Education Committee - Senate
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Bills discussed (5)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1005
Act 14
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…LOYMENT TAX ACT TO WAIVE THE "REASONABLE ASSURANCE" CLAUSE. HB1005 Ray TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING TUITION WAIVERS FOR ARKANSAS…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING TUITION WAIVERS FOR ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN TO … | Ray | Notification that HB1005 is now Act 14 |
|
SB89
Act 120
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…IGIBILITY FOR A FEDERALLY FUNDED FREE OR REDUCED-PRICE MEAL SB89 J. English TO AMEND THE INFORMATION THAT A SCHOOL DISTRICT…”
|
TO AMEND THE INFORMATION THAT A SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL PROVIDE ELECTRONICALLY WITH RESPECT TO ITS … | J. English | Notification that SB89 is now Act 120 |
|
SB59
Act 123
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…avis Sen. Jim Dotson REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle SB59 J. Dismang TO PROVIDE A PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENT WITH ONE BREA…”
|
TO PROVIDE EACH STUDENT WITH ONE BREAKFAST AT NO COST EACH SCHOOL DAY UPON REQUEST … | J. Dismang | Notification that SB59 is now Act 123 |
|
SB90
Act 902
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…LLY WITH RESPECT TO ITS SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS. SB90 J. English TO REQUIRE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO BE AFFORDED…”
|
TO REQUIRE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO BE AFFORDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT PUBLIC COMMENT … | J. English | Notification that SB90 is now Act 902 |
|
SCR3
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…NT AT EACH MEETING OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS. 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. |
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Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:00
The meeting to order. Seeing a quorum, we will proceed. Let me see. Senator Dismayne is not here yet. I have a bill, so you can
do. Oh, okay. All right. Okay. Super. All
Speaker 4
0:18
right. You ready to help me? Yeah, we're running.
No. He's amending it. He's amending it. Okay, green is go, right? Members, we call the order, and Senator english is going to run sb 89 and senator you're
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:03
recognized thank you very much good morning and basically what this is a transparency bill and it provides for schools school districts
and schools to have its board of directors on the but also the opportunity for everybody at the 24 hours in advance with
the agenda is posted on the on the school's website so that everybody knows what's going to be on the agenda
for the next day so that's pretty much what this is
members anyone have any questions senator murdoch you're recognized
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
1:58
thank you mr. chair uh senator as it relates to the time frame on page two on the back page and it said that this shall be posted no later than 24 hours filing which affected me following of the meeting. The only concern I have for that is the capacity for some of our
obviously smaller districts maybe that don't have the capacity in 24 hours. I mean, you know, the meeting is at night and they have to have within 24 hours, if I'm reading this correctly. They got to have it posted. After they're approved, 24 hours after they're approved. Right after the meeting, that very next day, they have to have it posted so that's my only concern with this I like the transparency and certainly letting everyone know what is right and I have seen let me agree with
you I have seen where has taken way too long or not at all yeah so I do agree that it's necessary just a 24 hours is a concern thank you
thank you members any other questions? Senator Bryant,
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
3:08
you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I guess Senator Murdoch, in that same vein, and Senator
English, is there a better time frame? Because I agree, if you adjourn the meeting at 10 p.m. and
you're kind of scrambling the next day to get things posted, if they're in violation and they wait until the following day after the 24 hours. I think we had
Senator Jane English
Unverified
3:29
to set a number, set a time frame, because sometimes they aren't posted at all and we had to come up with something that gives us and that 24 hours is plenty of time if even if a meeting adjourns at 10 o'clock at night that's still 24 hours that's still the next night at 10 o'clock so people ought to
Speaker 4
3:50
have that time in between to post approved minutes okay thank you Other
questions, members? Senator Dotson, you look like you may, you're contemplating
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
4:18
a question. Senator Davis, you're recognized. Well, Senator Dotson, thanks.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I apologize for being a few minutes late, and this question may have been asked, But the agendas of special meetings, I know, I think under FOIA, you just have to notify the public at least two hours before your meeting. So has this already been asked? So if you call a meeting at, you know, it's noon, and you need to have a special called board meeting at the end of the day at 530, and you are notifying the press, I mean, you're meeting the requirements under FOIA.
but with this how they would be in violation then of this law it wasn't posted 24 hours ahead
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
5:05
of time well basically this is talking about the board
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
5:09
minutes okay i was reading agendas down here at the bottom
Senator Jane English
Unverified
5:19
that's probably a concern okay i don't know how often that happens i think overall
This probably works pretty well. In lieu of not posting them at
all. Any other questions? Senator Bryant, you're recognized.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
5:48
I guess to follow on with Senator Davis, I would say, is there anything
that we can do, this committee can do currently to bring clarity on those special
meetings? Because I think that happens quite often to where an event happens in the morning they have to call a special and with this they would be like what is the repercussions if they do that and they don't vote? And then you have a parent say I wasn't notified and you're supposed to have done this 24 hours and they open up litigation to the school. We can amend
Speaker 26
6:21
that if that's the will of the committee
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
6:26
and I don't know I'd ask a former
member of a school board like what would be appropriate for that
notification outside of what's existing of FOIA so am I
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
6:47
hearing Senator Dodson you're recognized thank you Mr. Chair Senator
English it seems to me like 24 hours is probably fine for regular board meetings but the special meetings I don't know either I don't know if we can strike that or or maybe strike special meetings out of
there or or maybe making a different time frame like two or four hours whatever you decide to do but same day for a special meeting. That would be the suggestion I would have. We can do
that. I'm hearing the committee had some concerns. Senator, are you going to pull it down today and amend it and come back? We'll do
that. All right. Thank you very much. Any other questions? Thank you.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
7:43
so let me see okay I see representative ray is here would you like to present your bill Okay.
Representative David Ray
Unverified
8:32
all right thank you madam chair committee members of the committee david ray state representative district 69 house bill 1005 what this bill does is it updates the national guard tuition waiver program and improves it by allowing guardsmen to use their benefit for a post-secondary credential or certificate in addition to a degree producing program So by way of background, this program was created in 2017.
It was actually created by my predecessor, Doug House. And one of the big challenges for all of the armed forces is recruitment and retention. And obviously the active duty has the GI Bill. A lot of other surrounding states had these types of tuition waiver programs for their guardsmen. And so in 2017, we created this program basically as an employee benefit for our guardsmen. Since the program has been implemented, there's been about 400 to 500 guardsmen a year that avail themselves of this great employee benefit.
But the program currently only allows for the tuition waiver to be used for those who are enrolled in a degree-producing program. But as we know, there's a lot of credentials and certificates that are worthwhile, that are not part of a degree producing program, but are still very valuable for workforce and skills development, particularly in a lot of high needs areas. Some examples of that would be things like HVAC, EMT, welding, some of the elements of manufacturing like machining, CNC, and quality control, certificates in auto mechanic, diesel technician, collision repair specialists.
high voltage linemen those are some of the more common examples so obviously from a workforce development issue our perspective this is a positive thing but it's also a great thing to do to enhance this benefit that we provide to our guardsmen who are there when our state experiences a crisis whether it's helping clear the roads of stranded motorists in an ice storm or clearing debris when a tornado blows through or anything that they're asked to do and so that I'll be happy to answer any questions about the bill
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
10:51
thank you madam chair and this this may be getting into the weeds a little bit
because I know we're we're moving and trying to encourage post-secondary credentialing and certificates and most of
those will be going through office of skills development through Department of Commerce or through you know whether it's higher ed or some form of control over the certificates would an airman be able to, if I created a certificate and a class that goes with it independently of state
controls or regulatory controls, could an airman be asked to be reimbursed to pursue that which is not sanctioned underneath the state control? Well, they have to use, the
Representative David Ray
Unverified
11:38
way the program is set up, they have to use their tuition waiver at at a state school so all of those programs at state schools I presume are approved by the state so for that oversees the tuition I'm just not
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
11:58
familiar with this program would go to that and make sure that it is a bona fide skill that's needed and not just some guy in his basement pumping out degrees or pumping out programs no I mean they'd have to
Representative David Ray
Unverified
12:11
use it at one of our you know one of our if they're pursuing a like a technical certificate or a certificate of proficiency or something that's going to be at one of our two-year schools
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
12:22
okay right okay I see a lot of head nodding in the back some thank you senator Murdoch okay just
Speaker 57
12:34
making sure it kind of raised something for me to make
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
12:38
sure I'm clear, the institutions will be those institutions that are previously approved institutions that we have in our state, either two-year or four-year. That's right. There won't be nothing else, no outliers that they can petition to because that won't be
Representative David Ray
Unverified
12:54
covered under this law. No, absolutely not. And it's not, all of those parameters were set up in the 2017 law as to what institutions they can attend. So this bill doesn't alter any of those.
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
13:08
Anybody more? Senator Bryant? I'm just going to go a little one layer deeper to make sure. So we've got several of our post-secondary institutions of higher ed that do certificates
and trades, but then we've got other partners that are not associated, like a school of electricity for an apprenticeship program would this be able to use and concurrently to, and typically our industries will foot those bills and pay for that apprentice to continue in the program
while they're getting their journeyman license? Would this be an opportunity for that industry to partner
with the tuition assistance program and say, use your benefits to offset my industry costs to pursue those post-secondary classes required for this credential? They'll
all be approved by the Department of Labor. I'm just curious how far this would allow. yeah so
Representative David Ray
Unverified
14:03
the way the way the program works is you have to apply for any federal aid that you're
eligible for and then you have to apply for any institution you know aid from that school that institution that you would be eligible for and then whatever those categories don't cover the remaining tuition if there is any is what the tuition waiver covers so
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
14:28
if those certificate programs aren't traditionally covered underneath those other
programs and the tuition program gets approached by an apprenticeship school that offers classes that lead towards certificate
certification directly to industry not through you know higher ed could they be approached and say hey would you offer our tuition waiver assistance to our airmen that come through your program that are nine to five jobs trying to get a journeyman license in the program I suppose they could but I'm not 100% sure I'm following you're what you're
Representative David Ray
Unverified
15:00
trying to ask sorry is there anybody in the in the realm in the room that yeah
Speaker 63
15:14
I mean we yeah we have some folks from the National Guard that are here and we have some folks from the two-year colleges that are here okay Jeff
Speaker 67
15:34
Wood, Chief of Staff, Department of the Military, and I think one of the important things about here that hadn't been mentioned yet is the rules for
Speaker 68
15:41
the waiver program are promulgated, so the legislature is going to have a lot of
say in how we implement, you know, the waiver for the two-year degrees, which ones are going to qualify, which ones are not going to qualify. In the situation that you described, I don't think this would cover that. It does has it's funded through higher ed that's where the funding comes through to pay for the waiver so it's gonna have to tie back through that
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
16:06
stream somehow okay okay is there any chance like how would that be modified because if I if I'm an industry and I'm traditionally sending it to a school independent of higher ed
the higher ed offers the schools that I could choose to send my say apprentice to and now I can offset my industry costs by sending them directly to a state-sponsored program that has those benefits. If I'm the third party that doesn't, isn't eligible, I'm about to lose a lot of business, just by a nature of industry trying to capitalize on what they
Speaker 67
16:45
address is we have education officers that talk with
our soldiers. I know General Bridges has been really big on reaching out to the two-year schools and the trade schools to
Speaker 68
16:53
try to get partnerships, so I think if We identified either those private industry companies that, hey, we've got a need for, you know, HVAC or everything else. I think there's a natural partnership there for us because a lot of the soldiers are going to get the training when they sign up and go to AIT. They're going to get some training and different skills that they could apply right away and then use this benefit to get
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
17:15
that license and credential. So what I'm hearing is there is some flexibility in the program or would there be required statutory changes that will allow that flexibility?
Speaker 68
17:23
Senator, I think there's flexibility in, too. I think we could flush that out during the promulgation process when we have to go back to add this to the tuition waiver. We
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
17:33
could, you know, make sure we cover that then. Yeah. All right. I appreciate it. Any committee member has any question on that process? They should not encourage you to ask. Thanks. Thank you. Any questions?
Senator Jane English
Unverified
17:46
So, I think we have one person signed up to speak for the bill.
Speaker 71
17:53
Good morning, Senator English. I am Summer Dupreau, Chancellor at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College. And Representative Ray, you've done a great job with this in explaining things. The one item I wanted to share that complements the bill is throughout the hired grants, proposal and writing process. We worked very closely with the energy transmission companies
and regulation, Southwest Power Pool, MISO, Intergy as well, Arkansas Electric Cooperatives, and then on the other grant with Dassault Falcon Jet, and all of those entities are very interested in hiring people with any type of military background, and I think what Representative Ray is doing here is gives them an opportunity to earn that accelerated eight-week to at most 16-week education that would lead them across into that civilian world. And there is a high
need and a high desire to hire these individuals because of their discipline and the training that they get in the military, but then this would help them bridge that between military and civilian world. So, is there anything else that you can think of? Happy to answer any questions about that process or comments that have been made to me from various relatively large and high-skill, high-wage type companies.
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
19:37
Thank you. Thank you Madam Chair, I like this bill, I think it's a good bill, I think we're having a lot of conversations about things that have fiscal impact, and so I think it would be, this is probably, I'm of the opinion that it's a bill we probably need to hold at this time just to see as session progresses how much money we're actually spending and able to
prioritize what's important over the months as we see a lot of bills with fiscal impact to general revenue and the EETF fund. I feel like this is a good one to prioritize but we're still so early on that I think it's important for me anyways to at least just hold on this and wait and see what comes in session and let us prioritize a little better on
Representative David Ray
Unverified
20:37
spending. thank you that's obviously at the discretion of the committee what I would say to the fiscal
impact if you if you look at the fiscal impact it the way it was calculated was they they sort of made an assumption that there would be a 20% increase in utilization of the program I think that assumption may be a little bit aggressive the the numbers in this the participation in this program has held very steady between four and five hundred participants in the most recent years that it's been in effect and there's there is a 1.4 million dollar appropriation each year
for the program and there's also a three million dollar governor's letter that has been added to higher ed so every all of the um all the communications that i've received uh from from the agency is that there's there's money to cover it thank you madam chair is that fund the 1.3
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
21:39
or 1.4 million is that fully utilized each year or is there money traditionally left over uh there has been
Representative David Ray
Unverified
21:47
years in the past where there's been money
left over but in the most recent years it typically gets utilized Senator
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
22:06
Dawson thank you madam chair represent Ray so if if the fund that we this is coming out of the fund that we're already utilizing for and so we put X number of dollars into that fund however if if the funds that we put in there are used up it just goes on a waiting
list people go on a waiting list or how does that work no in the past when they're
Representative David Ray
Unverified
22:30
obligated to put more funds in there i guess sure so the the funding for the program is appropriated from the higher ed grants fund account and um in the past when there has been you know an overrun basically the department has just pushed a little bit money over there to cover the difference but the three million dollar letter from the governor should provide more than ample
balance to cover the expenditures the expected increase over
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
22:59
the current program utilization without capping that out Senator Sullivan I think we're likely to see
a number of bills with a fiscal impact so is someone here from higher ed have we calculated with what that package looks like from not only your bill but other bills that make them up do we know what's in the list because
three million dollars can go pretty quickly when people say well I want my part of that and grab it so does higher ed have an idea of what that total
spending you want to be including this bill and others Nick Fuller I'm the assistant commissioner
Nick Fuller
Unverified
23:46
for the division of higher education now the impact of this will not affect quite a few of the others that we're looking at with lottery funds that is a different impact that we
calculate how all of the different changes will will affect that this one does have a dedicated appropriation for the National Guard tuition waiver like a representative Ray said it's 1.4 million dollars now with the governor's letter for additional 3 million to cover the the current utilization of the program where there is 3 million dollars of additional funding also added in the governor's balance budget that she presented in the fall to make sure that the
funding is there for a full 4.4 million dollars for this program yeah
I understand on this program but other legislators you know now that I know
that there's money out there I may go write a bill and you know A couple million dollars for ASU or something that we want to do. So I'm just wondering, do we have an idea of what that, all the bills that are out there and what our total spend is, because our job is to prioritize that spending to the most effective use. And if first come, first serve, if that's our approach, that's
Speaker 90
24:58
not necessarily a really good way to spend.
And I'll say that the the higher ed grants
Nick Fuller
Unverified
25:04
fund all of the funds for those scholarships are allocated to current programs So there's not an
excess in that That program Your other
bills out there. That's what I'm asking Are the bill are you aware of other bills that are going to reach into this for example the one I haven't filed yet? I'm
Nick Fuller
Unverified
25:22
not aware of that. No, sir. Okay, the only ones we have have seen talk over ones that affect the lottery funds which does not touch this
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
25:31
I got you thank you what is the will of the committee I'm gonna I'm gonna put this in the queue because I can't read the room very well right now,
but I am for this. In making a motion to pass, I would hope this committee forwards it on because I don't think at the end of the day,
A, the governor's letter, B, the fund exists. The impetus of the bill is exactly the direction I think the governor's office and this general assembly wants to head with post-secondary credentialing and certificates to not steer those into necessarily a college degree, but if it's meant for them, they'll get that. If the credentialing's meant, they'll do that. It
continues the workforce. That being said, I don't want to make a motion and have one bite of the apple taken, and I don't know if it's appropriate to move this into
tax and rev and let it sit in the queue or just let this committee
Senator Jane English
Unverified
26:39
deal with it. Committee, because as he said, this is part of these other dollars that are already designated for this. It's not like we're going to add new dollars out there i think this is that it comes out of a pot that's already established okay it just gives them the ability to do this certification training which is something we're all
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
27:01
going towards well then i will you
know with the respect with our airmen and the direction i
the state is heading i would make a motion do pass
Senator Jane English
Unverified
27:17
all in favor aye aye all opposed ayes have it thank you thank you very much thank you okay well i think that is it for today we do not have
any other bills on the on the agenda so we will see you on monday at 10 o'clock
Agenda
Call to Order
SB89 J. English TO AMEND THE INFORMATION THAT A SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL PROVIDE ELECTRONICALLY WITH RESPECT TO ITS SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF DIRECTORS.
HB1005 Ray TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING TUITION WAIVERS FOR ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN TO INCLUDE PROGRAMS OF STUDY LEADING TO A POSTSECONDARY CERTIFICATE OR CREDENTIAL.
Adjourn
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Jan 29, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Speaker 4
Senator Dan Sullivan Chair
Unverified
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Speaker 26
Senator Jim Dotson
Unverified
Representative David Ray
Unverified
Speaker 57
Speaker 63
Speaker 67
Speaker 68
Speaker 69
Speaker 71
Nick Fuller
Unverified
Speaker 90