Education Committee - Senate
Video
Transcript
1 document
Bills discussed (20)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SB373
· 5 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…avis Sen. Jim Dotson REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle SB373 Irvin TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS FINANCIAL EDUCATION COMMISSION.…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS FINANCIAL EDUCATION COMMISSION. | Irvin | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB484
Act 726
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “SB484 Irvin TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATI…”
|
TO ESTABLISH A PROCESS WHEREBY A VACANCY IS FILLED ON A SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF … | Irvin | Notification that SB484 is now Act 726 |
|
SB390
Act 695
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB390 J. English TO ESTABLISH THE STATE APPRENTICESHIP AGENCY ACT…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE STATE APPRENTICESHIP AGENCY ACT. | J. English | Notification that SB390 is now Act 695 |
|
SB40
Act 891
· 2 mentions in transcript
Matched: “you. So Senate Bill 40 for what we, the amendment has done is I worked, let me jus…”
|
AN ACT FOR THE BUREAU OF LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH AND THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL APPROPRIATION FOR THE … | Joint Budget Committee | Notification that SB40 is now Act 891 |
|
SB482
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…STUDENTS IN A VIRTUAL SETTING TO MEET CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS. SB482 K. Hammer TO REPEAL THE ARKANSAS OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL…”
|
TO REPEAL THE ARKANSAS OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT; TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO … | K. Hammer | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1180
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…RT CARD TO INCLUDE A STUDENT'S CURRENT READING GRADE LEVEL. HB1180 Bentley TO CREATE THE BABY OLIVIA ACT. SB358 J. Dotson TO A…”
|
TO CREATE THE BABY OLIVIA ACT. | Bentley | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1370
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…Irvin TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS FINANCIAL EDUCATION COMMISSION. HB1370 J. Mayberry CONCERNING MAKING UP MISSED SCHOOL DAYS; AND TO…”
|
CONCERNING MAKING UP MISSED SCHOOL DAYS; AND TO REQUIRE A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT TO INCLUDE … | J. Mayberry | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1561
Act 473
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…TO FILL A VACANCY ON A SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS. HB1561 Painter TO ESTABLISH THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROTECTION…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROTECTION ACT OF 2025. | Painter | Notification that HB1561 is now Act 473 |
|
HB1633
Act 475
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 3/19/25 @ 7:40 AM) Removed HB1633 from Regular Agenda Senate Committee on Education Wednesday…”
|
TO AMEND ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PARTICIPATING IN EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES FOR CERTAIN STUDENTS WHO TRANSFER SCHOOLS; … | Brooks | Notification that HB1633 is now Act 475 |
|
SB149
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…LOYMENT TAX ACT TO WAIVE THE "REASONABLE ASSURANCE" CLAUSE. SB149 J. English TO AMEND PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING AMOUNTS UNDER THE…”
|
TO AMEND PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING AMOUNTS UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING ACT OF 2003. | J. English | Died in House at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB205
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…C SCHOOL TO ADOPT A POLICY FOR ONE OR MORE STUDENT MENTORS. SB205 A. Clark TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL CH…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT; AND TO AMEND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL … | A. Clark | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB215
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…UNDING AMOUNTS UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDING ACT OF 2003. SB215 J. Bryant TO AMEND THE PERMISSIBLE USES FOR REAL ESTATE DON…”
|
TO AMEND THE PERMISSIBLE USES FOR REAL ESTATE DONATED BY A PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT; AND … | J. Bryant | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB266
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…EDUCATION OF CERTAIN STUDENTS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. SB266 J. Dotson TO AUTHORIZE A PUBLIC SCHOOL TO ADOPT A POLICY FO…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE A PUBLIC SCHOOL TO ADOPT A POLICY FOR ONE OR MORE STUDENT MENTORS. | J. Dotson | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB425
Act 722
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB425 J. English TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE…”
|
TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING ENHANCED TRANSPORTATION; AND TO DECLARE AN … | J. English | Notification that SB425 is now Act 722 |
|
SB436
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…RNING ENHANCED TRANSPORTATION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. SB436 A. Clark TO AMEND THE ABILITY OF A STUDENT WHO TRANSFERS UN…”
|
TO AMEND THE ABILITY OF A STUDENT WHO TRANSFERS UNDER THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT … | A. Clark | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB450
Act 915
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…CH OR AN ATHLETICS PERSONNEL MEMBER WHO RECRUITS A STUDENT. SB450 B. Davis TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO INCLUDE…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO INCLUDE A HUMAN FETAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT DISCUSSION … | B. Davis | Notification that SB450 is now Act 915 |
|
SB451
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ARDS DURING THE ARKANSAS ACADEMIC STANDARDS REVISION CYCLE. SB451 Hester TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE DEPARTME…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES AND THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH REGIONAL … | Hester | Died in Senate at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB467
Act 645
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ICE ACT; AND TO AMEND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT OF 2015. SB467 C. Penzo TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "HEALTHCARE PROVIDER"…”
|
TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "HEALTHCARE PROVIDER" REGARDING STUDENT ATHLETE CONCUSSION EDUCATION TO INCLUDE CHIROPRACTORS … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB467 is now Act 645 |
|
SB470
Act 646
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…CATION TO INCLUDE CHIROPRACTORS OR CHIROPRACTIC PHYSICIANS. SB470 J. Dotson TO REQUIRE AN ADULT APPROVED TO OVERSEE THE ADMIN…”
|
TO REQUIRE AN ADULT APPROVED TO OVERSEE THE ADMINISTRATION OF A STATEWIDE STUDENT ASSESSMENT TO … | J. Dotson | Notification that SB470 is now Act 646 |
|
SCR3
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…TECTION ACT OF 2025. DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle SCR3 J. Scott TO URGE THE ARKANSAS CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO P…”
|
TO URGE THE ARKANSAS CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT TAX … | J. Scott | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
Machine transcript
May contain errors. Verify important quotations against the official video.
About transcript accuracy
- Source
- Whisper
- Model
- ggml-large-v3-turbo.bin
- Processing date
- October 8, 2026
Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:00
Everybody, I'm glad to have you here. And first off, I'd like to introduce our pages that are here today, this morning. And folks, this is all about you. All we do in here every day is all about you. So my first is Tracy Powell
and Lexi McKee and Baylor Phillips and Ellen Wright, Alex Whalen. Is it Michelle?
or Michael? Michelle. Michael Wayland. And Jake Hurst and Sophie McFall. Glad to
have you all with us this morning. Thank you very much. Oh, one of your teachers is with you too. Oh, nice to meet you. Would you introduce yourself?
Oh, okay. Very good. Thank you. We're glad to have you with us. Okay, this morning we will have a busy schedule, so Senator Irvin, would you like to present Senate Bill 373? You identify yourself,
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:23
you'll be recognized. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the committee. If you'll look at Senate Bill 373, and what I did was get the amendment engrossed in this
bill, I was able to do that. This is working
with the, I'm sorry. Can you pull your microphone just a little bit closer to you? Yep. Senator Missy Irvin, District 24. So this was the Arkansas Financial Education Commission that we worked with the treasurer of the state of Arkansas when Dennis Milligan was our treasurer. And they wanted to revise the makeup of this board. What we've done is just give them a little, you know, I would say great latitude in order to make these appointments.
And then one member who's also designated by the Secretary of State. Our current treasurer, John Thurston, you know, came from the Secretary of State's office. and the Secretary of State's office deals with franchise taxes and actually does have a lot of financial components and aspects to the Secretary of State's office. So I thought that was a good addition. And then they meet two times a year, and this was just wonky language that were striking, one to be held in the spring and one to be held in the fall.
It was just too subscriptive, and so it gives them a lot of flexibility as to when they can have their meetings. I would just say that this Financial Education Commission has done some really great work, especially in regards to curriculum, educational, financial, literacy, education curriculum that's shared in our schools, and I really appreciate the work that they've done.
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
3:19
Are there any questions from the committee? Senator Murrock, I'm sorry. Thank you Madam Chair. Good morning Senator Irvin. Good morning. As I look at this I look at the back page on page two where they're striking out I guess this was the previous way it was done and specifically talks about the makeup was one member of the three to be a female, one member of
the three to be racial minority appointed by the treasurer. All that's stricken out but it's added one member is designated by Secretary of State. With that being stricken out what are what are we doing to ensure that we have diversity on this board to make sure that
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
4:11
everybody is represented? Yeah I've I've had great discussions with the treasurer about that and the Secretary
of State as well. And I would just say the Arkansas Bankers Association, you know,
Lori Trogden and I've talked specifically about that. They have done, I would say the females in the banking industry have really stepped up. And so I trust that they're going to make sure that they have a good range of diversity on this commission. And they do already in existing, so nothing's changing from the existing membership. We're just adding one is all we're doing and just giving them that flexibility. Because I don't want it to be subscribed to just one.
It could be everybody could be a female, everybody could be a racial minority, and I don't think it's good to subscribe
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
5:04
to just one. Right, and it says at least that. what to be clear what we're doing being we're relying upon the Banking Association and these others people that may designate we're relying upon them to provide the diversity and the inclusion make sure it looks like it that you and I would want it to look like versus I guess my issue is just why we would
strike it out it could be done I guess more than one way and this is a way this being suggested the way that was there headed in writing and specifically made sure it happened the other way will we will be hoping it
happened or depending on somebody else that happened and okay thank you.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
6:00
Senator Flowers. Good morning Senator Irvin you know
I'm new to Education Committee so I just asked a
simple question what what does the Arkansas Financial Education Commission do besides what you said earlier about curriculum and financial education for students what what what
exactly does this Commission do and and they have had reports, and I know Ms. Janssen is
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
6:25
in the audience. I can't, I can't hardly. I'm sorry, Ms. Janssen, I think, is in the audience with the treasurer's office. Hi. She can
speak, I think, a little bit more about that. Will the chair allow her? Yes. You identify yourself, you'll be
Speaker 35
6:44
recognized. Hi, I'm Fran Janssen, and I am the director of the Arkansas 529 and ABLE programs but also help oversee the financial programs of the state treasurer's office. So in that capacity, that last capacity, I assist the treasurer in, you know, helping direct the actions of the commission. And just super fast, the commission was formed in 2021 under former
Treasurer Dennis Milligan and it was to the the goal was to bring together people who represented not only it's kind of a mix of state government private sector and nonprofits from around the state who could kind of come together and put their heads together to try to move the needle just a little bit on making financial education better in our state and so the first year well technically 22 we spent
you know taking care of the business of it we you know did the the rules promulgation and you know the goals and the mission flash forward then we had the unfortunate passing of treasurer lowry So, everything just went dark for a year. I mean, the commission still met because it may not have been spring and fall, but we still met. And just to continue, you know, staying in touch. So, last year when, I'll be honest, the biggest traction that the commission had started was put into place last year when Mary Walther was appointed.
and we spent almost a year traveling the state and having and all we went to about 10 different cities and we met with community leaders but then also you know mom and pop shop owners anybody who had their hand or their ear to the ground on what are financial barriers in the community and what would you do if you you know could make a difference so we did this listening tour we
listened to them and then we also met with college and high school students to get their take because they're the future obviously so the long-winded answer of the primary thing that we're doing is the committee took all those recommendations and ideas from the state talking tour and has come up with three ideas or three initiatives that we're in the process now with now Treasurer Thurston and we have the first AFEC meeting in two weeks.
We're going to put forth and hopefully get past a free financial education platform that anybody can access. There's not going to be any selling on it. It's not going to be associated with any bank. It's not going to be associated with, you know, any financial. The whole point is to create a resource that's free for everybody, regardless of where they are in the state, and will customize a financial literacy program for you based on your current
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
10:12
understanding of finances. So it's not just for K through 12? No, ma'am. But for all citizens?
Speaker 35
10:22
Absolutely. In fact, one of the commission members is, one of the ones that was appointed is with Economics Arkansas. And so she brings to it the K through 12 representation. And she certainly opened up a lot of doors for us when we were trying to make these appointments with these high schools to go talk about the, you know, to get their input. But that was the whole
idea it wasn't just K through 12. It was, you know, the college, the person in adulthood, the person who's in their 50s who's trying to take care of their family and take care of their parents, you know, just all the
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
11:07
different situations there could be. So it helps people to understand investments? Not, I mean, if that's
Speaker 41
11:14
what you're looking for. Budget? What are you talking
Speaker 35
11:18
about? make a budget. Why, you know, how, and then we're also creating, we're hoping, I mentioned that we
have three initiatives that we're hoping to start working on this year. One of them is a savings initiative, so it's going to be a way to encourage and reward people to start saving, even if it's five dollars a month. Reward them how? It is a it's a national platform and I don't want to it's a it's almost like it they gamify it. They would reward you know how like you're
like you see credit cards and if you you get reward points or something like that. So it's like hey good job you you know you saved an extra five dollars this month. We're going to put you know we're going to match that and put five dollars in your savings account none of this is state money none of this is all nonprofit so that's where those funds would come from anxious to see that up and running I will I will let you know thank you when it launches thank
Senator Jane English
Unverified
12:22
you thank you very much are there more questions from the committee is there anybody in the audience would like
speak for or against the bill I don't see any so what is the will of the committee motion and second all in favor all opposed
thank you very much you pass that thank you members thank
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
12:50
you do you want me to go or do my second one
Senator Jane English
Unverified
12:57
can it is it quick don't know let me see you could go ahead and present Senate bill
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
13:03
484 and there's an amendment that actually yeah the bill and it's what the amendment yes
needs to be adopted would you like to explain the amendment yes
thank you Missy Irvin district 24 and the amendment is it was just easier to rewrite the bill for the the BLR drafters so the amendment is deaf is is really the bill because we revert we flipped um we we flipped the way that these vacancies would be appointed um to retain local control so uh the amendment is really just the new bill so however
you want me to proceed with the amendment or the bill go ahead with the
Speaker 60
14:18
amendment okay Second, is there a second? This is the bill, right? Yeah, this
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
14:28
is the bill. Second, all in favor? All opposed? Thank
you, go ahead. Okay, thank you. So, Senate Bill 40 for what the amendment has done is I worked,
let me just tell you the back story about why this bill is before you right now. Currently, my Stone County judge is very supportive of this bill. He can't be here today because of the tornado damage in 56 Arkansas, and so he's meeting with folks from FEMA today, so he can't be here to testify in support of the bill. But we have had a situation happen in Stone County where there have been vacancies on the school board, and these appointments have been made by the school district
in order to align votes in order to shut down one of our rural schools, just to be frank about it. And these rural schools are incredibly vital and important to Stone County. And so this bill fixes that situation. I worked with all of my constituents there in Stone County, but I think it's a good bill for anybody in the state of Arkansas. So what this does, it says that if there is a vacancy on the school board, then there's
a process here of making sure there's some disclosure to the public and to the parents and everybody in that school district that, number one, there is a vacancy, and that it should be published and that people can apply for that position. And then it would be the quorum court that can fill that position because we wanted to retain local control over that school district.
So that's why we flipped it in the amendment. We put the quorum court as making the vacancy appointment through a process that we've outlined here. And then the secondary would be the secretary of education can make that appointment because there could be a quorum court which through by ordinance I've spoken to Josh Curtis and the folks at the Association of Counties about this but if the quorum court decides not to make that appointment then there's kind of the escape hatch that the Secretary of Education could make
that appointment. So I'm really following the model of when there's a vacancy on the quorum court of a JP, it's the governor that makes that appointment. And so this is kind of a combination of those ideas about retaining a local control through quorum court and through the JPs that represent that county and that community to make that vacancy, that appointment for a school board position with the secondary being the secretary of education if the quorum
Senator Jane English
Unverified
17:22
Court doesn't take action I have a question here I guess I'm reading through this basically I
look at Pulaski County and I think if we have four school districts here yeah and if we had a school board vacancy I can't I I would have a hard time with the quorum court figured out who to
put on a school board So I'm just thinking about larger
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
17:51
areas. Well, and that's why we did the, I call it the escape hatch.
So the quorum court could just decline and pass an ordinance to decline that appointment, and then it would go to the secretary of education to make that appointment. And, you know, which kind of follows suit. We felt like the secretary of education could be there more tightly understanding the world of the schools in the school districts and so the Secretary of Education can
make those appointments. Senator Murdoch. Thank
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
18:24
You Madam Chair. Thank you again Senator. So
along the lines of what the chair lady said I tend to agree that taking it away from the the
elected board by the community that the remaining board members uh what's the reasoning why not let them um fill that vacancy first let them be the first line uh well that's
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
18:50
how it is currently and it's created some some problems um it's kind of the fox guarding the hen house in my opinion the school board is supposed to be uh the ones in
charge of those uh that that administration and the superintendent and and so what what has happened in our case is you have school board members who have kind of had this agenda and then they recruit they appoint somebody that aligns with their agenda so it would be like us if there was a vacancy in the senate then the senate gets to pick the next senator to fill that vacancy well that's gonna you're gonna pick somebody who's gonna align with the way you believe or
your agenda. And I don't, I don't think that's correct. I don't think that's right. And that's what's happened. Absolutely has happened in this case. And so that's why there needs to be a degree of separation there. Of course, the members of that school district and on the school board can have influence with their own JPs and their own quorum courts and their own county judges or with the Secretary of Education. That still can exist, but it creates that degree of separation
that I think is really, really important. I don't think that if there was a senator that became vacant, that the members of the Senate get to choose that position. Okay. Does
that make sense? So that is exactly how I've equated this, but that's what's happened in
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
20:26
my county. Okay, so let me ask you this. it relates to specifically the court doing it which
is a body that represents the community so I get that thinking so the third part is you say send it to it
would go to the Secretary of Education I don't even know that that would even be fair honestly to a person in Little Rock having to make a decision because how he or she will have to make that decision is going to be from that it's going to be input from that community because it's representation in tax age so you're going to want to have that input from the community and of course the secretary of education not being from that said community would be you know way away so the court I get that as a fallback but even
with the court courts when they go to the governor for appointment it seemed like there should be another local option for the people to have but I do understand I do appreciate your certainly appreciate your response as it relates to the local members making that decision.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
21:36
Well and I mean the other one could be the governor but I mean you have the same situation with the governor but the governor does make appointments to vacant quorum courts when there's a quorum court
when there's a quorum court vacancy, if a JP is vacant, the governor does make that appointment. This is a lot better than the
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
21:57
original, because what I was looking at is the original bill before this came. I do agree with that. Well, and
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
22:04
this fine lady is the one that helped me with the amendment,
so she's here to testify for the bill. Thank you. Senator Flowers?
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
22:19
thank you madam chair senator Irvin I have the same concern as senator as our chair and senator Murdoch and because of multiple school districts in a county all the quorum court members do not represent necessarily the school district with the vacancy and I would suggest and ask you
why not allow either
well in other words have the municipality
are the the electorate of that school district whether it be a municipality so city council or quorum court if it's out in
the county as opposed to just restricting it to county quorum court our Department of Education secretary note that the secretary of
the Department of Education appoint I don't know if they do that routinely or not but appoints when the state has taken over a school district a superintendent or a superintendent and can and even in the case of the Pine Bluff School District appointed the initial board members after relinquishing state control
right so I'm I'm just of the opinion that it should be left to
that corporate governing body within the school district why is so
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
24:17
great point and we did look at that and to your point when to it when if a school is taken over it is the secretary of education that does appoint all of that so that that's another reason why we we went to the secretary of education to make the appointment versus the governor and because they're very familiar in that space. It's a great point, and that's why there's the escape hatch of the Secretary of Education
being able to make that appointment, because you do have areas around the state where the school district may be in multiple counties, or there could be a combination of cities or counties. In our instance, in very rural areas, you may only have one city, but it's going to be a very small city that's not going to represent the people that are out in the county that are affected by the decisions of the entire school district so um so that's why we left it with the quorum court but again the quorum court if it's like a pulaski county situation they can just create an ordinance
and decline that appointment and then it would kick right to the secretary of education so we tried to write the bill to accommodate all those different scenarios that you're going to find across the state. But I appreciate the concern. I agree that we, I think it is a good idea to retain a local control aspect of this, which is why we went the quorum court versus a city wouldn't work in all those circumstances. It may in your area, but I think it would be difficult
in other parts of the state that were very, very rural, like where we live. And so, but But I think the reason why we wanted to keep it local control is because the citizens, the constituents and the citizens, need to have a local redress. They've got to talk to somebody locally and advocate to say, hey, I voted for you as my JP. I want you to hear my input. The same would be true with a city council. It just wouldn't be applicable with the situation that we're trying to address.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
26:27
go ahead well I'm also concerned when you leave it
just entirely to the quorum court those members not being representative of necessarily the school district would they we limited to appointing only an individual to fill
the vacant vacancy from that school voting base the school zone where the
vacancy exists how would that work madam chair may I
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
27:12
have miss Carr speak yeah you identify yourself
Speaker 81
27:21
I'm Renee Carr from Fox and Stone County and what I'm Renee Carr from
Fox and Stone County and Senator Flowers your your last question was
Speaker 82
27:34
referred to who who would be their appointee what would their
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
27:39
yeah where would they come from I mean would they come from the school zone that has the vacancy yes and so I go back to my first comment about the quorum court members don't necessarily represent may not
necessarily represent individuals in even that school district as a whole or certainly I don't know of school districts and school boards that have multiple county quorum courts within the
district I think I looked at that one
year I didn't see that that's over in Cross County where they have a school district outside in the county and one within the city of Wynn so we have two different you know school voting areas and so my point is number one why not
have the language read either and I don't know because it might not have the one JP representing a school district so you wouldn't want that one person just I mean I don't know you might want them but why not have the governing body that is that that the school district is made up of
might be the city council you
understand what I'm saying that where the vacancy comes from but certainly I'd like to know whether this limits them if it is the quorum court to an
appointment of someone from the school zone where the vacancy comes from may I respond You asked me to
Speaker 82
30:14
Yes. There are some situations, I think you referred to one, where a school district crosses multiple county lines. I can think of Jasper. They have two isolated campuses, and I think they're in two or three different counties. So I think the divide here is kind of understanding. We're approaching it from a rural perspective where we don't have a city. were not incorporated to have city government in two of the schools that are represented
while the larger school does have a city council. So I think that's why you wanted to put it that it would be quorum court because you're certainly going to have representation there of your area. Now, I can't speak for larger areas where you are, But I do know that in the rural areas, the quorum court, those JPs know their constituents. And they're very in tune with people and their backgrounds and their interest in schools and that kind of thing.
So approaching it from where we're at, I don't have the same concern, but I understand where you're coming from. Well,
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
31:32
does this bill anticipate, or is there a statute that already requires that
the vacancy be filled by someone who resides within the school
Speaker 90
31:43
board zone that is vacant? Yes, I believe that's a current
Speaker 92
31:50
requirement. Do we believe? Do we know?
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
31:57
Yes. Is there someone here that knows? Do we have a lot over here? Yes. Yes, ma'am. Yes. Is there an authority on
this? I'm a teacher. We have that senior support. There's a community. And then they
Senator Jane English
Unverified
32:17
filled out. But is there a statute is what I'm asking. Come
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
32:20
to the table and identify yourself. I mean, I want to know, is there a statute? I think somebody from the Department of Education should be able to respond to this.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:28
I can look it up. I can try to look it up. I can
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
32:32
try to look up the statute for you. I'd like to know, because that
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
32:36
makes all the difference in the world. I mean, you've got a quorum court. Absolutely, and that's where we would want. You definitely, definitely want somebody. If there's a vacancy from that school zone, that's the person that has. It has to be somebody that resides from that school zone district to fill that spot.
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
32:57
That's where the vacancy is. We're not changing that. well yeah but I'm not sure that in the event in the case of schools that have
been taken over where the department ends up appointing maybe an initial board of school board that they
are necessarily I'm on page two yeah qualified elector of the school district yes
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
33:26
and school district they'll be filled
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
33:29
by of okay well that clears that up thank you mr. okay but still okay
that's resolved but I'm still concerned a little bit about those multiple or in And maybe language could be inserted or amended to address that area where you're from Jasper, where you have multi-county in one school, and then the other areas that have multiple districts
within a county, but not necessarily in the county, but one within the municipality of the county, and then, you understand what I'm saying? - Yeah, if
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
34:23
that were the, I do. And that's, yeah, I do understand what you're saying. And like on page
three of the bill, it says that the quorum court of the county in which the school district's administrative offices are located, or, which there's an or, secretary of the department of education what line are you on i'm on page you're on line on page three
what line uh i'm sorry the amendment doesn't have uh numbers on the lines oh apologies it's under section if you look under b if you go down to b little i and second little i the secretary of the department so it's either or like or if the quorum court doesn't want to to do it or if there's a situation like you've described then it would default to the
secretary of the Department of Education so there's actually a
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
35:21
provision in here for petitioning by
the electorate to fill the vacancy or I'm not sure but I didn't read all you bill and especially the amendment we just got it. Yes,
Speaker 111
35:44
yes, yes. What are you saying? Senator Flowers, if I
Speaker 82
35:48
might address that, this bill adds the requirement that someone interested in filling that position would get a petition
and 20 signatures, the same requirement that currently exists if you're going to run for school board so that's another you know kind of a public disclosure thing where that they can show that there is some support for them applying
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
36:15
they can then submit the petition to the count quorum court yes
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
36:19
yes or or to the secretary of education if if the quorum court declines yes ma'am
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
36:26
and that's optional and if nobody petitions then it's just
left to the discretion of the
forum court members and are the secretary of the Department of Education? I believe that there
Speaker 82
36:38
would have to be, if someone is going to be appointed, they would have to fill out a petition and get 20 electors to sign it in order to be appointed. Even
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
36:51
by the quorum court or the secretary? Yes. Okay. Okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you.
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
36:59
Thank you. Senator Dawson. Thank you, Madam Chair. I shouldn't
do that. Just as far as the overall bill is concerned, the amendment is certainly better than the original version of the bill, in my opinion. But why are we not leaving it with the school board directors currently as it is
and just adding that backstop in there for either the quorum court or the secretary of the Department of Education, adding them in as a layer if somebody doesn't want to, or if there's not a majority of members still left, there's multiple vacancies that creates the minority of the district it would be seems like it would be a lot simpler just to leave them as that local voice there but if they're unable to or refuse to fill the vacancy within a given
period of time then kick it to the on up to either
the quorum court or to the secretary of the Department of Ed and
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
38:22
and I'm not sure if you were in here whenever I made the analogy to if there was a member of the senate
that became vacancy and then and the senators the existing senators get to appoint that position you're going to appoint somebody who's going to align with your agenda and so that's what's happened in my our county
and and that's that's why we're bringing the bill forward from you this is a constituent driven issue of a real situation that's happening in my county because you would then appoint a senator who would align with your agenda, and that's what's happened in the school district. So if you leave it to the school district to appoint somebody at school board to appoint somebody to that school board, you're just picking your player,
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
39:08
right? And I get that argument, although
I often don't agree with a lot of what school boards decide to do,
and I don't even agree with the appointments of vacancies that they have made in the past and in some of the districts that that I'm familiar with however that is what they were elected to do and so to make those decisions they are the most locally in tune with the local district needs or more or desires of the local electorate and the constituencies they represent in that local area even more so than
probably the quorum court or or even certainly statewide appointed official like the Secretary of Education with all due respect I greatly appreciate our current Secretary of Education but they're not necessarily the ones in that that local community that could best address that need necessarily and so Anyway, that would be my suggestion is to leave them as that first layer, but I understand that's not the intent of what you're trying to do with the bill.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
40:22
So, thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, my response, again, would be I don't think that the school board was elected to do that. I think the school board's elected to represent their constituents and the parents of the kids that go to that school. And sometimes that doesn't happen, and so they have an agenda that's different from what those constituents, and they can always unelect them, but as you know, that's very challenging to undo because of the way those things are structured.
So, you know, again, this is something that we feel like your counties are that local control and being able to, they know those communities, they know those schools, they are very familiar with that. I think that they're going to act in the best interest of the school, but I think most importantly, they're going to act in the best interest of their constituents and the citizens that they represent. And so I think the school board members are elected to do a job of create to make sure that there's accountability and oversight and to make sure that the school is well run um i'm not
sure i would i understand your point i just i feel strongly about making sure that you have a degree of separation there when you make an a vacancy appointment and and we have that the quorum court does not get to meet and decide which jp they're going to appoint the governor appoints a vacancy on the quorum court and so the school district this is the only thing that we've ever allowed for this to happen in this space and I I think there is a there should be a separation there
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
42:13
do you and in your research you may know the answer this or you might not but do you know like under current law the district directors are the one they're the first level that does stuff and then it goes to the quorum court how many instances do we have where the quorum court it gets to that level where the quorum court is making those appointments I mean over the last 10 years or so I mean don't most of them get filled by the
district before they go to the quorum get kicked to that second level right now I'm aware
Speaker 82
42:51
it's been several years ago maybe in the year 2014 and I don't remember the circumstances in our own county where it eventually was decided by I think multiple well you know if you've lost a board member you have an even number of board members to make that choice and I think there was a tie and maybe the quorum court decided.
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
43:16
agree on it okay and and so I'm just trying to read through the current law here says the County Quorum Court which doesn't necessarily designate what like your add-on here is the County Quorum Court in which the school district's administrative offices are located which is probably an important clarification in the law as far as designating that that was requested by the Association
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
43:42
of County. Yeah I mean
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
43:44
I get that as far as a clarification which
it makes sense but I don't have an overlay of all 239 districts in the state to know. I mean many of them have cross-county boundaries and and so sometimes the administrative offices may be located in the county where the majority of the school district doesn't actually reside. So I mean you might have a county a school district administrative office I only one that I have reference to is I know
Springdale crosses into Benton County a little bit in their their footprint now their administrative offices is in Washington County and the majority of that districts in Washington County so this example wouldn't necessarily apply but if by chance they had moved their administrative office north into Benton County then the Benton County Quorum Court would be making the decision for for washington county school district um and so i don't know where there might be some other examples throughout the state because we've got 75 counties and right and 230 some 40 some odd school districts
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
44:52
that cross those right and and that's why we made the secondary it could be either or the secretary of ed so for that specific issue that you're just discussing it could be either or well who
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
45:06
would be the deciding factor in that? Would it be the quorum court?
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
45:11
The quorum court would just basically say, because by ordinance, I think they can just declare a vacancy and kick it to the secretary bed. That's what the Association of Counties would
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
45:22
mean. In that scenario, our Benton County quorum court might want to appoint
the members of the Springdale School Board. I don't know. They may,
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
45:31
but that's a local issue right if they reside in that school district. That's just the challenges I
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
45:36
have with the bill or the amendment I guess on the bill right now. So I don't know exactly how to work through all those but
those are some of the things I see on it. Thank you though. Thank you. Are there other questions from the committee? Can she give her testimony
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
45:58
before I need to go gavel in public health sorry so if she can give her testimony and then i'll just pull the bill back down after she gives her testimony and then come back after i get them gaveled in and let senator clark go if is that okay you're gonna do what pull the bill down well i i would like for her to give her testimony before that happens i just have to go gavel in public health committee okay and then will take you up later
that'd be fine okay as I mean that would be fine go ahead all right um so
Speaker 82
46:38
I the crux of the matter is that school boards wield a whole lot of power and usually it's just seven members or you know it could be a few more but um it only takes four votes to decide very critical decisions and so how would you love it wouldn't you love it if you only had to find three other people to support you to pass a bill that's what happens in a local school board so
that's why this issue is we're trying to address it well what happens when a school board seat is vacated typically i believe that a school board member who has someone who aligns with them or the superintendent finds someone who aligns, there's no public notice of a vacancy, and they are able to select. That remaining board is able to select who will go on the board. So what I have seen is sometimes that person who's selected has an agenda.
That agenda may be to fire a coach, it may be to close a school, but the body is so small that these board positions are just very critical that we get an independent, impartial board member who can make decisions that are best for the children. So this bill increases our odds of getting that type of person to fill a vacancy.
And it also provides the public notice so that anyone in that area will know that there is an open board seat. And it provides the mechanism for which they would apply for that open board seat. They know the steps to take. And so I do think the quorum court will have input from their constituents, from parents, and I think that they will make a good decision on it.
So I hope you will support the bill.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
49:07
Thank you. Thank you. Are there further questions from the committee? I'm not seeing any people signed up to speak for or against. is
the will of the committee? Motion. Is there a second? Second? Pardon me. Yes, discussion on the
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
49:30
motion. Thank you. I agree with, you know, what's happening. I actually had never really thought about that before with school boards and even having served on a school board for nine years. we've seen some of that happen and I don't know it's like hard to know if this is the best answer but I felt I think it's better than what we currently have and so there may be some kinks to work out that we may have to come back next session and I mean because I agree I mean I think I think there's probably several school districts that cross county lines and that may you know a
situation may arise from that where we see maybe we need to clean up a little bit more But I agree just the fact that they're electing, or not electing, but voting on who will serve in a body of five or seven with them. I understand the conflict in that. And so I just wanted to say, I think I acknowledge the problem, and maybe we may have to clean it up a little bit more, but I think this is better than what we currently have. Senator Murdoch.
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
50:36
Thank you and I concur with Senator Davis that the bill does address I think some issues and but I think it also brings out some things as well as we know and I didn't think about this when we were talking Senator Irvin city councils they do appoint there so it is being done which way is best you know it's it's hard to determine because when people elect people to these various boards or councils, then those become those people that are trusted
to handle that portion of government that we've given them that authority to handle. So if there is a vacancy to Senator Dodson's point, maybe they should be the ones to, you know, to replace that. But to your point, you made a great counterpoint to that. So I do think there is an issue that needs to be cleaned up. I don't know what the best answer is. I do not think that it's a good position to put
statewide people in it. I don't believe that as a result to the court and then put the governor in that. I mean I know the governor makes appointments that's different than an elected position by their local community and then the governor or the Secretary of Education or whomever get involved in that. I don't think it's fair to them to be quite honest quite honestly so I don't know I but I do appreciate what what you've done that we're trying and I know what
you're trying to fix that I know about local politics and how yeah so I feel
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
52:25
you for sure other comments I didn't sorry I didn't get the chance to close for the bill but i will defer to the committee um just completely defer to the committee and i i would love to continue working on this bill
so with your input and happy to do that i hope you
Senator Jane English
Unverified
52:43
will give it a chance to get so do you want to
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
52:51
work on the bill before we vote do you want to take it back down i mean the reason why i would say i would i would continue to work with you to make amendments on the house side i would love to do that i just know where we are in session and we're trying to get bills through the
Senator Jane English
Unverified
53:05
senate so we have a motion on the floor so all in
favor all opposed well we have need a roll call i
Speaker 155
53:17
guess because we have i heard two voices only two voices
Speaker 157
53:26
Senator Dotson. Senator Dotson, no. Senator Bryant. Senator Bryant. Senator Murdoch. Senator Murdoch, aye. Senator King, no. Senator Davis, aye. Senator Davis, aye. Senator Flowers, Senator Flowers? Senator Sullivan? Aye. Senator Sullivan? Aye.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
53:57
I have enough votes. Thank you. You get to work on it. Okay, I'm gonna let you take over here while I do this apprenticeship thing. I hope fast. Stay out of bed. Can you run the bill? Yep.
Senator, if you would introduce yourself and the bill
Senator Jane English
Unverified
54:43
number and you're free to proceed. Senator Jane English from District 13 and
this is Senate Bill 390. Basically this is an act to establish the state apprenticeship agency. So over time Arkansas has experienced great significant growth in registered apprenticeships and as the state continues to promote apprenticeships as a workforce development recruitment tool and retention strategy, we need
a greater oversight from the state in this effort. Transitioning to a state apprenticeship agency will provide a more effective system with less reliance on federal oversight following Arkansas
to better serve its business program sponsors and apprentices. members we have any questions this
is this creating a new board our agency is
Senator Jane English
Unverified
55:45
it no it's it's the same people that are on the that have been in
there okay and signed up to speak for Bill Rogers Rochelle Rochelle I'm sorry okay you can go ahead and have a seat we have a question for the sponsor first Senator Murdoch you're recognized thank
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
56:14
you chair I'm sorry I was just getting to
it it crosses out a lot so basically you're going from
me what we had was a council a working group to a actual now agency or yeah agency what is it the labor department runs the
Senator Jane English
Unverified
56:31
apprenticeship programs what we're doing is looking at the state running our apprenticeship programs here in the state of Arkansas just like Alabama does and other states do right but you started with a coordinate steering committee so you start
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
56:44
it's that's been in place right so
now you're going to the next level right which is an agency to put in place kind of what
Senator Jane English
Unverified
56:56
you've studied if you will well it's a program that's already inside of of an agency and started the skills development.
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
57:04
Okay but that evolved kind of from the committee the steering committee that you had the steering committee that was in place.
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
57:22
Okay members any other questions? Mr. Rochelle you're
here to speak for the bill. You would
Bill Rochelle
Unverified
57:33
introduce yourself and you may speak for the bill. My name
Speaker 178
57:36
is Bill Rochelle. I'm the chapter president for Associated Builders and Contractors of Arkansas. We're one of 67 chapters throughout the country that represent the commercial construction industry. About 52 of those chapters have registered apprenticeship programs and so the last couple years I've reached out to them just to see you know there's some states that are state apprenticeship agency. There are some states that are the Bureau of Apprenticeship Training,
the DOL, and most all the states that are in red states really prefer the state apprenticeship agency model. It gives our Office of Apprenticeship a little freedom, a little flexibility to be able to pivot to create some programs that will benefit our members. So I know you guys have a lot of work to do, so I think the biggest takeaway from this is I have more confidence in you folks here in the state of Arkansas and this body to govern the apprenticeship agency
and also our Office of Apprenticeship folks to administer that program. So that's what I'm here today to say. Thank you. Members, any questions? Seeing no questions,
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
58:39
thank you for your testimony. Do we have any
others who would like to testify? Seeing no others. Senator you're welcome to close
for your bill. I'm closed for the bill Motion to pass and
make a motion do pass. We have a second second
All in favor say aye Senator your bill is passed.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
59:07
Thank you very much. Can I'd like
to do Just for the record if you'd introduce yourself again
Senator Jane English
Unverified
59:23
and the bill number 425 And you are welcome to proceed This
is the bill to amend the Transportation enhanced transportation for the adequacy. I
Think we've had a lot of discussion on this and we had a meeting yesterday, I believe members anybody have any questions
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
59:42
No questions Anybody here to speak for or against the bill? saying no one this is sure going different than the last time so saying no one is big for against the bill is there we have a motion I move a motion we have a second have a second discussion on the motion senator Murdoch
you're welcome to proceed thank you chair and
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
1:00:16
thank you senator for bringing this back and doing what you did so that we would have time to meet with BLR. After meeting and discussing with various people there is there is a real disconnect as it relates to the understanding of the allocation as it is in this bill and where it came from. What I found out is that many of the
school districts and not just in that I represent but many superintendents don't agree with what this is at the end of the day now I know this evolves from the spring adequacy and some of those discussions that made up this document I get that but my problem and the reason why I can't support it is it's just because the lack of, from the input I'm getting, the input from the superintendents, their ability
to be a part of it. I guess what I should have done before now is ask that AAEA come because I know they represent the leadership of these school districts, and I think they supported this bill, I think. I think that's what the statement was. I don't remember exactly, But I'm very concerned that this bill is going forth with this amount of money moving around as it is. And we did meet Senator Flowers and I with BLR, and it's a very, very complicated situation.
Almost seems to be secret, you know, for some reason. and it's just it's just not a lot of comfort or confidence in what we're doing here and just getting to that level of just real confidence in how we're doing what we're doing I'm sure something needs to happen and there's an effort being made to make that happen so I'm not casting dispersion on anyone I'm just saying that the level of confidence is not there from the leadership
in our school districts and this is going to affect them and their ability to educate our children and so this is a part of the process and I just think so I'll continue to work on it after it moves out of here if it moves out and try to get to some level at least of understanding but anyway that's where I am right
now I appreciate that Mr. Murdoch and also appreciate the chair's leadership and making sure everybody had an opportunity to speak on
this and study the bill that's a good thing senator Dotson you're recognized
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:03:08
for a question no I'm sorry discussion on the bill thank you mr. chair I'm
you know the the reasons I was not happy with this bill still remain and it's primarily for the districts that I represent or the one district that will be affected by it primarily so that that's why I'm not supportive of the
bill as is I think there's probably a lot of work that still needs to be done probably on the formula and we we may not have the opportunity to really do that during session here obviously every couple years this picks winners and losers and goes back and forth and so I'm not really sure what the long-term term solution is for for everybody but for right now I'm I'm not supportive of the bill as is any
more discussion on the vote on the seeing no discussion we
have a motion before the floor do pass with a second all in favor say
Speaker 157
1:04:36
aye all opposed? Roll call please. Senator Dotson. Senator Dotson? No. Senator Bryant? Senator Bryant. Senator
Murdoch? No. Senator King? Aye. Senator King? Aye. Senator Davis? Aye. Senator Davis? Aye. Senator Flowers? Senator Flowers? Aye. Senator English? Aye. Senator English? Aye. Senator
Speaker 193
1:05:01
the bill does not pass. Sorry. Thank you.
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:06:15
be recognized. Good morning, Madam Chair and members. Committee Kim Hammer, State Senator, District 16. I have a guest with me that can help explain the bill. If she could recognize her, please. Thank
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:06:36
you, Madam Chair and committee. My name is Karen Walters I'm superintendent at Bryant Public Schools and madam chair this
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:06:45
would be Senate bill 482 and I think there's a handout that will help explain the bill and make it easier to follow along Thank you.
senator sullivan thank you madam chair i'd like to make a motion that we expunge the vote on senate bill 485 425 that we just uh where it failed before the committee second well i can't make a second second all in favor you make
Speaker 204
1:08:01
a second yeah there was a transportation bill that just failed
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:08:10
Okay, we explained to the vote motion we got
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:08:26
Opposed thank you. Okay. All right Ready, Madam Chair? Go ahead. All right. If you would, I'd let
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:08:40
Superintendent Walters go through the bill. I think we've worked with the department vet on this bill, and so, but I think for sake of time and then get right to the questions,
let her explain the bill, please. Go ahead.
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:08:54
Thank you, Madam Chair and committee for letting me speak. I want to thank Senator Hammer for bringing this and the department for their work and helping us to get this bill where it is today. I've provided a handout out to you that kind of goes through the summary of the changes. I'm going to very quickly go
through this so it will be as quickly as quick as we can. So the general summary is it strikes through the opportunity school choice in this part of the code. I think there is some confusion to districts and parents about those two things. I think it's unnecessary and I think that striking that out will make the language more clear for everyone. There's also a part of the bill where it talks about board-to-board transfers.
Currently, if the board has given the superintendent the authority that they can approve board-to-board transfers, even if I approve them, we still have to put it on our board agenda. And so within this bill, one of the changes is that if it's approved, it doesn't have to go on the board agenda. it would only go to the board if it was a denial and the parent would have the opportunity to appeal that and looking at the timelines it is June 1st for the timeline to submit a school choice application and the school district has
until June 30th to give parents an answer the applications must be time stamped and another part of this bill the change is to clarify that the State Board of Education cannot overturn a district's decision if it is for capacity. An addition is explaining what capacity means and we worked very closely with the department on that language and if you have very detailed questions about
that I may have to ask them to come up and help me but currently I'll just say in our example at Bryant we want to grow students and we do accept school choice students but at some point sometimes we are having to deny because we are full we have already had our transition conferences for our pre-k students and we're going to have 35 kindergarten students that are in CBI classrooms that's a very specialized special education classroom you can have
ten students in those classrooms we're already going to have to add two teachers into classrooms I don't know where we're we're going to do that space we're having those conversations and so we're trying to make it more clear that you know if we meet the definitions of capacity in the bill that we can deny a school choice application based on that you'll also see in the bill and I won't go through every every every section rather just talk about it in general but
you'll also find that there's some language to clean up about uniformed service members I think it includes the National Guard if I'm not mistaken but I believe that taking out the opportunity school choice making the deadline the same again I think that's going to be simple it also clarifies for parents that can email, they can mail, they can hand deliver the applications. Right now it's done online and I think there's still some misunderstanding. Parents don't
understand they have to fill out the application with both districts, the resident district and the receiving district. And so I think that that clarifies it and hopefully a lot of this language is clean up and it will make it easier for us to implement this. The intent of the of what we were trying to do was not to limit school choice, not to make it difficult for parents. We want it to be easier but again once we reach those capacities if we don't have
room then then we you know don't have room. So I
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:13:12
think that's pretty much it. Madam Chair that's the explanation of the bill with the handout I think that takes it play-by-play I would say that we've been working on this for a couple months with the department bed and the department bed I think I can say supportive of it they're okay with it so anyway we've worked with part of the ed to arrive at the finished product of this bill and we'll be glad to
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:13:37
take questions madam chair if I may I did forget one important point forgive me it
It also specifies in the bill that if a student is under expulsion or has been recommended for expulsion, that the resident district must provide that information to the receiving district. As a superintendent, I don't have the authority that I can expel a student. I can recommend them for expulsion, but it's only an expulsion once the board acts on it. We have had some situations in the last couple of years where a student was recommended for expulsion in a district before the board acted on it they moved districts and as as school districts
we're not sure what we can say and what we can't say because i really can't say they've been expelled because the board didn't act but we feel it's important that the receiving school district have that information in our case the reason for the expulsion was act of violence and it was information that we definitely needed to know. So that is another piece of the bill I don't want to come across as I'm trying to hide that but that is another piece of the bill that I think is important. And Madam Chair if I can hit
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:14:50
three summary points and I'll let Superintendent Walters correct me if I mischaracterize anything in the bill. Number one it's not limiting school choice but it's identifying two areas that have become problematic. One is, well three actually. One, clarity to the parents to know the timelines and also to make it easier for them to be able to communicate that request to the school district. Number two, it is addressing the issue that if a school is at capacity
and they have legitimate reasons to turn that down, that they would not be overridden by the state board. And then the third thing is that it would, as she mentioned there are some that when the student knows that they are about to be expelled from school they'll quickly try to move and when they do that that becomes then a issue for the receiving school district if they don't know it so this puts some transparency on it so to help avoid that and not those would be
the main points I think that leave anything okay and so madam chair with that we'll be glad
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:16:04
to take questions there are questions from the
committee senator Sullivan so is this problem particular to your district are are many districts having this same problem and
if so who is their voice there's someone here to testify from the school board association our superintendents
Association who can verify that multiple districts are having this problem I want to make
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:16:33
sure I understand the question are you asking about the expulsion
no I'm just asking about the bill so if if the bill in general if it has
understand the state the Department of Education is for it I'm wondering about the extent of the problem so there is this same problem that you're outlining in the bill there are several it appears so those same problems across
the state are particular to your district I don't
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:17:05
think they are particular to my district senator I can't say that it's all districts because for districts that are losing students the capacity issue may not be an issue for them but for districts that are growing students then yes it is an issue for all of
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:17:21
us okay it is not specific just and yeah that's the question is yeah she it is not just specific to brian i think you could say that it is a situation that applies to multiple
districts across the state and as the superintendent said depends are you on the receiving in or are you on on the giving in but i would also say this you know the the capacity issue is just one component within this bill, the students transferring before disciplinary action is taken so as to avoid that, I think that is probably applicable to all school districts that have to deal with that. So we're addressing multiple points in here.
Yeah. So when I get the part about the expulsion issue, I understand that's pretty straightforward
and pretty easy to understand. How will this affect the school choice students who are in private schools, are in homeschooled, and they're transferring? What's the impact on them of this? Any? Let me give you a scenario, and you tell me if this is what you're thinking.
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:18:22
Okay, so if there is a student that is in a private school, but they're a resident of the Bryant School District, and they decide they're no longer going to private school, but they want a school choice to Benton, Is is that the type of
thing that you're well, I guess they're as you say there are two issues
there the in district and the out of district
So what's the impact of private schools are for a student who's out of district? So
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:18:49
your question they want to join them a little bit of a noise Limitation we got the wind blows. I'm gonna repeat the question because she's sitting next to me and then you make sure it's right How is this going to affect in a scenario that you have a student who wants to school choice? into Bryant and they're coming either from a private school or from some other school and they're wanting a school choice into Bryant, how is that going to affect, how would this bill
affect that student? That's the question. Yes and there are two
scenarios one in district and two out of district and they
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:19:27
want a choice in. Okay. So it would not have any impact on private school or homeschool students. I mean the law but the law is the law no matter what that situation is. When you say in
district, Senator Sullivan, do you mean with schools within my district? Is that what
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:19:44
you mean? Like a Benton to a Bryant scenario?
Yes. From a school to a school is one scenario. The other scenario is a student in a private school to, in this case, say Bryant. Those two situations. And again, what's the impact of that student? So, no,
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:20:01
that student would be treated as if they were, had been at a public school. So, if there was a student that resided in the Little Rock School District, they were going to say Little Rock Christian, they decided they wanted the school choice to Bryant, they would follow the same rules as somebody that had been at a...
Okay, yeah, I understand. That's the last question. So, you're wanting to say the state school board has no, cannot overrule
Speaker 232
1:20:26
a school district in your decision on these? Well, the capacity
Speaker 233
1:20:31
issue, yes, that's what part of this bill is
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:20:35
about. If you go, I have gone back at least two years, and I think it's closer to three years, and the state board has sided with the parents each time when they've...
Yeah, I get the multiple scenarios, but in the end, you don't want them, the state board, you're saying they should not have jurisdiction over your district in order to overrule your school board's decision. If
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:21:01
I can show them the capacity that's in this bill, if I can prove that we have that capacity, then no. I don't think they should be able to make a decision where I'm going to have to get a portable building to put kids in because I don't have
any space. But overruling means you make a decision, they disagree with it, and they overrule it.
And you're creating a scenario where they can try to overrule and the district says no. so you're you're trying to exempt your districts from the authority of the state school board okay yes for capacity issues madam chair yes could we have Secretary Oliva come to
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:21:43
the table You would identify yourself you'll
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:21:52
be recognized take a leave a secretary of education
Speaker 242
1:22:00
Do you want me to address your question Center Sullivan I? Think what this bill is doing if we go kind of go back a little bit of history in time When we're looking about creating options and school choice for families We want to make sure that we're providing as many options as we can when we pass Arkansas learns we expanded parent empowerment Well, one of your questions was is this limited to Bryan School District? Are other superintendents asking the questions as as we worked with superintendents and stakeholder work groups to seek input for
Implementation because once the bill gets signed in law, we had to develop a lot of roles around implementation One of the biggest questions we did receive was about capacity like how can a district make sure That they're serving the students in their community while make while Making sure they're being good stewards of school choice because that when I talk to superintendents They want to serve as many families as they can't what they don't want to do is create a financial Undue hardship and not be able to serve the students in their community because they're being
Maybe school choice friendly and you still want to always have seats because families are gonna move You know what one of the things that you would never want to do and I don't want to speak for a superintendent But just in my former role is tell a family that got transferred in the military. Sorry, we're full Right, so we we needed to find capacity Which is why they came up with a number of about 90% because we got to save seats families are going to move within a school year We're going to be good stewards and support those families. So I think the question is is whether or not
if there's a condition of why the school district chose not to approve a school choice there would have to be qualifying factors to determine why they didn't do it what we don't want as a school to get a citation on accreditation because they're not in compliance with class size amendments or capacity issues because we force them to take students that they that they were able to show determination they didn't have room for so this is it's really actually a system
of checks and balances because we're gonna always I'm just gonna say I'm always side on the side of parents and students and say let's serve as many students and families as we can but I also understand the safeguards that a district needs to make sure that they can actually properly serve those students as well so that's what this
bill is trying to address well I think you answered another question for me too are you hearing this problem across the state and your answer would be yes yes yeah my my point
was a little shorter than that that we're setting up a precedent where a school can override
Speaker 242
1:24:40
the state school board I don't know if it's necessary the school is overriding the states the school board is that if there was an appeal that came to the state board that the school district at the local level said because of these determinations they were not able to approve it it wouldn't necessarily need go to our board because there would be nothing for our board to approve because they'd be following the law and the statute said that these term terminations already happened thank you
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:25:16
senator Dawson thank you madam chair so I I'll
be honest when I started going through this bill last night at the first ten pages of striking out stuff I liked I just said this is a no and I didn't ever make it to the the last 16 pages of the bill because I was just flat opposed so it would have been great to have this cheat sheet a little sooner I'm sensitive to the capacity issue and I think we need to address that and I'm I'm just not entirely sure this bill as is, this is very extensive in striking through
things that have been working well and then maybe trying to rewrite them into other sections of code and I cannot process that right now in this short amount of time to figure out if I like the things that are being put back in as much as I hate the things that are being taken out. are some things toward the back of the bill that I've scanned through now that that I do like addressing some of the capacity issues and but I can't get there on this bill as is unless it's narrowed down to just addressing the
capacity issues for right now those other issues maybe we can address them individually if if they're brought in but as of the moment that that's kind of where I'm at on it and I I don't know how to get beyond that in in the period of time that we have this morning but appreciate you taking a stab at it and and I do think we need to address the capacity issue because I'm sensitive to
it we face it in Bentonville not not not every year but every day as far as capacity issues and in the current law that requires you to to you know maybe put buildings mobile buildings up I mean that's a reality and I and I'm very sensitive that and I think we need to narrowly address that maybe without the entire expanse of the bill but I don't know if you have any any comments or feedback on that but I'm open to suggest any any uh anything you might say to change my mind
Speaker 248
1:27:40
I guess is it the opportunity school choice that gives you heartburn yeah the the
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:27:45
first 11 pages striking through all of that um opportunity school choice because these are some of the things that
many of us have fought for many years to make sure are put into law and I can't sit here in the amount of time I've got to try to see how many of those you've added back in to other sections and overlay that to ensure that everything is being
addressed in a proper manner. So anyway. I will tell you
Speaker 248
1:28:16
that I'm not the author of the cheat sheet. I'm fortunate enough that we have a staff attorney
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:28:22
mr. Jeremy Laster and he's wonderful he is actually also in the National Guard at JAG and he is with Uncle Sam today he could have explained this much better than I so I hated that he could not be here what I remember hearing from him is that it is struck through in this section but it's because it's it's in other sections of the code and what I understand understood from him is that
was the confusion because where it was in the code with the opportunity school choice in the school choice that's what caused confusion with parents and with superintendents and school districts in general so I don't think that it's it that it's totally taken away I think it's taken away in this section of the bill and this sauce for the shaking her head yes at
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:29:11
think Courtney like to come up would it be all right if Courtney comes up. Thank
Speaker 254
1:29:27
you. Courtney Solis Ford Department of Education. I just wanted to
help address Senator Dotson's question and it is exactly what Superintendent Walter said but what we found in that having opportunity school choice in a separate section of law was that amendments were made in previous sessions changing things like the timeline or dates that the school district had to respond and we ended up with conflicting provisions in for public school choice opportunity school choice and so I did work with Jeremy Lasseter at the department to make sure that when we repealed opportunity that
we included every specific provision of that into the Public School Choice Act so every student who's in a level 5 school district can still choice to a a non-level five school district. Every student in an F school can either do an intra-district to a non-F school or if there's not one in their current district they can do an inter-district to a non-F school in another district. What this does though by combining them is making sure that there's only one section that talks about January 1 to June 1 application dates. That is the
school has until June 30th to respond 15 days if it's on an immediate if the parent has requested an immediate implementation so it wasn't about doing away with anything it was just about creating consistency throughout the many many many sections of code that addressed school choice I appreciate
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:30:55
that it and so if I understand you correctly you've gone through this entire
thing work with them to make sure that we are not losing any student choice opportunities for parents and students right now to be able to transfer between districts
or even potentially intra-district but as far as public school choice is concerned parents still have all the exact same opportunities it'll just be clarified in this section and it addresses the capacity issue as well that is correct are there any other components to this that other than the clarification and cleanup consolidating it into one and then addressing the capacity issue are
there any other components that I'm missing or unaware of like being able to deny for right
Speaker 252
1:31:53
so I would say currency or something yeah the only new components would be that The denial based on expulsion, the revocation based on expulsion. Where's that? So, if the student is found to
Speaker 254
1:32:11
have excessively violated district policies or handbook resulting in disciplinary action.
Speaker 252
1:32:17
Which page are you on? Page 13. 13. If the student is deemed truant down at the
Speaker 254
1:32:30
bottom it's subsection l1 if the student is deemed truant by a court So they've gone through the whole truancy process Or again if they're expelled by the non-resident school district for a violation Of that school district's code of conduct etc. And I think to what Secretary Oliva said we were seeing this consistently across the
state where students were swapping districts to try to avoid Expulsions and things and so we just wanted to create that consistency that if that is in fact What was going on that they can't just go to
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:33:06
another district to avoid that? So you're saying it's a common practice right now
that a student is about to get expelled Expelled they transfer districts. They're forced the receiving district is forced to receive that student and
the the district that is giving them up cannot inform the the receiving district That there's been a problem or an issue in any way They take that student and then it resets the clock for that student to have to go through that entire process the new district and then Conceivably as soon as they're about to be expelled another time They can go to another district and reset the clock again Right, because they, you know, the
Speaker 254
1:33:49
receiving district, if that was Bryant, they can't expel a student based on something that happened at the prior school district.
So they would have to have a new
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:34:01
prevents that, yes, that. And the receiving district is completely unaware that there
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:34:06
may have been a problem, and that's the reason for the transfer. And I'll say this, and Superintendent back me up. I think that, I think the parents have learned how to gain the system. And that's part of what this is trying to address is to keep the parents know how to work the system so that before the student actually hits the disciplinary action of the board, they transfer out.
And then it's just a shell game of moving from school to school. I don't think that's fair. I don't think that's fair to any of the schools that are involved in that loop where it's just consistently moving to avoid those disciplinary action. I think you would hear stories around the state of some schools that have had to receive or unknowingly receive some students that have had some serious issues, and they have transferred those serious issues into the school where they're going. It just becomes a disciplinary problem.
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:35:05
Is that fair? Yes. I think Senator Hammer did a great job. I would add, I don't think it's a situation where the district where the student has been doesn't want to tell the new receiving district. I think that they are uncertain about legally what they're comfortable in sharing. I think that because it is not an expulsion that, like I said, legally I cannot do that as superintendent. I can recommend it, but it's not an expulsion until the board acts on it. So I believe districts are just leery of what can we say, what can we tell them.
And I think that this language would alleviate that. It's not, I don't think that people are intentionally not telling. I think they're just kind of afraid. And in regards to the truancy, I would add, you know, it kind of goes back a little bit talking about different counties. When we send a student that's not ours, if they live in another county, there's also some jurisdiction issues there that our juvenile judge is not able to do anything with that student because they don't live in Saline County.
So that's another issue. And if they're truant, if they live, you know, somewhere else, we don't provide transportation if you're a school choice student you know it's an issue of well we can't it's not like we can say okay because sometimes the juvenile judge will say okay mom they're gonna have to ride the bus you're gonna
Speaker 216
1:36:34
have to put them on the bus so they can get to school well in those situations we can't do that
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:36:40
so that was another reason for the truancy so one more question here is there anything within here that say a student
is I mean if we're codifying all this obviously for the capacity issue we we talked about that a second ago and it makes perfect sense that you know they couldn't appeal up to the state board for being overridden like they can right now potentially because we don't have that 90% threshold capacity in statute but if it was then that would just be a denied appeal for the capacity issue I get that when it comes to the expulsion or other things like that is there
anything in here that would prohibit a parent from appealing up to the state board and saying no that that that I don't know what we call it district that's losing the student to transfer but the non receiving school district they were wrong and they get to appeal that up because they got denied from the receiving school district denied them a transfer because they received word on the back end from the the sending school district I guess. I don't know if
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:37:57
it's in this part of the code and this all sort of may correct me if I'm
wrong but I believe the way the law is written now if I recommend the student for expulsion and they want to board-to-board transfer to Benton. I'm sorry to say that again. I couldn't hear you. If they want a board-to-board board transfer or school choice to Benton. That parent can go to the board at Benton and ask for a hearing. Am I correct in that? Under the expulsion
Speaker 201
1:38:29
piece or under school choice? Under expulsion piece. So
Speaker 255
1:38:32
I think it's another part of it. I was gonna say I think that is current but I also think there's a bill out there that's proposing to change that so I'm
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:38:44
not sure if that bill has gone through yet or not. But current process, if you recommend a student for expulsion and then they go to another district that receiving district does not know about that this bill would allow them to know about that correct and under this bill you've notified the other district that
they're recommended for expulsion they get over there and that receiving school district denies them because of that recommendations because you had the recommendation for expulsion is there an appeal process beyond the receiving district that goes to the state board or is that just flat-out denied where the parents can't go somewhere else because now they've been recommended and they're they're blacklisted because there's a recommendation for
expulsion on their record well so currently under
Speaker 254
1:39:34
state law a district can choose not to take any
student that's been expelled from from another school district so this I will say extends that to having been recommended for expulsion to try to prevent that school hopping as we'll call it and so what we've said in here is that if the parent does file an appeal if that denial if they appeal the denial and the denial was based on a factual determination of expulsion recommended for expulsion or meeting capacity then our state board cannot overturn that because again they would be that would be the new language under
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:40:12
this would say the State Board could not over, could not overrule that if there is a recommendation for expulsion. They haven't been expelled. Right. But there's a just a recommendation at that point. Right. So, all right, I'll have to
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:40:30
think about that. So, may I address that? So, in that situation, if the parent feels that it is unjust, their best due process is to go before the board because they get to present their case. Which board are we talking about? The school where it happened.
Speaker 201
1:40:47
The school where it happened, not the one
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:40:51
that they're trying to go to. I'm going to be very transparent with you. If I received a student that was recommended from expulsion and I didn't have all the facts, it could be that it's not something that I would expel them for, but if I can't have all those facts and I have to worry about student safety, my board's going to look at me and say, what do you think? And I would say to them, I recommend that, you know, we not accept this student. They need to go to their resident district to have their hearing, because that's really where
their due process is. That's where all the facts are, the statements, the witnesses. At Bryant, I can't tell a teacher at Benton that they've got to come to my board meeting for the hearing. Does
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:41:33
that make sense? And I get that, and I think that does
make sense. However, I think there are probably also needs to be another level of appeal that takes it out of the hands of of each of the districts that's a impartial arbiter that's where the state board so if the the parent feels like there needs to be an appeal process and what i'm understanding you're saying is that's not included in here right
Speaker 252
1:41:57
now right but being that we typically don't want the state board getting into those factual determinations of things like expulsion
Speaker 254
1:42:04
because again they're not at the school district where that that act happened we we don't want to have student expulsion discipline hearings at the state level if the parent wants that due process then they go back to the school district where it happened they have their hearing at the local level and then either they were expelled in which case it's a factual determination that our state board would not overturn or it's not expelled and
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:42:33
ahead in school choice and so under the current law if they're expelled
that's a factual determination that the state
Speaker 255
1:42:40
board would not overturn. That is not the current case. Not the current case. No, and under the current situation, expulsion is not a reason for denial. So a school
Speaker 254
1:42:49
district, Bryant, could not deny a school choice application even if that student had been expelled under school choice. But there's another law that says they can choose not to accept a student if that student has been expelled, but it conflicts with the school choice law. So again, we're trying to create that
consistency in that either they're expelled and you have to take them or you're not expelled in or whatever I just confused myself but consistency in that if a student is expelled another district is not forced to take
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
1:43:17
them under any so not under this act currently that we're but the current law somewhere in statute says that if there's a finding of fact and they are expelled then the receiving district can deny on that and there is no appeal to the state board to overturn that currently. That is correct. Okay. So that part of it's not changing.
We're just, the recommendation for expulsion is what's being added or contemplating to be added to
Karen Walters
Unverified
1:43:44
the law under this proposal. Yes. And Senator Dodson, to give you an example that
happened this year, it says that we are not required to accept that student, but we can. And I had an instance this year that we did. I had a neighboring superintendent that called me about a situation, told me that he was going to be recommending the student for expulsion it was not a disciplinary action that we would have expelled for at Bryant I asked the
family to come in and meet with me I met with the parents I met with the student and we accepted that student he's been with us and we haven't had any issues so you know if parents will be honest with us if they come and sit down you know we will look at those things but it's the issue that we're trying to address here is where I had the situation where the student came in parents didn't tell us anything and we found out from other means that the
student student had been recommended for expulsion for a very violent act and that's what I'm trying to keep from happening and I can't tell you that it's happening you know 25 times a year but if it happens once and something happens that's what I've
Speaker 201
1:44:56
got to try to keep from happening. Thank
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:45:06
you. Okay, is that all the questions? Unfortunately, we don't have a quorum here. We can't vote. So you
Speaker 153
1:45:18
might want to come back again on Monday. Madam Chair,
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:45:22
I think we'd be glad to come back on Monday give everybody a chance to absorb I think it's a bill it can be defended I would ask the chair this if she would consider if there are people to speak for against bill could that possibly be granted today yes and then that way if there are things that come up that I haven't been addressed through our explanation we can know what those are you can do that
Speaker 170
1:45:44
yes that's just a request yeah so if we have
people come up and speak and then we have a quorum
later what's the chances we're going to ask those same questions of those same people again I don't know the answer to that if you wanted to come and speak I'm okay with it I'm just saying they may have a great opportunity to speak two or three times I'm at the mercy of the committee well what would you like to do would you we have one person to speak against
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:46:14
the bill and then I would suggest you might want to wait till Monday and come Matt that's fine I can I can do that hey pardon yeah we probably week for
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
1:46:25
Monday okay madam chair yes here's what I'd like to request I'd like to request let the one who wants to speak against it come and speak against it and then I will pull the bill and come back Monday week and we'll see where we are is that
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:46:49
acceptable that sounds good thank you Gary
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:46:57
all right thank you well folks we don't have quorum here so I think we're probably finished for the day thank you very much Thank you.
Agenda
Call to Order
SB373 Irvin TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS FINANCIAL EDUCATION COMMISSION.
SB390 J. English TO ESTABLISH THE STATE APPRENTICESHIP AGENCY ACT.
SB425 J. English TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING ENHANCED TRANSPORTATION; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB482 K. Hammer TO REPEAL THE ARKANSAS OPPORTUNITY PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT; TO AMEND THE LAW RELATING TO TRANSFERS OF STUDENTS BETWEEN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL DISTRICTS; AND TO AMEND THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE ACT OF 2015.
SB484 Irvin TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO FILL A VACANCY ON A SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
Adjourn
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Mar 19, 2025 | Agenda | 2 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
Speaker 35
Speaker 41
Speaker 60
Speaker 81
Speaker 82
Speaker 88
Speaker 90
Speaker 92
Speaker 111
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Speaker 155
Speaker 157
Senator Dan Sullivan Chair
Unverified
Bill Rochelle
Unverified
Speaker 178
Speaker 193
Senator Kim Hammer
Unverified
Karen Walters
Unverified
Speaker 204
Speaker 207
Speaker 232
Speaker 233
Speaker 242
Speaker 248
Speaker 201
Speaker 254
Speaker 252
Speaker 262
Speaker 216
Speaker 255
Speaker 153
Speaker 170
Speaker 278