh, okay. And his pursuit of justice
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
47:37
and civil society. They can still be taught, it just doesn't put it? It
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
47:40
just does not delineate. Okay. Is there anybody in the audience who'd
Senator Jane English
Unverified
47:50
like to speak for or against the bill? I mean, I'm sorry, adopt the amendment.
Speaker 261
47:59
All in favor? Aye. Okay. All right. Thank you. Receive with your bill. Thank
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
48:04
you, ladies and gentlemen, for adopting the amendment. And thank you, Madam Chair. My name is
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
48:09
Linda Chesterfield, Senate District 30. This is an act concerning African-American history in public schools to include certain Arkansas civil rights leaders as well as heroes in history in the public schools. And we find it is important that young people see a diverse number of individuals in their or are taught about a diverse number of individuals in their education.
And so we would appreciate a good vote. And Mr. Allen is here if he wishes to add anything
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
48:44
else to that. Thank you, Madam Chair and members. Senator Chesterfield has done a wonderful job explaining what the bill is all about. We'll be happy to take any questions. Senator
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
48:58
Johnson. Thank you, Representative Allen and Senator Chesterfield. This is a very good bill.
I appreciate the fact that you're not going to try to get into particulars of what's covered specifically, but I would recommend to those that might be developing these guidelines and recommendations for teachers to consider that Governor Winthrop Rockefeller be considered as one of those that should be added to that very long list, and I think that as historians begin to go back and look at situations, we might discover some other
people that were very relevant and as I mentioned to Senator Chesterfield yesterday, some of the people that Senator Flowers even had nominated to be considered for our statues in the Capitol. So I just commend you for your work and recommend perhaps that that be done as well. But I do see the wisdom of the amendment and how it will help facilitate getting this
Speaker 270
49:59
done. Thank you so much for those comments, Senator Johnson. So I have a question.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
50:08
Maybe I need Ms. Smith to come back.
So I guess my only question is that we just, is she here? Stacey Smith. So I guess my question is, as we looked at
the last thing of Senator Ballinger's things to be included,
are these already included in the standards? Like most of those things were already part of the standards. Are these part of the standards?
Speaker 59
50:48
So we do have broad standards that specifically state civil rights leaders. We didn't have specific names mentioned. but we are already in the process after we saw the first bill get drafted we even went back and started looking at the previous legislation of Act 561 where we were making a note of African Americans on the website and providing resources and trying to expand that to include civil rights
so do we have specific names mentioned no but that took the specific names out but it definitely will push us to be able to provide some more guidance and direction in that area for our Kansans who made notable
Senator Jane English
Unverified
51:28
contributors. So these would fit in with what you're doing? Yes, ma'am. Senator Elliott,
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
51:35
did you have a question? Just as a follow, even though the names are not here, there are still names listed here that people are unfamiliar with.
And I think that's important as we move ahead so that it isn't just Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that we understand that Sue Cowan Williams could be in that list, the woman who sued this state so that we would have equal pay between black and white teachers. So this opens up a number of avenues to allow us then to delve into those individuals who have made a difference. Senator Brown is here because she's the first African-American woman to ever serve in the Senate.
And I introduce you to Richard Mays, who could probably be a part of that, who was the only surviving member of the four who desegregated the General Assembly in 1973. So it does open up a broad spectrum. It is not limited by these names, but it opens up an even broader spectrum. And I'd appreciate a good vote. Questions? Other
Senator Jane English
Unverified
52:38
questions from the committee? Anybody in the audience who would like to speak for or against the bill?
Seeing none, what is the will of the
committee? Second? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Thank you
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
52:58
very much. You passed your bill. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, and I thank Representative Allen. We would like for you to look at House Bill 1901. And there is an amendment
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
53:20
that is with it, and the amendment would designate a possibility
of a funding strain for
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
53:27
what we're talking about. I would move
Speaker 282
53:33
adoption of the amendment. All in favor? Anyone opposed? Thank you. 1901. One of the things
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
53:39
that is, House Bill 1901 is designed to create the academic support scholarship. We've
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
53:45
got a lot of scholarships that are going on, but one of the things that is missing is the tutorial that is needed to help children better achieve.
it's not a costly thing but it is a critical thing I know that Dr. Smith has done marvelous work working with kids we have boot camps to try to get them up to speed because everything now is predicated on how well do you do on a test and in order for those children who are poor and who need it we need to be able to provide them with some assistance early on so that they learn that a test taking skill is just that a skill it is not a gift and we want our kids to do it the
right way and not have their parents pay to play as we have seen in the recent uh uh ugliness is broken out across this country on people paying people to take tests if our kids learn to do it the right way then they wouldn't have to do that they would be more able to succeed not only in school but also in going into post-secondary education i will yield to representative alan for the remarks
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
55:08
again thank you madam chair and members the primary focus of this field is to eliminate to reduce remediation and to increase the graduation ratio among students and the way we can do that, we can provide them with a small academic challenge scholarship one time that should be used for tutoring, can be used for technical assistance. It also can be used to help them further better themselves. We'd be happy to take any questions.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
55:43
Thank you. My question is, where is the money going to come
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
55:47
from for this? It's in the amendment. The amendment says the scholarship under this
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
55:53
section shall be funded with any funds remaining after the Department of Higher Education allocates efficient funding to award Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarships, et cetera, Arkansas Workforce Challenge Scholarships under this area and Arkansas Concurrent Challenge Scholarships under Acts 2019, No. 456.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
56:14
We're not talking about taking away money. We're talking about
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
56:22
dealing with money that's left over. Senator Johnson. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Chesterfield, is this to, and I know it could be other things, but for example, someone wants to go to college, they're a little dubious about where they are on things, and this would perhaps pay for them to take a prep course to better handle the ACT or the SAT. Yes, it would. Is that exactly what it's for? Yes, the tutoring.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
56:45
I think it's critical. I know that we've dealt with several tutoring projects. I know
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
56:50
Representative Scott does a lot of that ACT prep, and she's been able to get a lot of grant money to do that. But it helps to level the playing field and to give these kids a shot at getting in school.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
57:02
Thank you. Sounds like a great idea. Thank you, Senators and Representatives. Thank you, ma'am.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
57:20
I guess my question I'm wondering is, when we've tried to use these dollars before for other things, that they
have to be at a public college, and so I'm wondering, how does this fit in with, am I totally wrong, is Ann Clemmer here? I thought that was one of the stipulations.
We're not talking about the Our Future scholarship.
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
57:52
It's not one of those that's mentioned. Our Futures is the only one that's limited to
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
57:58
public institutions. No, I'm talking about the lottery scholarship. The lottery scholarship is not limited to public
Senator Jane English
Unverified
58:03
institutions. It's everybody's, yeah. But I thought you had to use the money, and I'm
wondering where the money, how you would be able to use this for private tutoring or something like that. That's my question. Well, the Department of Higher Ed is
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
58:16
on board with it, so. All right. I thought they were.
That was the rumor. That was the rumor. I don't have a problem with that. If they aren't, I'm
going to step on somebody's foot. Dr. Markham said she was okay with
Nick Fuller
Unverified
58:40
Markham said she was okay with it. I apologize. Oh, okay. Nick Fuller, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Ed. The lottery funds for academic challenges can be used at private institutions within the state as long as there
Senator Jane English
Unverified
58:52
are Arkansas residents that are using those funds. I'm thinking about, but if somebody is contracting it with a non-profit organization
to provide the tutoring and stuff like that, that's where I'm wondering about the
Nick Fuller
Unverified
59:05
question. Yes, the funds do have to go, they are directed to the institution itself. We don't give any funds to a student. With
Senator Jane English
Unverified
59:12
a group of folks to provide that. I guess that would be
Nick Fuller
Unverified
59:17
on the institution level to do that. Our funds all go directly to an institution. That's kind of
Senator Jane English
Unverified
59:22
what I thought. Okay. All right. I'm fine. Senator Church. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
59:33
Seems like you get a good idea and everyone wants to use your same pot of money. but
I want to make sure I understand it because if it's a scholarship funded through the lottery you put in here they must have already been graduated, they must have already been applying to the post-secondary school, so any of these services that are on page one will be provided by that institution of higher ed, public or private, doesn't matter but that's where the money is going, correct? The $250 now, is it $250 just for the year? So it's
125 each semester or just 250 in general or is there any way to break it up or one time 250. One time 250. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate you. Okay. Any other questions from the
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:00:19
committee? Is there anybody in the audience who would like to speak for or against the bill?
Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? All in favor?
all opposed thank you very much thank
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:00:38
you ladies and gentlemen the committee all
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:00:41
right you've got a very quick one
yeah 16 senate bill 1619
These are Senator Elliott's bills. Okay, Senator 8, 16, 619, I'm sorry. What's
wrong with my brain? You
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:01:24
were recognized. Okay, thank you, Madam Chair. Committee,
Senator Lance Eads
Unverified
1:01:32
this bill, Senate Bill 619, is to amend the membership requirements for the
Higher Ed Coordinating Board. What it does is it provides a little bit more flexibility for them to sometimes have a challenge fulfilling all the positions. So it takes off the requirement that one of the main ones is that there are six positions, three positions that come from either current or recent membership of boards in public two-year colleges and other ones of public four-year colleges and universities. and sometimes that's a challenge to get people off of that. So what it's changed to is six members who will be qualified electors
and graduates of a two-year or a four-year university. So it gives them a little bit broader range of people that they can choose from. And there are also a few other specifics that it goes through here. Mostly it's just changing the name and their institution of higher education on the rest of it. That's the main thing to give them a little bit more flexibility and the pool that they can choose
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:02:31
from to fill out this coordinating board. Senator Chesterfield. Thank you. I think Representative Eads knows me well enough to anticipate my question.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:02:39
Where is the provision in here so that you have ethnic and gender diversity on
Senator Lance Eads
Unverified
1:02:49
this board? Or is that the end? This came from the boards and commissions office, and I'm not
Speaker 330
1:02:57
sure if it's written specifically in here.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:03:02
It's not there. I don't believe it's in here, Senator. May I
ask Ms. Clemmer how we can address my concern and what steps they will take to make sure that the diverse voices of this state are heard?
Speaker 335
1:03:21
Yes, ma'am. Ann Clemmer, Department of Higher Education. these positions are still appointed by the governor so I believe you would use your influence with the governor and try to have it as broad as possible I would actually point out that there's a greater chance for diversity even though it's not written in here that there has to be with this bill because it doesn't require prior board membership
that is a very tiny pool of applicants to draw from and so the fact that that has been diminished in this bill even further than the prior bill which was actually our bill but this this reduces it this takes that away completely and it doesn't mean that they won't come from boards but they don't have to come from boards and they have to be from public institutions is that right No, they do not.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:04:21
I'm looking at qualified electors of the state of Arkansas
and graduates of public two-year, four-year institutions of higher education.
Is that incorrect on page two? Line three? Thank you. Or does the qualified
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:04:39
electors of the state get us to individuals who represent other institutions? I don't believe that was an
Speaker 335
1:04:46
intentional change, and I'll have to get better bifocals on probably to read that again. We currently have a member from a private institution on our board, and I don't believe
we would have done away with that ability to do that. Well, maybe 9-5-10 take care
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:05:02
of it then, it says. If an appointee under the subdivision is serving as a member of a board of a two- or four-year at the time it doesn't specifically say public in that in that instance but throughout this thing I'm looking at a lot of current members of a board of a public two or four year institution of higher education so I mean if that's the intent then that's the intent but I'm just looking at
Speaker 335
1:05:31
we'll be looking at that as we as we go forward to write the rules I don't believe
Speaker 340
1:05:36
that I would You have to ask boards and commission drafted this. I don't believe that was
Speaker 324
1:05:40
there. I don't think that was the intent at all. All right.
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:05:46
Senator Schultz. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. So what we used to have was three members selected from current or recent boards from public two years and public four years. That was the original language. That's correct. So what you're saying is it was hard because they were having to serve on two different areas. They were serving at the Community College Board of Visitors
or the ASU system or ASU board or whatever
Speaker 343
1:06:07
and serving on the Higher Ed Coordinating Board? Well, they weren't allowed to serve on both. They had to
Speaker 335
1:06:13
give up their other board position. But you think with the growth of our systems, that's one board. So, for instance, UA Little Rock doesn't have their own board. It's the UA board. Right. And then the ASU board. But anyway, we have a fairly small pool to draw. Exactly. applicants for the higher education coordinating board when you when you
require the board membership so this does away with it entirely we had already reduced
Speaker 340
1:06:37
it but this does away with it entirely so all
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:06:40
we're then changing it to is that they still have to relinquish their current board if they're still if they are
serving if they want to be on this higher ed coordinating board they're just a graduate of the public two-year or four year and a qualified electorate that's all we're and so that kind of opens it up just a little bit more versus 10 people here and 12 people
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:07:01
here and so Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Chesterfield. Could you tell me the current ethnic and gender makeup of the board?
Speaker 335
1:07:10
We have minority representation. The best of my memory, looking at the board wallets, we have one minority member on the board right now. What about women? We have at least one. I'm thinking, do we have others? We've rotated out some just recently, and we have some vacancies right now, currently. Well, I understand what
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:07:35
we were deleting, but as you go forward, you try to do better, and I anticipate that this is meant to be better than what we already had.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:07:44
Is that correct? I would anticipate the same. Okay. So, thank you very much. Any other questions from the committee? Is there
anybody in the audience who would like to speak for or against the bill? Seeing none, what is the will of the committee? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? Thank
Senator Lance Eads
Unverified
1:08:09
you very much. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, committee.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:08:12
Thank you. Okay. Let me see if we've got any other quickies.
Unknown speaker
1:08:15
We can email you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:08:45
Members of the committee, this is the concurrence with Senate Bill 538 from a House Amendment, Senate Bill 538. Go ahead.
This was with regard, excuse me, Madam
Chair, Senator James Sturge, Senate District 19. This was in regard to my bill on Act 1240 waivers. All we're wanting to make sure is that we're in line with federal code.
So all the House amendment did was reference that code, so it will change it to reporting through the arkansas public school computer network applications which is what we had as provided under title six which is the federal code that it would be under and that's all the house amendment did i appreciate a good vote other questions from the committee
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:09:36
anybody in the audience who would like to speak for
or against the bill Being known, what is the will of the committee?
Move to pass. All in favor? Aye. I oppose. Thank you, Madam
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:09:58
Chair. Thank you very much. If I could, while I'm down here and just save time, I
had a bill, House Bill 1498. It appears that it was under fiscal impact, but we have the fiscal impact since it was a house bill. So if I need to make
a motion to move that to be considered, I'll just... No, that's right. Go ahead. This is House Bill 1498.
Thank you Madam Chair and committee. Again, Senator James Sturge, District 19. The committee, the fiscal impact on this, of course, was zero. It's just part of the formality, but it deals with the ABSCAN, the Arkansas Public School Computer Network requirements. All we're wanting to make sure is that we define all the schools that need to upload that information to keep us consistent with federal reporting requirements. So all this bill essentially does is change the definition of public school to mean a public school district, education service cooperative, or an open enrollment public charter school. And that's all that the bill does, is that definition change.
Speaker 198
1:11:15
Senator Teetham. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Sturge on the second page.
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:11:27
Yes, sir. Item G. Yes, sir. What is this? The mark reporting. Commissioner Key will love to answer that. I think
it actually means grades. Mark reporting usually means grades. Yes, I would have rather had Mr. Rogers here to
Speaker 373
1:11:45
explain that, but he had to go to another meeting with the superintendent.
But in essence, all of those elements are elements that school districts are reporting in the system now. They are added functions that we've brought online with student management systems. We had a financial management side and student management side. So when you look at attendance, discipline, grades, the medical and scheduling issues, that's what we're adding. Senator Chesterfield, have
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:12:15
we come full circle to where we just mark reporting now instead of?
Speaker 377
1:12:23
I knew there might be some folks that have been around
Speaker 378
1:12:25
long enough to know what we're talking about, marks versus grades. any other questions if you'll remember we
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:12:36
used to say in education every three years the cycle rotates and three several three years have passed with that madam chair i appreciate a good
vote move to pass i just forgot to say johnny key department of education for the record
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:12:54
is there anybody first is there anybody in the audience who wants to speak for against the bill Seeing none, what's the will
of the committee? First. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Senator Elliott, do
you want to do 664? Yeah. I'll start with that. We do have to suspend the rules
to hear 664. Okay. All
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:13:42
you. May begin. Thank you, Madam
Speaker 390
1:14:09
Chair. I think is there an amendment for 664 I
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:14:16
think we're due there is
Speaker 391
1:14:25
thank you all favor all right yes we did that
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:14:42
okay yeah it's not on the agenda yeah but it's in in your package and it has a fiscal impact okay so we're ready Madam Chair. The amendment, we got to adopt an amendment. Okay. All right, moving right along. All right. Aaliyah?
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:14:56
Thank you, Madam Chair and committee members. I know most of you,
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:15:02
probably all of you are aware of what we've been trying to do with aligning all of our reading with the science of reading. And we have done a great deal with the Department of Education and with the governor in making sure we have done so in K-12 and also at the higher ed level by getting the higher ed people
who are preparing teachers to make sure they are now teaching prospective teachers about the science of reading and preparing them to teach it in that way. So what I'm trying to do is fill some gaps where we have people who desperately need to learn how to read and in the in our department of correction system that is definitely a problem because a huge number of folks uh who are in the system itself and we either range generally somewhere from 15 to 18,000 people there at a time and many of them can't read many of them
are dyslexic but not everybody's dyslexic so what this what this bill proposes to do is to make sure if you would just look at the amendment right now because the amendment actually replaces everything that's in the original bill because I heard from the people at ADC, we had a long meeting yesterday and agreed to do this according to what's in this amendment that you have right now and I can tell you quickly what it does. It requires that on intake, at the time of intake
everybody is assessed on their reading skills and at that point they will be it will be determined if they have dyslexia or if they have other reading issues and those folks who are found to have needs to help them learn to read and and to function at a high level will have been access to teachers who are trained in dyslexia and delivering that kind of service for them to get
interventions very much like what we do at the high school level but just not quite as intense so that's what that's what this bill is going to do but different from the original bill we had we divided up into first we will deal with those folks who are on intake the brand new people coming in because the department said that they could not deal with everybody at one time so by January 15th I think it is if I remember the date correctly they will they will have a process in place for dealing with the intakes and then by October 1 of
2020 they will have a plan in place for how they're going to deal with everybody else that's in the system because can't do it all at one time so we sat down together to work this out yesterday and this is what we agreed to that they said they could do and they could get it done and they will their plan of course will be delivered to the arkansas department of correction board for rules and regulations to be written and then those rules and regulations will be submitted to the at the joint education committee for review
and i i think somebody may be here from department of uh from uh adc i don't know but you might not No, they have their own school system for everybody that's in the Department of Correction. And so I work with Superintendent Glover and with Solomon Graves from the department yesterday to get us worked out to this amendment, which replaces the rest
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:18:40
of the things they said they could not handle right now. So I'll take any questions, Madam Chair. Thank you again
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:18:55
Senator Elliott for your work on this I'm turning like Senator Sturge I'm getting choked up I told you when we started this effort that I think this changes the trajectory
of people's lives more than maybe anything else that we've done this whole session and when we passed the science of reading bill I felt that way, and I think that even more so maybe with this, because the trajectory of some of these people is not the direction they need to go.
And to help reach their potential, to save the state money, to make Arkansas a better place in every
way, this is a wonderful bill. Would you agree? I would agree, and I would almost
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:19:36
match you in getting choked up, because there is nothing worse than, you know, somebody who wants to make something of themselves and move ahead, and they cannot read. And that is just kind of a debilitating state
of mind that is hard to get past. Yeah. MR. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you, Madam Chair. MS. You're welcome. MS. I
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:19:55
do believe, you know, we spend an awful lot of time
in here on K through 12 education. That's our focus.
But the reality that education is all of these folks and helping everybody to have a better future, and some of them obviously missed out at some point in their lives, but that doesn't mean that their life is ended. And so I think we're all in favor. We support the bill. Thank you. Any all in favor? Thank you very much. I didn't ask for anybody against
the audience. We don't want them to vote against it.
Speaker 410
1:20:38
I don't know how to act. I don't know what to do. Yeah.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:20:45
Madam Chair, is 677 on
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:20:48
your, is that the one we'd have to vote to put on the agenda today? Yeah. Because it was, okay.
Speaker 296
1:20:59
And placed on the agenda. Do we have the bill? I mean,
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:21:05
do we have a copy of it? Okay. 677. Okay. We
have to suspend the rules. Second. All in favor? Aye. Thank you. Okay.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:21:25
Senate Bill 677. Thank you. Yeah, we can go ahead and start crying.
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:21:30
Okay. Yeah. All right. Okay. Madam Chair, am I, you ready for me? Yes. Okay. so that you don't have to get hung up with everything that's on the first two pages you know these are the findings but what they really are I went to the website to make sure I understood understood and use as findings what is said on the website at DYS to show us what what the vision is what the mission is and that's what all that is that's nothing that's made up by
anybody. But this bill, after I was working on the Arkansas Department of Correction bill, I realized we still have had the gap of our juveniles who are, you know, under our tutelage, so to speak. And they deserve, and part of what we promised them, to get the, you know, to get the same kind of. It doesn't have to be exact, but they at least need to know how to read like everybody else and so this bill is about our youth and our juveniles it is it is it is more
um i guess it it is more detailed than the adc people i have not heard anything from dys and i need to be sure you understand that i've not heard anything from them i don't know what they think about it at this point but I have laid this out consistent with what we are doing with young people in our schools because that is the thing that mirrors more what they have than anybody else and so the same kind of things that when the students are taken in they get the screening
if they have dyslexia they get interventions and if they have other reading problems they get interventions that's all the bill is requiring us to do same same song here is really what it is and I don't because I haven't heard from DYS I don't know if that means they don't have an issue with it but if they come to me later and they do want to talk about it I am completely open
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:23:32
to doing that but that's what this bill does to try to close that gap yes thank you madam chair and thank you
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:23:43
senator Elliott I know some time ago we put into place a
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:23:47
program of studies study for our kids who are incarcerated very very similar to that which is at the School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind. And we insisted during that period of time that we would have a curriculum that would mirror public education so that
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:24:04
when these kids came in, they didn't miss a beat, they would be able to go back. And this, it seems to me, helps to make that happen more.
Right. Because we know that if kids cannot read, many of the discipline problems that come out come out because of their inability
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:24:20
to do what they need to do to be successful which you agree i would agree and you brought
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:24:26
up a whole new gap for me when you mentioned a school for the for the blind i don't know braille i you know i don't know how that works but that's a that's a good
point okay i won't be trying to close that gap this session though okay um well i just had
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:24:47
quick question i want to make sure i understand the the bill was just filed yesterday so if
you do hear from division of youth services as far as logistical things or whatever you will commit to changing it oh absolutely yeah absolutely
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:25:00
because i i want to be sure yes absolutely thank you ma'am i'll be happy to do that because i want these kids to
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:25:09
be served because thank you madam chair i'll be brief uh senator elliott i want to tell you that my
daughter texted me earlier this morning and asked me to co-sponsor this bill. In the interest of time,
I will decline, but I do want to associate myself with everything you do
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:25:28
on this bill. If I hear anything from DYS, we have to do
those, suspend the motion to get the bill amended, blah, blah, blah. I'll put you in that mix. Thank you. I appreciate that,
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:25:55
Senator. thank you so much committee uh madam chair this bill folks have been waiting for bill uh senate
bill 591 so i'll just go ahead the people here are here to speak for it this has nothing to do with the reading also um 591 and with the uh yeah i'm
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:26:10
going to see if you will come on to the table One of you can sit here, and one can sit there. Thank you.
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:26:38
Thank you, Madam Chair. This bill has been in our folders for quite a bit, But I doubt if we've not gotten to it on the agenda, you might not have read it. But I have three people sitting here with me because they know a whole lot more about the process than I do. And I'm not going to pretend to know something I don't here. They have worked very hard on Senate Bill 591 and have worked some with the governor on the bill before I was even involved in this bill.
but it is, the title says exactly what it is, to promote truth and reconciliation among Arkansans and to create the, and all of this will be explained to you, and to create the Arkansas Community Remembrance Commission. And I spoke with the governor this morning because I wanted to be sure I know where he was on the bill at this point, and they are neutral on the bill. And that is, and I think some of that is because, just so you know, there are some people who want to do this one way and some who want to do another. and I work with all sides as best as I know how to do this
and at some point you have to decide what's best to do and move ahead and so if you will indulge us, I will ask these folks to introduce themselves and explain what the bill is and what it's about and connote to you guys that we don't, you know, be as brief as you can when you're talking because the committee gets antsy and we don't want to get them upset before we
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:28:08
get started. okay okay so thank you thank you madam chair and whoever's going to go first you may go first
Speaker 431
1:28:14
good morning madam chair and um um everyone um my name is clarice abdul bay i am co-governor of
the arkansas peace and justice memorial
Speaker 433
1:28:32
movement Good morning. Thank you, Madam Chair and Committee. My name is Kwame Abdul-Bey, I'm co-convener of the
Speaker 243
1:28:53
Movement. Good morning, Madam Chair and committee.
Clay Moorhead-Hall
Unverified
1:28:56
My name is Clay Moorhead-Hall, and I'm merely present to support the bill and to make a
Speaker 433
1:29:09
statement. Okay, this bill, with this bill, what we're interested in doing is to to create a commission that will serve like a statewide umbrella to start activities in all of the
Speaker 437
1:29:26
75 counties to create an environment of truth and reconciliation based on the dark history that the state of Arkansas,
the territory of Arkansas, has with racial, political, and religious violence against the citizens, certain citizens of the state of Arkansas. And in 50 of the 75 counties in Arkansas, there have been a total, right now, documented 392 lynchings. and basically what we want to do is we want to provide an avenue where this history can be
Speaker 433
1:30:15
brought out into the open. It can be thoroughly documented and create an avenue where we all, everyone in here and everyone in the state of Arkansas can learn what has happened in the past so that we don't repeat that pass. This year is the 100th anniversary of the tragedy that happened in Phillips County. It's also the 60th anniversary of the tragedy that happened in Wrightsville.
So what we want to do is basically what Channel 4, Channel 7, and Channel 11, and the Arkansas Democrat Gazette has been doing over the last couple of years, is bringing out these stories and exposing this information and we're working with the Butler Center, we're working with the several different departments at UALR, several different departments at UCA, ASU, Philander Smith College to create a curriculum.
This June, there will be 50 teachers from around the state of Arkansas that will convene at the Butler Center to begin
Speaker 437
1:31:30
creating a curriculum based on this dark history so that it can be proposed to be
Speaker 433
1:31:38
taught in the schools throughout the state
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:31:49
of Arkansas. Madam Chair, I'd like to add to that. There are two tiers to the operationalizing of this bill.
that there are folks who are a part of our state agencies and then who will help out with operationalizing this because this will take quite some time to get it done. And then, of course, there is also a section where there will be appointments of general grassroots people to be a part of this. And if this is something that seems like it's not anything you've heard before, it's similar to for example what happened in South Africa you know after
apartheid was they were rid of apartheid and they didn't just get rid of it just to get rid of it they did that and they did a coming together under something similar to this a truth and reconciliation commission then of course but a part of this is about teaching and learning not just about we're just going to bring up something just to be talking about it and I give credit to all these folks are doing that work this is not work i have done um but it is about learning about who we are
but coming together about who we are as well and trying to figure out what can we do to be closer to to one another and uh in spite of or because of learning about our history and if you look further in the bill to this this expires there's an expiration date for when this commission will will expire I think it's 2027 I believe it is so unless there is a reason for it to continue and there'll be a process for that so I just want to be sure you know that this is not an invention of anything new there are other states that
are doing the same thing and some of this has been inspired by some work that Bryan Stevenson has done and he's created I don't know if I'm calling the directing a national lynching museum to help commemorate some of that history, but respect too for the people who have been the victims. And in some of our counties, 65 of our counties have a history that they're beginning to notate
and collate that history, but this would be an overall effort of the whole state to help try to coordinate a way of doing things so they're not just disjunctured and so forth. I just want to be sure you know that. And if anybody has any questions, I've got three people here. I'm sure
Speaker 74
1:34:30
who can answer your questions. Senator Cheatham. Senator Yelley, I noticed on the physical impact, have you got that? I noticed there's contingent upon some appropriation.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:34:38
Have you taken care of that? or is that because I didn't know what would happen here and I didn't want to get involved in a discussion about appropriation about something that
didn't exist yet I just didn't want to try to have that conversation so you have ADE are
Speaker 216
1:35:02
they okay with that 20,000 I don't know,
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:35:08
because I did not speak with ADE.
ADE can speak for themselves. I'm sure
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:35:14
they aren't, but I just saw them go, mm-mm, or whatever. But the other thing we wanted to set up, too, because we really are more interested in this being funded by private funds, because we want to have the autonomy to do the work the way we see fit. So that, you know, that ADE is not okay and doesn't put in, that's not a concern for me because I don't have any big high expectation from them to be doing a lot of this work.
So, but that's the reason I'd want to set up, get an appropriation so that we can
Speaker 373
1:36:00
receive private funds for that. Johnny Key, Department of Education. Senator, I wasn't aware of any cost element. Senator Elliott was accurate. We've not discussed that. So I really don't have a
Speaker 375
1:36:10
good answer for you at this point. We haven't contemplated how that would work in our budget.
Speaker 79
1:36:18
Thank you. Matt, follow up, Madam Chair. So I'm assuming Senator Elliott, you're going to look for donation private funds. Is that your... Yes. There
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:36:27
are no other funds available. Yeah, I don't feel any kind of dependency on that. $40,000 whatsoever, because if
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:36:33
we don't do it, because what other places have done for the most part is, you know, the Department of Heritage will help up the staff if we need it. But to do this, I think it's kind of like, well, we just passed the bill for the statuary hall.
Where was that? Maybe it was in budget this morning. An appropriation for the statuary hall. I'm looking at a model like that so that we can get private donations to do this because this is not intended to be something that's a school thing for them to have to support because even with with the curriculum that's being done with the butler center and other entities at ua little rock and uca and asu and so forth yeah
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:37:18
so basically what i'm looking at is this would kind of be the responsibility or come under the
Department of Heritage. Do we have anybody here from the Department of Heritage to speak for this bill or give us a—I mean, basically, they would staff it. And so I
guess I'm wondering why we don't have them here, because it could be a big thing for them to have to take on another commission. The question, I
guess, is, too, we've got all these different organizations that would be part of this what are these other organizations already doing um in this in this particular effort
because these are all same groups i think that would be involved with what you're doing and i'm thinking that they're
already involved in some of this i
Speaker 45
1:38:13
guess my question is why do we need another commission uh well
Speaker 437
1:38:17
first your first question uh we have uh met with uh the department of arkansas heritage actually before we even brought the bill to the governor and we did get the green light from uh miss hearse saying that she would support it if it's passed
Kwame Abdul-Bey
Unverified
1:38:34
then after we met with her that's when we went to the governor and met with the governor and after we met with the governor that's when
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:38:50
we started meeting with legislators Senator Search I guess to piggyback then off of what Senator English said if we're basically just appointing one member from the Black History Commission Mozart Templars Cultural Center
Historical Association, Delta Culture I guess my question is why do we need a commission why couldn't we just create the committee because those things are already being done some of the same topics are already being discussed curriculums are already being developed I wouldn't mind having a committee but when it says the commission may hire and retain staff and even if it's privately funded we have this little clause in here that says if no appropriation is made the director of the department of heritage will provide staff and that so that kind of gives me pause to say I don't mind a committee because these
things are all being done but why
Speaker 447
1:39:38
the need for the commission? Well the committee like she said it was a two-tier,
Speaker 437
1:39:44
the committee would be responsible for actually coming up with a list of people who would be appointed to the commission. One thing, and we've talked to everyone who would be on the committee if this were passed, and one thing is they all have full plates. They all have day jobs. Three of them wanted to be here today, but
they're teaching, and I emailed you guys their written testimony that they support what we're doing but what we want to do is uh as senator elliott said we want to give an opportunity for uh grassroots normal citizens to have a say in this and that's they would have a say through the commission but not the committee
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
1:40:29
members of the public couldn't be appointed to the committee as well or no well how each of one of these
Speaker 437
1:40:37
or well how it's written the committee uh the
membership of the committee would be actually specifically be the state historian, state librarian, the president of the Arkansas Historical Association, all of those people, those are specific members of the committee. And they would come together and they would give a list of who they recommend to be on the commission and they will work in an advisory capacity to the commission.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:41:12
Okay. Thank you, Madam Chair. Has Mr. Scarborough with the Martin Luther King Commission, has he weighed in on this effort at all? I'd be curious. It would seem that it's a little bit, I mean, maybe not redundant, but would seem parallel and perhaps a function that would be something that we should look at in that context as opposed to a stand-alone situation. I'd like to
Speaker 431
1:41:43
address that just a little bit, Senator Johnson. The Martin Luther King Commission, it's totally I would say the parallel is different in that the Martin Luther King Commission addresses all things MLK, all things that had to do with during the time of civil rights leadership of Martin Luther King. They do not address specifically what we're asking about on this bill,
which is to address difficult history, dark history, me, myself, being a descendant of a great-grandfather and a grandfather who fled Elaine during the Rice Massacre. to Chicago and did not return, or they were sharecroppers, and did not return until my grandfather was maybe 37. Those histories and memorializations of those who have been lynched or killed in the state of Arkansas are not being addressed by the MLK Commission. I don't
think they ever have been in the past, and so I think that this history does need a separate entity to take on that that task and that's my well I
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:43:04
first I want to offer condolences for your family
and I understand your passion about this but to basically expand state government in this manner when we have a commission that maybe is it's concentrating on a slightly different area or time in
history, but could certainly go back and is trying to, has a similar, or actually I would say the same mandate to try to have reconciliation, but to maybe add this to something that they could consider in their work as opposed to once again, you know, expanding government. And we have a lot of good, wonderful things that come through that sometimes we just have to say, you know, we've grown government just about as much as we can stand it at this time.
But I would like to hear from Mr. Scarborough or others involved with the MLK Commission before I could move forward on
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:44:03
something. Well, I would just like to respond that, you know, that was a consideration. And each time we've considered something like this, generally we get into that discussion about the MLK Commission, but the MLK Commission is, I would submit, in no way prepared to do this kind of work, nor are they actually expected to, because this is something that
is very involved. And one of the things that the bill is written to do is to make sure that it is something that honors not just a commission of folks to put something together like this, but to have people from the grassroots be largely in charge of helping to write their own history with the input of the committee that we talked about earlier who are experts in some of the history, but so are they.
So, and it is, and I know that it might seem as if it's a good fit, but we don't have, there are not the people there put on that committee with this in mind because this is a whole different thing from the generality of promoting civil rights and this is something that will take a lot of time and delve deeply into history and that commission is just not set up to do that and that's why I think these folks have worked so hard to make sure it's something we can do
and be focused on this one thing and not try
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:45:37
to encroach on what the commission is, the MLK Commission is designed to do,
Clay Moorhead-Hall
Unverified
1:45:43
because they are not set up to do this. May I speak? Madam Chair, I think the manner of these questions justify why this type of commission is needed. Because everyone thinks that anything civil rights or anything that deals with race diversity or anything falls under MLK Commission. And it's just not true.
There's so much in our history that we don't even know. Now, I can share with you my experience. The Mosaic Templar had a, several years ago, they had a seminar, and I was asked to participate as a speaker because my grandfather and my uncle were involved in the 1927 lynching per se. My uncle was actually electrocuted, executed for raping a white child.
However, white historians, Caucasian historians, have since brought forward proof that the basis of his guilty verdict was practically what they call a legal lynching because this young man had no way of writing the saying that he did it. The whole process was wrong.
The sensitivity to this is because all you hear about is a lynching that occurred on Broadway. And this man drug through the streets. It's just not accurate. The information is not accurate. And the need for the truth to be brought is not to start a ruckus, but so that we can become more sensitive and understanding of each other. Now, that panel consisted of a family member of the girl,
a family member of the sheriff, the family member of the one that was electrocuted, and the family member of the one that was lynched. However, after we left, that was it. It was over. It was supposed to be a book written. The historians were supposed to do so much. But that was it. That was the end of it. And everybody's happy because, oh, we had this panel discussion. But the truth of it is that it still leaves so many questions.
And the importance of us recognizing and understanding what the cruelty, This is just one area of the cruelties of things that occurred. If I understood the sheriff's thinking, if I had that input, and the sheriff's family had my family's input, we're much more sensitive in understanding. And I think the relationship of Arkansans would even be better, especially in this time of day when diversity has just been magnified in things.
So I'm saying, coming back to the subject, that I support this bill simply because it deals with an area, a time specifically, that is not addressed totally by any other commission, nor is any other commission designed to have the time, efforts, finances, etc. to look at this. It's something that we just like to say, well, my mother never even mentioned it, and it was her brother.
I grew up not hearing anything about it. So you see what I'm saying? It's
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
1:49:34
something that's shut aside. Yes, ma'am. I hear what you're saying, but I think that part
of my question has to do with can the MLK Commission's mandate better be expanded to touch on the issues that you bring forth as opposed to saying, well, that doesn't align with what their mission is today. And I believe that that can be and would perhaps even, not saying it would do a better job,
but maybe as good a job as the proposal that you have here and would have just a little bit more of our fiscal constraint in place. I personally think that it's a two-edged sword and where you have something named the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission, which obviously honors Dr. King appropriately. But it's obviously a lot more than just about that one man. It's about the movement that he was involved with.
It's also about the struggle of all of us to understand the brotherhood of all people. And if it's necessary to expand that mandate to include issues like you're bringing forth today, then certainly I would be open to looking at that. But I'm just, you know, to create yet another entity to look at this specific thing, then, you know, I'm a little reticent to do that. But I appreciate very much where you're coming from, and thank you for coming before us and bringing this information.
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:51:08
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Senator Elliott, and the other entities
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:51:17
at the table. I always bring y'all such huge stuff, don't I? I was
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
1:51:25
so happy about those first two bills. You always challenge us, and it is a good challenge, simply because it is easy, because of the sanitizing of the King legacy, to be comfortable visiting with Dr. King only.
And it is very, very difficult because we very seldom hear of the bombing of the church in Birmingham, or we seldom hear of the lynchings that took place right up the street from where we are. We don't hear about Elaine. We don't hear about Wrightsville. We don't hear about those things because they make us uncomfortable. and a part of being a state that deals with the totality of its being is dealing with that which is uncomfortable.
We have dealt with Dr. King and we have concentrated solely on the I Have a Dream speech more or less. And while that is a bit of it, we don't even deal with the totality of that speech because we never talk about that part where he says we have come to the nation's capital to cash a check, a check marked insufficient funds, as far as its people of color are concerned. We don't hear that part of that. And so I am concerned when we talk about the non-monolithic group called African Americans
that we have decided that we will have only one entity that deals with the history that is ours. And that's what this is trying to get us to do, whether we pass it or we don't, because I see the reluctance here. But it is important that we have more than one perspective of the history that has impacted African Americans throughout the years. And one of the things that happened when we talked about Dr. Ferguson and his history of Arkansas was the sanitizing of all things that had to deal with people of color except that which was negative.
And so I would urge my colleagues to think about the fact that Martin Luther King Commission has a specific purpose. It is not this purpose. It deals basically with Dr. King from the Montgomery boycott until his assassination only. It does not deal with the history of Arkansas and its history of violence, because Arkansas has not been the most violent of the states in the South.
Compared to Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, perhaps, we have been rather good, but we have had our history, and our children need to know it, not to revel in it, but to learn from it. And so I would ask for a good vote on this bill so that not only African-American children but all children would understand that Arkansas has not been perfect, but we have grown as a state. And we have grown enough to embrace the fact that we have had imperfections over which we try to overcome.
And that is why I would ask for a
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:54:41
good vote on the bill. Would you agree? Yes, I would. And the last thing I'd like to say about it is I would like this committee to understand, because I understand when the commission comes up. I get that. But I would like us to think about this is not, as Ms. Hall indicated, where they had a panel and then everybody went home and nothing happened. This is not like a one-time thing.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:55:05
It is a process. It's a process of doing this. And that's why it would be slow and trotting and thoughtful about people's feelings and thoughtful about how we deal with one another. It's not supposed to be a one and done thing because if we are going to get to where we need to be, we need to be very careful that we are doing things in ways that we can bring all voices to the table, all voices to the table, and honor all voices,
whether we like what people have to say or not. That is not the point for us to like it or for me to feel good
or for anybody else to feel good or to feel bad. Neither one of those is a point. But this thing is a process. If you can imagine, for example, around the world where people have done these kind of reconciliations and truth finding and so forth, they had to start from scratch because everything
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
1:56:00
they had was not something that was put in place to do this kind of thing. and that's why it really just makes more sense to do it that way.
And those are my last comments, Madam Chair. Unless there are some questions, I will consider myself
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
1:56:15
closed unless one of these people have something they quickly very much want to say. Otherwise, I'm closed for the bill, Madam
Chair. Well, I guess it's I forgot. You've got to let other people talk if they want to in the audience. I forgot,
Speaker 455
1:56:39
Madam Chair. I'm from Phillips County, and y'all know I'm a literacy advocate, so I was trying to learn
about the history of literacy, and I was going back to the beginning of public education and how we learned to read and what curriculum we used and that sort of thing, and it led me back to home and I learned that during the Civil War the Quakers came down and they taught the freedmen to read and to make a long story short the literacy rates in Phillips County were
way better then during the Civil War and up to the progressive era until they are now so and that's because of the way that they were taught. And all that history has been buried. There's a house there. It's called the Allen House. It was actually the first black sheriff's house. And there's all this black history that I've never heard of. And so I've started to question everything. And I've really started to bury, dig, and just read. My nightstand is full of black
history and I've just been amazed that I grew up in this area that is so all about the Civil War and there's a huge cemetery there and all these antebellum homes and I never heard any of these things so I thought it was very sad and I've reached out to many people to talk to them about it and they don't know either so I don't know all the particulars of how you would go about doing it but there's a lot of revisionist history that I think would help heal because I understood
what happened to Southland because I've read up on it and it helped me understand that like Barton School District has always been a better school district than Helena and that was because they had Southland there and those people were taught to read and write correctly and the people in town weren't so it is very important even though i'm not a black person it's very important for me to understand and it helped me understand the whole environment and everything that
Speaker 456
1:58:51
went on where I grew up and still going on today thank you very much
Unknown speaker
1:59:10
Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Committee.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:59:40
and we've got it it's okay all right
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:00:10
I'll wait. 668. Yes, ma'am. I would ask for Mr. Jeff Wood to be able to join me at the
table. He is on the advisory committee? Community advisory board for the Little Rock School District. And Jeff, would you introduce yourself?
Jeff Wood
Unverified
2:00:33
Sure. My name is Jeff Wood, and I am the chairman of the community advisory board for the Little Rock School District.
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:00:40
This is a bill that addresses the extensions of the Assumption Authority in the Little Rock, or
in any district, but certainly we're going to talk more about Little Rock because Jeff is here. And I would ask that he be allowed
Speaker 467
2:01:01
to make a presentation to explain this. Sure. Thank you, Senator. I come in support of this bill today because I believe that we are making significant changes in the Little Rock School District, but more time is needed to let those changes take root.
But more importantly than Little Rock, I think that this bill is good policy statewide. The situation that we find ourselves in in Little Rock can happen in any school district. In fact, I think that news reports recently are showing a number of districts that have been in state support are ping-ponging, so to speak, back and forth in and out of state takeover. And I think that this bill gives the State Board of Education the flexibility, if it so chooses, to elect to have up to two, two-year periods where it could maintain its intervention in the school district.
I think if you look at the situation in Little Rock, and remember, this could be any district in any of your counties, the state took over the school district in January of 2015. And unfortunately, the State Department of Education did not have a magic wand that they could just come in and wave and say abracadabra and fix every problem. Instead, it took a period of time to use some trial and error and identify some issues. And just recently, we have identified some significant issues, specifically that would be related to the reading curriculum that we were using.
It was not a science of reading curriculum. It was a philosophical curriculum, and we are changing that right now. We also identified, with the help of the State Department, that we practically did not educate children with dyslexia in reading. and we are changing that aggressively. The deal is we are in year five and I believe that the state board should have the option
if they take a look at the changes we are making to say a little more time with state intervention would be helpful to help these changes, these significant changes take root to help change the systems and the culture that
Speaker 468
2:03:18
is in place in Little Rock. Thank you. Let's see. Senator Cheatham. Senator Madam Chair, I guess I'd
Speaker 202
2:03:31
like Mr. Key to come up to the table and a question I might want to ask him a little bit.
Speaker 375
2:03:45
Johnny Key, Department of Education. The department is neutral on this
Speaker 74
2:03:49
bill. Okay. Mr. Key, let me understand a little bit. We're in the fifth year, and this is not my district, but I know it's been an issue, it could be an issue in my district before long, but so right now, we're in the fifth year, the department's in the fifth year, you actually have control of that school district, is that correct? Correct. And when will that year be up, fifth year be up? January of 2020.
Speaker 375
2:04:22
to do then? Under law, currently, let me back up to
Speaker 373
2:04:29
make sure the context is clear in that the law under which takeover took place in 2015 and the ACTAP, the old accountability system, has changed drastically. The original reason for state takeover was you had six districts in academic distress,
which is no longer does not exist. That was tied to the 49.5 math and literacy combined score for the students scoring proficiently, the proficient level of the benchmark. and so at the in January of 2015 the state board took action based on that trigger of academic distress in 2017 we asked you and you all changed the
accountability system under ESSA and a number of things we had learned to what is now act 930 the there's a different set of criteria now of that old forty 89.5% proficiency on math and literacy. The benchmark is gone. The benchmark's gone. All those things have changed. So there are a number of elements, as Mr. Wood alluded to, at the beginning that we have now learned a lot on what to do better in state takeover.
So to your specific question, the law allows currently at the end of five years, if the district has met its exit criteria, It can be released in different forms or fashion. It can be released to a full board. It can be an elected board. It can be released to an appointed board. It could be released to a limited authority board, which is something new in Act 930, where certain elements of authority of a school board can be restored. There are a lot of options now that were not there before Act 930.
If the exit criteria are not met, the law says annexation, consolidation, or reconstitution, which we had a conversation a few days ago about what that means. So those are all the options that are available to the State Board at the end of a five-year period of a district being under Level 5 intensive support. I guess my next question may put you on
Speaker 473
2:06:47
the spot a little bit, but that's okay. It's
Speaker 74
2:06:50
the fact that, in your professional opinion, we've got another year. We're in 19, you said, end of next year, end of 2020.
January of 2020. January of 2020. That's the
Speaker 375
2:07:01
five-year mark when the state board took action. So I
Speaker 79
2:07:05
guess I really, I don't know if we need this piece of legislation or not. If you, I don't know what you're going to
Speaker 74
2:07:16
do or what you feel like the board, current board, current superintendent of the schools feels like at the end of this year. Is it going to be
Speaker 377
2:07:26
– I mean, I would not want to speculate what we would –
Speaker 373
2:07:31
because what we would recommend would be based on the data. And that data will come about the testing window for ACT Aspire is about to open. Those test results will be back in July. And then by the fall of the year, we will have crunched those numbers to see what the school ratings are and to see what progress has been made. I would just simply remind, and Senator, again, that most of you were on the committee, or at least this side of the table, was on the committee then two years ago.
If you remember, the original bill that we had for Act 930 had a seven-year based on a recommendation from Dr. Wilde, who's no longer with us at the department, but according to his research, said in most cases, state takeover for academics takes that long. The committee did
Speaker 375
2:08:24
not support that, and we took that out to go back to the original
Speaker 74
2:08:34
this legislation would, instead of where you would have to decide to annex or consolidate or reconstitute,
this piece of legislation would give you some more time, under the process wonder now.
Speaker 377
2:08:48
I think that's the intent of the bill. I will say, Senator, there
Speaker 373
2:08:53
are some technical issues we tried to get with the language of the bill to the sponsor to let him know we don't I would ask Ms. Freeno if y'all want to hear the concerns come up and explain it because it's technical legal language but we that I think that is the goal of of the sponsor in this legislation that there would be other options at
Speaker 478
2:09:18
all right thank you thank you madam chair
Speaker 479
2:09:22
Senator Chesterfield, you just want me to stay? You
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:09:25
want me to stay? Please do. Please do stay. My first question, however, is to Mr. Woods. Mr. Woods, is this your personal position, or did you take a vote of the board? This is my personal position. Oh, so you're not representing the board, you're representing Jeff Woods. That's right. Okay. And so if we don't agree with Jeff Woods, we're not disagreeing with the Community Advisory Board.
Is that right? That's correct. Okay. How long have you been the chair of the Community
Speaker 467
2:10:01
Advisory Board this morning? About two and a half years. And in that time, have you seen progress? Statistically, it would be hard to make an argument that there was progress statistically. But if you measure progress as changes that are indicators of future progress, I am very hopeful that the change of curriculum to a science of reading curriculum
and the implementation of a plan to educate dyslexic children and the investment in and the adoption of the MAP testing program that we can do throughout the year will, I think those are strong indicators that success is right around the corner. Now, what part of
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:10:40
the city do you represent? West Little
Rock. Have you talked to anybody that is east of West Little Rock?
Yes, ma'am. Are they happy with your position? Yes, ma'am. Oh, who did you talk with? Well. Because
Speaker 467
2:11:02
the people I represent live in that area, and they're not real, real happy. Sure, I understand, and I suppose that is part
Jeff Wood
Unverified
2:11:08
of the democratic process, that people that live east of West Little Rock can both agree and disagree with the democratic process. Of course
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:11:13
they can, sir. So Senator Key, excuse me, Commissioner Key, we've had five years to deal with this, sir. And you told us the other day that the kids are making progress in math that is visible,
that you have the authority, if you wish, you already have the authority, if you wanted to, to extend this time. Is that
Speaker 373
2:11:37
correct? it's in the context of the limited authority board if that's part of the reconstitution some
Speaker 375
2:11:42
would say that would extend authority I think the because we were dealing with this question we were dealing with this
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:11:49
question we were dealing with Pallas County Special School District were we not and the
the idea was floated that we would extend it another year and have one more year where parents pay, but don't
Speaker 378
2:12:06
have representation. That was contemplated. Part of the conversation. But I rejected that
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:12:11
idea. It rejected, and we appreciate you greatly. And we would appreciate you greatly if you reject this, too. Because taxation without representation is a fundamental concern of the people I represent.
We're paying money, but we don't have a voice in anything that has to do with our church. And maybe your folks that you represent are just really peachy keen on what you're doing, Mr. Woods,
but the folks I represent are not. Senator, why did you feel, since you don't have a school district in academic distress, do you represent a portion of Little
Rock? Yes, ma'am, I do. You do. So I guess I do have
a school district in academic distress. Yes, ma'am. Okay, and so people have come to you just crying for this legislation?
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:12:59
Well, they want to see real progress and not just a slight move of the needle. I think the idea of this, Senator, is to solve the problem in the long run. And I think that some of the things that Mr. Wood brought out, especially, and again, we've talked about science of reading in several different examples this morning. I'm optimistic that those changes can make a big difference. But, you know, correcting academic distress is a lot more difficult than correcting fiscal distress or facilities distress.
And to be candid, I think there are some cases where some of the people in the community have been resistant to some of the changes that the state and even the state board has tried to put forth to fix some of the problems. And, you know, before we had the current system, it was kind of a, and it's not just Little Rock, this is statewide. I think there was a case in somewhere we wanted to, the attitude of some of the districts was, let's just run the clock out on this five-year time.
And I'm not saying that everyone felt that way, but I think some of them did. And I think if we now have a clear level five intensive support criteria that we can outline an exit strategy, And rather than look at, well, let's do five years or let's do ten years, what this bill would do, the state board could grant up to two 24-month extensions of their assumption of authority. And that would allow, I think that's a reasonable time period for an extension to try to make these things work and to see some of the very positive things that have come forth be taken care of.
Now, Senator Chesterfield, when you say taxation about representation, you and I are here representing them, and from time to time we agree even, but we're certainly here representing them. And if you'll recall what the Supreme Court told us in the Lakeview decision, they didn't say that the Little Rock School Board has responsibility ultimately for these children's education. They said the state of Arkansas and the General Assembly did, and I take that charge very seriously, And I'm here to try to do something to get us where we need to be.
And I appreciate the love both as a senator and as a former educator that you have for children and how we're trying to do that. And from time to time we may disagree on the specific path we take, but I think this is something that gives another tool to the State Board to move us in the right direction. It's not another five-year thing. it would simply grant up to two two-year extensions to try to get where we need to be in the Little Rock District and certainly in other places around the state that find themselves in a similar situation.
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
2:15:52
Thank you for that extensive explanation. And I'm not going to beat it to death because I'm opposed to it, and there's no needing going on and on about it Because it does not make
sense, I understand Lakeview as well as you do, but I also understand that Lakeview requires a commitment from the local entities, and if we keep talking about local control, the most basic local control is that at the school level.
There is no place for parents to go. People don't know who to identify with. They can't, if they don't have somebody to hear what they're saying about their schools, not their legislature, their schools, it is a fundamental process that if you are the person paying the taxes, you ought to have a voice in the decisions that are being made about your kids. I mean, that to me is just fundamental, whether you're talking about Lakeview, Alma, or any
other uh of the entities that have uh any of the other cases that have taken place obviously you do not agree so there's no need in me asking you that perfunctory question i shall move on thank you madam chair thank you thank
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:17:10
you and senator chesterfield this won't be the first time we've We've disagreed, but as always, I look forward to parting this room and still your friend.
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:17:27
Thank you, Madam Chair. I do have a question here, but I cannot help but point out the irony of the bill we just heard and this bill. because for everybody who was wondering why in the world we needed that bill that we just failed this is demonstration number one
and it's because you look at we have jeff wood here who's the chair of our community advisory board has a bill it's his
he's not speaking on behalf of the board. It's good that he let one senator know. I didn't know where it was coming from. You were not obligated to tell me. Senator Chesterfield did not know where it was coming from. You
were not obligated. But you were obligated to tell Senator Hammer and tell Senator Johnson.
And there is a real comfort level you have with apparently both of you. This issue of representation that is far removed from the people that we serve, if
we were to have discussions about these things like why do you feel comfortable and we don't, that's what that other, I'm not going back to that bill but I'm just referencing that to help you understand how desperately we need to understand
things better and if people don't and I think they don't because I think we don't want to think about it we just say it just happened you ought to look at the patterns of the school districts we're talking about right now who are in the local control and if you think that happened just because people were just awful and mismanaged and so forth that's why we need to have these conversations. Because it is easy to say you're an F school, you're a D school,
whatever, and go no further than that. Conversation closed. Conversation closed. And just slap an F on a school and say that's it and you talk down that school and we go no further to go. Why is that the case? Why is it that some people feel just fine about being under continuous governmental I I don't want to say footprint
but the big foot of the government on on some
people because you've never felt that the way I felt
it you've never felt it so you can be comfortable with oh take over control some more most of my
life has been controlled in a way that is not the way you would want to have your life controlled. And so here's something I want to read to you again and I'll get to my I have to read this because I can't say it all.
Act 600 of 2013 we extended state control for two more years. We just keep extending, two more years. LRSD was taken over in 2015 and so with the new Accountability Act 930 that we passed in 2017, the rules were adopted in September 2018. The state ESSA plan was approved and here we are in 2019 and we are
talking about extending, repealing a part of Act 930, and we just got it. And you're comfortable enough already to say, let's do some more of this. Because the bottom line is, it is not going to hurt you. It is not going to bother you. The schools in West Little Rock are going to be just fine. And we are just fine with those south
of 630 and some others, maybe somewhere. But let's take over and keep them under control. Keep them under control. And if we were
doing the kind of things that we said we would do with the bill we just had, you wouldn't know what this feels like to black people in this city. I don't blame
you for not knowing. I do blame you though for not trying and not even putting in a process to try. I do
blame us for that. And then you wonder why. And please, I'm going to ask right now, please don't anybody talk to me about my passion when I finish this, because I am not about passion. I'm just angry. Don't talk to me about passion. So now this is the first,
here we are, the first school year for the ESSA plan to be implemented. And this bill is some sweeping change. So I just say all that to say to you at what point do we stop
moving the needle? And at what point are we gonna have the courage to say Earl, Pine Bluff, Dollar Way, Marvel, Little Rock, Pulaski County and not see what the what and not see what that pattern is. At what point do we not do
we do that? So, I guess I will just ask of you, both of you, at the end of
the table. Do you understand why this is something that feels as if you don't know, you don't care to know, and you think it's okay if we
continue to carry out history and laws the way we have always done because the dominant population can decide what's best without talking to anybody who
looks like me or at least talking to me because I represent the area of Little Rock that has the most schools that are under the imprimatur. I have an F or D on them, and we've not even delved into all about why in the world is it that we have the F or D on them other than the perfunctory things about well here are the numbers do you understand why this is
not a good thing in the eyes of most people and I won't say most people of
people like me in this city do you understand that do you care
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:24:13
do you want to know more and I respond to that senator Elliott the first thing I don't ever claim to completely understand someone else but I I do
think I understand some of it, and I want to, one thing I definitely want to address in your question, I guess the only question in there was at the end, but I did not meet Mr. Wood until I came in this
room today. Senator Hammer asked me, because he had to be in another committee, to carry this bill for him, and I agreed to do so, and so the discussion I had was only with Senator Hammer, So there's no grand conspiracy or anything on this. And again, I only met Mr. Wood today and understood his position and asked him to join me because certainly to the extent that people are represented in this process,
his group, and he is an individual, but them collectively represent the people of Little Rock in this. And I see Senator Chesterfield shaking her head, and that's at least a start in the direction. What we're really talking about is progress, is moving the needle. We've got the ESSA criteria that we're trying to deal with. We're not trying to say this is a panacea, we'll pass this bill and everything will be okay. But it gives the state board that has the ultimate responsibility,
and we can brush over what the court said in Lakeview, but the fact is the buck stops in this Capitol and this building next door to us under the court order. That's where the buck stops, not at the Little Rock School Board. We have to solve these problems, and we'll be right back here if the problems weren't done by the local district. So again, I'm not calling this a magic pill or a panacea to anything, but by granting two-year-at-a-time extension to allow this process to continue to work.
You know, this takeover happened with a state board that was totally, you know, appointed by the previous administration, and right at that time. What does that got to do with it? I'm just, may I
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:26:36
finish, Senator? Yes, you may, but you're doing a lot of double talk here where you're talking about a panacea and whatever, and what I want you to understand, no, it's not
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:26:50
a panacea. It's a bludgeon. I believe that Commissioner Key and the State Board have done things that they felt were
good to move us in the right direction. Certainly, as I said, academic distress is a whole lot harder to overcome than just fiscal distress. I mean, you can write a big check and solve fiscal distress. We want these children to make progress in education, and I think that this bill is a great example of how when the landscape changes, we adjust slightly to deal with it. There's a military term that says
that a battle plan doesn't survive the first contact with the enemy, and we have to adjust. And I think this is an adjustment that allows the state board and the commissioner and other people on the ground even within Little Rock School District to solve this. And again, in the same criteria around the state, I think would apply. It can help us meet situations that are all around the state and recognizing the ultimate responsibility of the state of Arkansas
Speaker 492
2:28:01
and not the local districts. If Mr. Wood wanted to also respond.
Speaker 467
2:28:15
Chair. Please keep in two minutes. Sure, just to respond to Senator
Speaker 468
2:28:20
Elliott. Senator Elliott, I promise you that in my two and a half years, I care about nothing more than children in every building in our district learning how to read and read on grade level.
Speaker 467
2:28:34
And that is what keeps me up at night. That is the focus of our board. That is what drives my service on this board. I am not asking for this because of control or because I am anything personal. It is my personal bill because it is my thoughts, and I found a legislator that agreed that it was good public policy. This policy is bigger than Little Rock. This policy is a statewide policy that when a school district under state control
Speaker 468
2:29:09
makes significant changes in year five, You cannot simply, because of an arbitrary end time to that intervention period, return it back to local control where those changes could be upended. These changes have a very real opportunity to change the lives of the students of our school district and every school district in Arkansas that experiences a state takeover. And I just want the state board to have the option to extend that period so that they can see the changes, the systemic changes and the processes, the curriculum, the instruction, everything, so
that it can take root just a little longer before it's returned to local control. But I promise you, I want this district back to local control because that will mean, yes, I do, Senator Chesterfield, because that will mean that our students are reading and they have a
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:30:04
real prospect for success in their life. And you think they cannot get back to real success in
their lives unless we have the possibility of being controlled? No, ma'am.
Speaker 468
2:30:17
I believe that the track record when the state board elects to intervene, it's because
Speaker 467
2:30:24
there was a significant time period where local control did not work in making the prospects
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:30:31
for that child's life successful. Well, I just, the very fact, Mr. Wood, that you are comfortable with that, it puts a chasm between how we perceive control and you perceive control.
That is something that really should be dealt with. And I asked Senator Hammer, because I'm not one who wants to go around whispering behind people's backs, I just went to him and asked, where did this bill come from? I asked him, is it a department bill? He said, no, it's not a department bill. I said, so where did it come from? Mr. Hammer told me to my face, it just came from my thinking. Not once did he mention your name. And that's not your fault. That's not your fault. But you can imagine how that falls on me, what I'm thinking. It just came from Mr. Hammer's thinking. And then you come to
the end of the table today, and this is where it came from. That is not your fault. He didn't tell me that. But that might give you some sense of how everything seems to just be so opaque in so many ways. And to even think that we would want some more of that and just continue to be controlled is something that I don't know how we ever even close that gap on.
You feeling better about that than I feel about that. You're not responsible for my feelings. I get that. But I cannot unlive
my life experiences either. And this is just more of the same stuff that we don't get over because we will not own up to and face up to who and what we are and how we are the way we are. I could never come to the end of the table and ask somebody to do more about being in control of
Speaker 495
2:32:16
people's lives because I've seen too much of it. We're talking about control of teaching how to read. No. We're not
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
2:32:21
talking about controlling lives. That's our problem. You think we're talking about reading.
We are. And we are talking about reading. I'm talking about reading. But that's the problem. That's the problem. That's all you are talking about and not dealing with the rest
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:32:40
of it. That is the problem. I'm finished, Madam Chair.
I apologize to you. Madam Chair, and let me just say that wherever this came from, I supported it. And let me clarify for the record, I have part of the Little Rock School District in my district, as does Senator Hammer. He and I have discussed this issue in general since before the session.
Actually when we were both candidates, we discussed it. This specific bill, he did not mention Mr. Wood's name to me, that he got an idea from Mr. Wood. He told me about the bill and said that he could not be here today and asked me to carry it. And I agreed to do it. just as a courtesy to my colleague but because I agree with what he's trying to accomplish with it and I think it is not the solution but a solution to get us where I really think all of us want to be because I'm not concerned about what
people sit at a table down on Markham Street because that's not education it may make some people feel good to have certain individuals sitting at a table down on Markham Street but I want to see the results with our children that they They can read, they can function, they can move forward with their lives. Madam Chair,
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
2:33:53
we've been here three and a half hours. Some of us haven't had lunch, and I think that's making us irritable. But I'm hearing two different things. I may ask, and I don't know who's in control of this bill anymore,
but I may ask Senator Johnson, since he's at the end of the table, if we can't get the State Board and ADE on the same page, maybe we should pull it down until we hear concerns from Lori, the legal counsel at ADE as Commissioner Key stated they had some concerns. It's not going to make a difference in the timeline no matter what happens whether you make an amendment now or a house amendment later you're still going to have to get them on both sides of the table so that would be my suggestion because I don't want to do anything until I know that both ADE is okay
with the legal ramifications of it as well as if it is something for the state board then it would be okay with both them. That's my two cents
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
2:34:44
since I... May I, Madam Chair? Senator Sturge, I appreciate what you're saying. I also point out to you that our chairman told us that we're this is our next to last meeting and I feel this is important and at least should be moved forward. Now, it could be that there should be something that can be amended on the House end and that's fine and dandy
and I would certainly be open to that but as far as where we are today I would respectfully request that the committee move forward on this and with that I'm closed
on the bill and would make a motion do pass. Is there a second? All in favor? Aye. All opposed? No.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
2:35:34
I think we need to have a roll call.
Speaker 2
2:35:38
Roll call. Senator Chesterfield? No. Senator Hendren? Aye. Senator Cheatham? No. Senator Eads? Senator Eads. Senator Johnson? Aye. Senator Starch? Senator Starch? Senator Elliott? No. Senator English? Yes.
Agenda
Call to Order
SB538 J. Sturch TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE CODE WITH RESPECT TO OPEN-ENROLLMENT PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL AND TRADITIONAL PUBLIC SCHOOL WAIVERS; AND TO AMEND PROVISIONS CONCERNING SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION.
SB232 K. Hammer TO CREATE THE FREEDOM OF CONTRACT IN HIGHER EDUCATION ACT.
HB1404 Speaks TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A NEWSPAPER OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BUDGET.
SB508 B. Davis TO AMEND THE MEANS BY WHICH FUNDING IS DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE PRODUCTIVITY- BASED FUNDING MODEL.
SB509 B. Davis TO DISTRIBUTE FUNDS FROM THE EDUCATIONAL EXCELLENCE TRUST FUND TO CERTAIN FOUR-YEAR STATE-SUPPORTED INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION BASED ON AN INSTITUTION'S IN-STATE FULL-TIME EQUIVALENT ENROLLMENT.
SB387 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT A CERTAIN PERCENTAGE OF LOTTERY PROCEEDS BE NET PROCEEDS THAT ARE USED FOR SCHOLARSHIPS; AND TO REQUIRE THAT THE PERCENTAGE OF NET PROCEEDS USED FOR SCHOLARSHIPS INCREASE YEAR BY YEAR.
SB591 Elliott TO PROMOTE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION AMONG ARKANSANS; TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS COMMUNITY REMEMBRANCE COMMISSION; AND TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE.
SB605 A. Clark TO AMEND THE NAME OF NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH STATE CATEGORICAL FUNDING.
SB619 L. Eads TO AMEND THE MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ARKANSAS HIGHER EDUCATION COORDINATING BOARD.
SB620 B. Johnson TO CREATE THE CAPITAL PROMISE SCHOLARSHIP PILOT PROGRAM.
SB633 G. Leding TO REQUIRE AN EVALUATOR LICENSED BY THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO PLACE A PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHER IN INTENSIVE SUPPORT STATUS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER THE TEACHER EXCELLENCE AND SUPPORT SYSTEM.
HB1702 Speaks TO AMEND PROVISIONS REGARDING THE PUBLICATION IN A NEWSPAPER OF A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT'S BOND SALE.
HB1648 F. Allen TO INCLUDE CERTAIN ARKANSAS CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS AND HEROES IN THE TEACHING MATERIALS REGARDING AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL.
HB1747 Dotson TO EXPAND THE TYPES OF HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS AND EVENTS THAT MAY BE DISCUSSED, READ, OR POSTED IN A PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING OR CLASSROOM.
SB553 Bond TO AMEND THE LAW TO ALLOW A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO BE RETURNED TO LOCAL CONTROL UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.
HB1626 Cloud CONCERNING THE OFFERING OF AN ACADEMIC STUDY OF THE BIBLE COURSE IF STUDENTS REQUEST THAT THE COURSE BE OFFERED.
HB1701 J. Mayberry TO PROHIBIT THE REQUIREMENT THAT A STUDENT PARTICIPATING IN AN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITY, INTERSCHOLASTIC ACTIVITY, OR ORGANIZED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY PAY FOR INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP INSTRUCTION.
HB1785 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE GRADUATE MEDICAL EDUCATION RESIDENCY EXPANSION BOARD; TO REQUIRE THE BOARD TO DISTRIBUTE PLANNING GRANTS TO CERTAIN ENTITIES IN ORDER TO EXPAND FIRST-YEAR RESIDENCY PROGRAMS AND POSITIONS.
HB1934 Cozart TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING AUDITS OF SCHOOLS.
HB1901 F. Allen TO CREATE THE ACADEMIC SUPPORT SCHOLARSHIP.
SB118 K. Hammer TO REQUIRE CAMPUS FREE SPEECH POLICIES.
HB1020 Warren TO ALLOW OUT-OF-STATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE TO BE CONSIDERED WHEN DETERMINING A TEACHER'S SALARY SCHEDULE.
SB666 Elliott TO ONLY PERMIT SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICERS TO DISCIPLINE STUDENTS OR ACT IN THE CAPACITY OF A POLICE OFFICER WHEN STUDENTS OR SCHOOL EMPLOYEES ARE AT RISK OF HARM.
SB668 K. Hammer CONCERNING A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT THAT IS CLASSIFIED AS BEING IN NEED OF LEVEL 5 - INTENSIVE SUPPORT; AND TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION TO GRANT EXTENSIONS OF ITS ASSUMPTION OF AUTHORITY IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS.
HB1498 Speaks TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOL COMPUTER NETWORK.
HB1847 J. Mayberry TO REVISE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION STANDARDS REGARDING SITE SELECTION FOR A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT FACILITY TO INCLUDE A TRAFFIC IMPACT ANALYSIS.
SB664 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT NEW INMATES RECEIVE READING ASSESSMENTS AND DYSLEXIA SCREENINGS; TO REQUIRE READING AND DYSLEXIA SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE CORRECTIONS TEACHERS KNOW BEST PRACTICES OF SCIENTIFIC READING INSTRUCTION.
SB667 Elliott TO REQUIRE THAT YOUTHS UNDERGO READING ASSESSMENTS AND DYSLEXIA SCREENINGS; TO REQUIRE READING AND DYSLEXIA SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE THAT DIVISION OF YOUTH SERVICES' TEACHERS KNOW BEST PRACTICES OF SCIENTIFIC READING INSTRUCTION.
Adjourned
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Apr 3, 2019 | Agenda | 2 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Speaker 9
Senator Joyce Elliott
Unverified
Speaker 17
Speaker 56
Speaker 59
Clarice Abdul
Unverified
Speaker 64
Speaker 68
Speaker 70
Speaker 74
Speaker 85
Speaker 88
Representative Bruce Cozart
Unverified
Senator Jim Hendren
Unverified
Speaker 103
Speaker 105
Speaker 109
Speaker 111
Speaker 117
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 127
Speaker 130
Speaker 132
Senator Mark Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 159
Speaker 162
Speaker 163
Senator Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
Linda Chesterfield
Unverified
Speaker 172
Senator Mathew Pitsch
Unverified
Speaker 190
Speaker 198
Speaker 211
Speaker 101
Speaker 202
Speaker 220
Speaker 205
Speaker 229
Speaker 238
Speaker 242
Speaker 261
Representative Fred Allen
Unverified
Speaker 270
Speaker 282
Speaker 303
Nick Fuller
Unverified
Senator James Sturch
Unverified
Senator Lance Eads
Unverified
Speaker 330
Speaker 335
Speaker 340
Speaker 324
Speaker 343
Speaker 373
Speaker 377
Speaker 378
Speaker 390
Speaker 391
Speaker 410
Speaker 296
Speaker 431
Speaker 433
Speaker 435
Speaker 243
Clay Moorhead-Hall
Unverified
Speaker 437
Speaker 216
Speaker 375
Speaker 79
Speaker 45
Kwame Abdul-Bey
Unverified
Speaker 447
Speaker 455
Speaker 456
Jeff Wood
Unverified
Speaker 467
Speaker 468
Speaker 473
Speaker 478
Speaker 479
Speaker 492
Speaker 286
Speaker 495
Speaker 2