Education Committee- House

Committee I try to get on the first time I was done but it's hard committee to get on so so I could make it the first time but I do believe that education's by the most important thing that we do our state for the future our state. Representative Lanny Fite I represent parts of Benton Bryant Houston I'm issues being hot springs village District eighty three this is my fifth term I'm starting here previously I was county judge Inslee county for sixteen years look forward to working with all the all. I'm I'm representative damn bites District eighty seven and the access of your county Little River County and a portion of Howard County I have five small rules schools in my district this is my fourth time to be on education one of the toughest committees that there is here to me is probably the most rewarding because it's the one that makes the biggest impact on the on our children in this state which is something the Caroline about I've been a sub for years for school before I became a legislator not been long term subs also so I understand what it's like to be in the classroom and I look forward to working with all the all. Good morning John Maddox District eighty six and I have The New district as all of pole all of Montgomery in a portion of Howard County this is my second term on education and this is my fourth term over also had issues with education judiciary and hello if I made the right choice or not but I'm here My other life I am an attorney Sir will have no background in education however my just so everyone of my wife is a public school teacher she's under twenty six year of teaching kindergarten so that's one reason I do have some interest and we have numerous small public schools in my district that I'm very have a very close working relationship with so look for to work with everyone representative Barker before you start ma'am your flashlight is on your phone it is going right through my left I've could you. Thank you representative Barker you may go per se thank you. I'm representive Sonya Barker I represent district ninety six now which covers parts of Bradley Calhoun Cleveland Dallas Ouachita and union counties I am an educator by trade I've been an educator for over thirty years not to exactly how many states to telling I have taught for twenty years the junior high and high school this is my fourth term the second time to be on Education Committee and I'm glad to be back. My name is Carlton wing I represent North Little Rock insure would this is my fourth term but my first term on education I traded away a very coveted spot on public health to be able to get here and I'm looking forward to this be of one of the reasons why is that I do believe if you look at what will move the needle the most for quality of life in the state of Arkansas it's education and so I'm thrilled to be a part of this today. And I'm Denise Garner I am from table District twenty I've gone from seven school districts in my district to one but I love my rules Washington County school districts as well I come to education the second time a third term but the second time I took a break for a year for a term for revenue tax but I'm excited to be back and my passion is early childhood and I have experience in higher ed as a nurse practitioner and look forward to working in K. twelve as well thank you. Stephen Walker District twenty seven it's inter county all the way to Newton County in the north central part of our state this is my first time and I am looking forward to serving on the Education Committee with all of you guys I have a master's in educational leadership I've spent six years as a teacher and I and my fifth year serving with daisy help in our school districts around the state so I'm looking forward to trying to help improve education the best we can thank you. Going long for district thirty nine that's covers portions of what county independence in Jackson County small business owner and farmer and proud home schooled add info blessed to have had the opportunity to get on this committee. I'm hoping Duke and I represent district twelve in Northwest Arkansas it's north and west as you can get up there gravid Decatur Maysville parts Bellavista silver springs deleting without hate when shortlisting things I have a degree in secular education taught for two years when I was younger than I am now and then raise my kids I have three kids to what you're currently teachers and very proud of them I believe when you're having education degree and you have to really have a passion and I think give for teaching you always teach kids so I've been working with kids since I was sixteen years old still doing Friday capacities I recently just finished up my six year the grab a school board which is a hard place to leave says I think served on the school board is one place you can make the most direct impact and I am very excited to service all you guys and I appreciate the kindness we received this year or this week iniciar hopefully. Thank you Mr chairman representative Stetson painter District three parts of Baxter County Mountain Home parts of Fulton County vile look little background I'm soldier I'm also a been a congressional staffer for eleven years the small business owner we have a farm I look forward to working with all of you to help or education be more successful and so again thank you it's an honor. Thank you Mr my name is Brett McKenzie I represent the fighting seven district which is been County My background so I have experience working education as a congressional aide for member of Congress beyond that work in my community for daycares early childhood development centers beyond that most important reason is I've for not yet school age children I'm excited to you know we work on legislation that they when they inherit thank you. So to all of our stakeholders in the audience I think you see that we have a okay I'm sorry representive flowers you came in. I'm sorry that I got here couple late my name is Vivian flowers I'm state Rep Ford District sixty five and that's a part of Jefferson County and colluding especially part of pine bluff it's important to note that I've Representative strict and which my. Of school district has been under state control for several years so it is definitely I think important for me to serve in this capacity and it's a pleasure to serve in Education Committee also note that in my former life for about ten years I worked at UAMS in higher education for the academic units as chief operating officer for the center for diversity affairs and I have a bachelor's in probably five a and a master's in public service thank you. Thank you representative flowers representative and all the other members a committee and and state because I was saying as you see we we have form together a fabulous group of individuals who not only are committed to service but in many aspects of years of experience background and professional service they have been deeply vested in education and so I really look forward to all of of the different aspects and wisdom that comes out of this group as we move education forward in the state of Arkansas most especially to benefit each and every child that's out there one introduce our staff to my right Emily rose off she will be our committee analyst on behalf of BLR in the back of the room Kathy way with everybody Cathy let to be administrative assistant and then our staff attorney is Taylor Lloyd Taylor could not be here with us today but I'm sure she is tuning in and she is available to just to help you on anything pertaining to education members want to make note of that you will be using your own devices to to pull in research and study bills if you go to the arc which website go to the committee agenda there's a blue hyperlink that will be there you can click on the agenda and you can do all of your preparation and study of bills for our committee from there during the session our committee will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays in this room at ten AM unless something gets in the way that that is our plan. And it takes eleven members present for us to have a quorum and to conduct any action items that will be at the call of the chair according to house rules the agendas for the meeting will be posted two days in advance notifications will be sent to the sponsor of bills via your House email if you're going to have a bill on that agenda two days in advance I am an over communicator you will learn that and you will probably learn to hate that quickly you will get tired of text messages for me and emails for me but I am committed to communicate with you and to make sure you have every opportunity to do the things that you knew you need to do and to be informed as you serve on this committee and so I want to make sure that everyone's House email address is working in your monitoring good great and I have all of your cell phones and so I will I will pledge to you that I will communicate is very best as I can to also make sure that you are permit if you have a bill on the agenda let's say for Thursday I will be reaching out to you some point on Wednesday and just say Hey I want to make sure you are ready to run your bill tomorrow if you're not ready that's not a problem we can skip over it we we have good protocol that that we provide to each other as a courtesy of operating sometimes on a flexible agenda because as the session goes on you're going to get pulled in a lot of different directions and if you need to skip over your bill that day will do that we'll come back to you will make it is accommodating as possible for every member of this committee to present your bills and and work on your legislation at your convenience if at all possible amendments amendments do have to be in writing in this committee so we will not accept any amendments verbally from the floor. Or if you've got an event an amendment that you need to run your bill please notify staff as early as possible so that that can be prepared please let Keith and I know she's the representative Brooks and I know that you're gonna have an amendment so that we can make sure that that is ready for you on the day of that committee. We do have what's called a special order of business if there is a bill piece of legislation that is going to potentially be very controversial if it's going to be something where you're bringing in people to testify in favor of or against the bill maybe you're having people come in from out of state and you need to plan that accordingly we want to be accommodating to that and so it's not something you'll see a lot but it is an option it's called a chair that if if we need to have a special order of business to take up one particular thing and make sure that everyone can can be accommodating we can set that and that might be outside of our normal meeting time but you will be notified well in advance of that. A big item make sure that everyone understands any bill that goes through this committee must have a fiscal impact statement once your bill is filed then it will go to the parliamentarian for committee assignment if it's assigned to the Education Committee then our staff will member will be notified she will be monitoring that and she will order the fiscal impact statement from the bureau correct correct through the department. And once that fiscal typically you should allow three days for that fiscal impact statement to be put together and transmitted back to her as the session goes on that could take longer than three days but as a rule of thumb you should plan for three days from the time that you file your bill into the fiscal impact is back once it's back it will come to Emily and she will notify you that the fiscal impact has been received she will send you a copy of that so that you can view you will have bills that will have zero fiscal impact we understand that because asking you to get a fiscal impact is is not a punishment it's actually just a process and so we want to make sure that you understand that Hey I've got a bill filed it's on the agenda will actually we're it's going to be until that bill until we have that fiscal impact back it will say pending fiscal impact on the agenda once that is in she will move that on to our regular agenda and that will be available for the committee to view. I would at the at this time and and we have a room full of stakeholders here and I am ecstatic that we have that many people that are vested and and and want to be a part of our process I do wanna take a moment Secretary leave if you would would you mind going to the end of the table Secretary Jack I believe the new secretary of education is here this morning he rearranged his schedule actually I believe you were supposed to be getting sworn in at this time and so we've asked him to postpone that hopefully without any risk and he's here to join us and so secretary if you would take a few minutes introduce yourself talk about your background and some things that that that on your vision for education Sheridan it's my honor and I'm privileged to be here so thank you chair eleven for allow me the opportunity and thank you for all the stakeholders that have a vested interest I I I know I come from the lands in the mindset that there is nothing more important that we can do and and our work each and every single day but to improve learning throughout the state of Arkansas and we are going to be a hundred percent committed to working together to make sure that happens I have a lot of different experiences in my background but I think first it's important for you to know how much I appreciate your willingness to sit with me and work with me and to be a delegate in your local community and represent the the constituents that you serve it takes a lot of courage to be out in the public and that commitment is something that I that I hold in very high regard and I I've been very fortunate throughout my career to to present to lots of committees about several different topics and I'm very grateful that cherry Evans allowed everybody to go around and introduce themselves and share a little bit about their background and why they're committed to the work of this committee I can tell you hands down without a doubt a thousand percent this is the most qualified committee of role of. And stay colder invested experience that I've ever had an opportunity to sit in front so that really gets me excited to know that there's real practitioners that are that are engaged in this work and there's somebody that I can lean on to ask questions and be vulnerable because you know first hand what it's like to support students right here in this great state and I and I want to be a thought partner with each and every single one of you. So I was recently I guess voted and I'm not sure if that's the right term as a secretary of education this is when sworn in I think that happened yesterday this is been quite a quite a busy week so I today's date to and we have a state board of education meeting today well I'll be considered to be the Commissioner of Education as well so there's little bit of transition in my life of for me personally I'm married I have two children that attend public schools affect my daughter's of as a freshman in university now it as neighboring state in in Birmingham Alabama and I have a son who's in eighth grade that the gonna finish up the school year and give get transition over here start twenty one of the schools in our communities here as as a as a high school or as a freshman in high school I I grew up in Florida I'm a product of the public school system in Miami Dade schools I went to school to become a teacher I I come to serve this agency as a practitioner I I have a degree a bachelor's degree in elementary education it was a double major in it And supporting exceptional children I spent my teaching career in the classroom primarily between the grades kindergarten through third grade supporting students with disabilities specifically a since the learning disabilities to help them learn how to read and be successful in mainstream classrooms so that's kinda where my heart and my passion is is trying to support some of our vehicles students to make sure that they get this foundational skills built in them got talked into getting a master's degree in leadership I think I heard somebody over here had a master's unit leadership welcome to the club I guess and have tended to be an elementary school principal early in my career transition was a high school principal for a little while before joining the district office and served for about four and a half years it as a school district superintendent in a school district at about thirteen thousand students and it's so it's pretty similar to some of this. Is districts right here in in Arkansas the opportunity to work for a couple different governors at the state level. And state policy work at the department of education in Florida for currently well pretty soon not to be anywhere in a senior level position within the permits cation and and I had an opportunity to a come work for this great state to serve the constituents here in Arkansas and support the bold and innovative vision that governor Huckabee Sanders has outlined and said throughout her campaign and is committed to making sure that we improve learning here in this state and is going to be recognized as the education governor across the nation so I'm honored and humbled to be a part of that team in fact yesterday and and some of you are able to join an executive order signing where governor Huckabee Sanders signed into an executive are what's called the learns afternoon which focuses on literacy empowerment accountability rating S. networking and safety and would with that executive order did which gets me really excited is is that the vision of of how we're going to improve learning it it's the road map is the blueprint is the foundation that we're gonna have to build on an attached agency to do a lot of work in a very short amount of time and it's going to be the kind of outline a roadmap that if we need some legislative support and some legislative opportunity to implement this bold vision to improve opportunities for students we're gonna have to work with this committee and and the and the rest of the legislative delegation to of to make this decision come alive and an ethical and and this great state. So. What we're we're acting with urgency and and I can tell you I I have been extremely impressed with the quality of talent that resides in the department of education the their willingness to do whatever it takes to improve learning I had an opportunity to meet with school superintendents earlier this week on Tuesday to talk to them about how we can implement this vision extremely positive extremely receptive I I everybody that I've talked to there's a lot of stakeholders here a hundred percent committed to doing whatever we need to do to get it right because there's no greater task than to improve teaching and learning opportunities right now in this state at today a hundred and forty thousand students in this state go to a school is created the year and a half and that that's not fair to the students that's not fair that's communities that's not fair to those families and we can do better and we're going to do better when we recruit retain and recognize high quality teachers the single biggest impact that we know can improve learning is a teacher or the adult stand I classroom supporting principles supporting superintendent supporting elected school boards and delegations with the resources they need holding people accountable teaching of professional development getting the right curriculum and making sure that students have act access to high opportunities and clean pathways that that include career education and not that strong foundation in literacy is built so that they can be set up for success in life we got to keep students safe while we're doing that improving our school campuses making sure that we're doing everything we can to make the learning environment optimal it's something that we're going to strive for and at the end of the day when we put this bold vision in place we set out we we lay out this blueprint we work with the great team that's assembled here we hear from our stakeholders about innovative ideas that we can put into place and online resources to make. It happened it's gonna win because the student performances got approved and I know that I'm excited to come here as a practitioner with a lot of experience in this space and work with the great folks that I've been able to engage with to make that happen so I've really appreciate terror events for allow me to just come and make make sure body is familiar the background I've had an opportunity several folks here already but just make sure that everybody here knows that we're accessible we we want to be a thought partner I'm not gonna tell you have all the answers but the answers are in this room there's a lot of experts here and there's no challenge that we can't solve it for not doing it together. Secretary thank you very much for for those words that introduction we appreciate you juggling your schedule today to come over and meet with us and we look forward to having a great partnership between this committee and you and your staff in your department it is is we take on this journey over the next few weeks. Thank you so much for thank you very much. Members. Members as I said we we have a lot of stakeholders here today I think that ensures that shows us even more so the importance of the work that we're gonna be doing during this General Assembly and I would like to just asked today if you are here representing an agency or an association if you would like to go to the end of the table and just introduce yourself and who you represent we we've got some time allowed for that not really into a.