Education Committee - Senate
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Bills discussed (6)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SB46
Act 25
· 4 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “bill thank you very much okay I'm presenting this morning, Senate Bill 46, which”
|
TO REFLECT A MERGER BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AND EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE BY … | Caldwell | Notification that SB46 is now Act 25 |
|
HB1133
Act 10
· 3 mentions in transcript, agenda, chapter
Matched: “members the senator is going to be running house bill 1133 senator you may present your”
|
TO AUTHORIZE NORTHWEST TECHNICAL INSTITUTE TO APPOINT A PRESIDENT WITH AN INDUSTRY BACKGROUND; AND TO … | Unger | Notification that HB1133 is now Act 10 |
|
SCR3
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “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. |
|
SB59
Act 123
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE. 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 |
|
SB89
Act 120
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA(Revised 1/27/25 @ 8:05 AM) Removed SB89 and SB90 Senate Committee on Education Monday, January 27,…”
|
TO AMEND THE INFORMATION THAT A SCHOOL DISTRICT SHALL PROVIDE ELECTRONICALLY WITH RESPECT TO ITS … | J. English | Notification that SB89 is now Act 120 |
|
SB90
Act 902
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA(Revised 1/27/25 @ 8:05 AM) Removed SB89 and SB90 Senate Committee on Education Monday, January 27, 2025 10:0…”
|
TO REQUIRE MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC TO BE AFFORDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT PUBLIC COMMENT … | J. English | Notification that SB90 is now Act 902 |
Machine transcript
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- October 6, 2026
Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:00
Good morning. I call the Senate Education Committee to order and welcome everybody. Glad to see you all here today. And let's see, under our first order of business, we have Senator
Caldwell, who's not here yet. Senator Dismang, are you here in the room? I don't believe so. Senator Scott.
Okay, so we only have, we have two bills, and I guess one is will you chair and I'm going
Chair
Unverified
1:00
Senator you're recognized to present your
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:19
bill thank you very much okay I'm presenting this morning, Senate Bill 46, which
calls for a, and it's an act concerning name change for East
Arkansas Community College. And I will ask Melissa Rust. Good morning,
Speaker 18
1:39
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. Senator Caldwell, as well as Senator Murdoch, are both stuck in traffic this morning. And so they asked if another member could present the bill for them and Senator English graciously agreed to do so. There has been a lot of work over the last year or so between East Arkansas Community
College and the University of Arkansas system for East Arkansas Community College to become a campus of the UA system and back in November of last year the Higher Learning Commission voted to accept and approve a change of ownership application by East Arkansas Community College and so East Arkansas's new name is University of Arkansas East Arkansas Community College we want to make sure we got Arkansas in there twice and now that their formalities of this process
have concluded it require it will require a number of changes to the statutes that are already in existence for East Arkansas and you can see those identified in Senate Bill 46. In addition to the name change, you guys may remember that a few years ago Senator Caldwell sponsored a piece of legislation that merged Crowley's Ridge into East Arkansas and so there are a couple of statutes that are no longer necessary or relevant because of that merger and so this bill essentially cleans up that language, changes East
Arkansas's name and we would appreciate your support of this bill and and since I was so remiss and failing number one to introduce the Chancellor of East Arkansas Community College to my left is dr. Kathy Klein and I don't know she would if it would be appropriate if she wanted to make a few comments I'd certainly have her do so yes you're recognized
Speaker 21
3:30
I would just appreciate your support on this bill after merging with CRT I think this is the next step to really you know raise our profile over institution and do everything we
possibly can for the citizens of Arkansas particularly the students and communities that we serve. Great thank you very
much and we're glad you're here appreciate you being here.
Senator? That's it. Clues for the bill. Members any questions? Seeing no questions Senator you have
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
4:09
a question Senator Flowers? Does this in any way change the funding for that University of Arkansas at East Arkansas?
Speaker 18
4:16
No, ma'am, it does not. The funding remains the same. You may notice in the bill there's a section having to do with funding, and all it does is simply change the name. It doesn't change any amounts. Okay. And the
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
4:31
other part that's stricken is just to get rid of what's not needed. anymore yes ma'am that's correct okay thank you thank
you mr. chair and members we have
no public comment on this seeing no further questions senator do you have
in favor of the motion say aye opposed same sign congratulations senator your bill is passed thank you .
members the senator is going to be running house bill 1133 senator you may present your
Senator Jane English
Unverified
6:28
bill thank you very much this is a representative
ungers bill bill from the house basically what it does is it allows the northwest technical institute to appoint a president who has
a background in industry instead of education members
any questions senator you recognize senator Bryan
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
7:01
thank you mr. chair just looking at the existing code and we're adding this section to the existing code but you know why they couldn't have this to do anyway I guess
they're having what we're adding this to code rather than amending code could they not
have done members any other questions senator flowers you're recognized
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
7:40
senator English I know this isn't your bill but you might be familiar with I'm
not familiar with Northwest Technical Institute and
what types of curriculum do they have an offer I
Senator Jane English
Unverified
7:53
think the the law says that it has to have almost like our we had the Commissioner of Education for the state of Arkansas had to have an education background that's what this is is that somebody who is in charge of that school has to be and it have an education background I think what the people in Northwest Arkansas are looking at doing is making they Northwest
Arkham this technical Institute a real technical Institute with business and industry involved and feel like that they would be better served by somebody coming out of industry or being part of the industry in that
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
8:34
area right well but my question is what what is what in the curriculum what what types of industrial subjects are covered at Northwest Technical well right now they've got all kinds of
Senator Jane English
Unverified
8:46
things up but that I think they would have an opportunity to add
additional things they have an ammonia refrigeration that some of our
other schools two-year colleges and four-year colleges don't have a different kind I just like to know I
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
9:01
mean I'm sure is more than that what what else is there and to appoint a
president out of I think the courses in the curriculum
Senator Jane English
Unverified
9:14
will be decided by the industry in that area of the state are they on the board of
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
9:23
the school board or they how does the industry get to decide who gets to be the president or what industry the president would come from is anybody here to help you from Northwest I believe actually dr. Ken
Senator Jane English
Unverified
9:38
Warden is here and he might be able to explain this a little better mr. Wharton if you would
Speaker 53
9:56
introduce yourself in your position then
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
10:05
you may continue Ken Wharton
Speaker 55
10:08
commissioner division higher ed how you send flowers good morning to your question. Northwest Technical Institute is the last of the VOTECs that were established in the state between the late mid-50s, mid-60s, and 70s. All of those institutions have merged typically up with other institutions like East
Art Community College merged with Crowley's Ridge and now it's part of the U.A. system. This school, for whatever reason, has never done that. They maintain a group of offerings that are consistent with what you would think of clock hour technical programs. So automotive, diesel mechanics, HVAC, they currently have some nursing classes and a cadre of classes. They have a very unique asset in an ammonia refrigeration facility that's been struggling to get online that should be online shortly, hopefully within the next six months to do some ammonia refrigeration training. The parameters of hiring the institution
fall on, you know, I guess the most qualified applicant. In my opinion, there's nothing that would keep us from hiring someone with those qualifications. Now, we typically do, you know, look to the best applicants. I think this is just showing that the institution and its industry partners are willing to ensure that those qualifications do count and that they are considered. I think that done right, they always should have been considered as an industry input
in any technical program you have on any of our campuses. If they aren't consulting with their industry partners, they're not right and that they need to be doing that regularly. And I think this may not be ultimately a have-to to get this done, necessary, but it does reinforce the thought that qualified industry experts are needed to lead and help
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
11:55
lead these academic ventures. Does that make sense, Senator English? Yes. And so,
with local industry giving input for who's chosen to lead this institute, there is a board?
Yes, ma'am. There's a gubernatorial appointed board.
Speaker 55
12:21
Okay. For this institution. So, they have staggering terms? Yes, ma'am. They have all the rights and reservations that go
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
12:28
along with boards and commissions for the state of Arkansas. So the governor appoints the board members and then they consult. Does the statute give authority to those board members or mandate those board members to consult the industry?
Speaker 55
12:44
Well, I would say it gives them the authority to do that, and I think that the way it works is they look at candidates and select, set minimum and preferred qualifications for candidates. Those are sent to, by law, our board and division who vets those, and back to the governor and then back to the board for ultimate hiring of that individual. So
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
13:10
your department will have to create some rules? no ma'am I mean
Speaker 55
13:14
if we if this is passed I don't know what rules we'd have to
create I'd have to get with our legal team to see if there's anything
else that we would need to do thank you thank you just so that I understand so there is a
local board that determines that they are qualified to move forward in the process that there's that the president who has a background and that board will make the determination that they are qualified based on their
background to fulfill those requirements of the job yes okay members anyone else have any questions senator anything else closed a second second all in favor say aye any opposed congratulations senator
Speaker 53
14:12
your bill is Thank you very much. Be careful.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
14:36
Senator Scott. You
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
15:16
So colleagues, I'm here before you today. This is an issue that
Senator Chesterfield was working on before she finished, before she left, and she asked me to continue to look into it. So she wanted me to propose a resolution, and this resolution seeks to address the critical issues affecting our hardworking and educational support professionals. These are individuals who keep our schools running, they're bus drivers, they're our custodians, they're our cafeteria staff, and there's so much more. They're essential to our children's education, yet they face many hardships during the summer months due to the reasonable assurance clause in the Federal Unemployment Act.
And so, just to give you a few little notes that I jotted down, our educational support professionals are among the lowest paid workers in our schools. And providing unemployment benefits to them during the summer offers so much financial security for these families and these employees. providing unemployment benefits ensures that these workers can continue contributing to our local economies during the summer months and benefiting small businesses in communities across our state and I want to add that it is
my understanding that our hourly school employees who work for private companies are eligible for unemployment benefits but these individuals who are on these nine months contracts are not and so it's critical that we support our staff They are a huge part of our school success and without them our schools cannot function the reasonable assurance clause assumes that employees can find and ends to meet their ends meet within the summers without the income and
If you look at the statistics for hunger There are a lot of issues and concerns that families are struggling in the summer The status and the statistics show that in the state of Arkansas. So it was my understanding that that Senator Chesterfield just wanted to have Senator Bozeman look at what are the ways that maybe these nine-month employees could probably pay in more unemployment benefits during the school year so that they're eligible for unemployment and so that's the the root cause of this resolution today that she
wanted me to put before the body and so let me see if I wrote anything else down that I want to look at I think this is something that we can all get behind and demonstrate that we value and respect those who serve our students I'm not indicating that you don't if you're not in support of this I urge you to support this measure measure to waive the reasonable assurance clause for our nine-month educational employees let's lead in a way that's ensuring that these essential employees receive the support that they deserve in Arkansas together
we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of those who contribute so much to the success of our schools and so this is just a resolution to have our congressional delegation look into the
matter senator Sullivan thank you there a fiscal impact isn't necessarily required for what we've done here have
you considered looking at that and the impact it would have on our cans the Arkansas taxpayer I'm open to looking
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
18:32
at that I'm sorry I haven't requested one but I'm
open to looking at it okay and you know normally generally are quite often teachers and I was one worked and had a nine-month contract and worked those other three months any idea how many of our teachers currently have
jobs and are employed during the summer months I'm pretty sure that's something I can
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
18:54
probably have BLR to request for me I think I don't know offhand
okay and you're in you would anticipate that if
we if this resolution passes that we would have more or fewer teachers finding summer employment I
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
19:17
think the focus wasn't necessarily towards the teachers when when I've talked to
this to Senator Chesterfield about it it was more so for
the individuals who are considered educational support staff in the schools okay
like you you would anticipate more of those that whatever
the population is defined as you would anticipate more of that population leaving the workforce because now they have
benefits if they don't work no I think she was just
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified
19:47
trying to figure out a way for us to bridge the gap I think think
some of them struggle with finding unemployment in the summer be it a bus driver or the teacher might have more means of finding a job in the summer because they can work in summer programs they can work in summer school they can work in summer camps whether it's teaching or
tutoring those educational support staff like the cafeteria workers and the bus drivers they just might
not have just a lot of options so
I get that I'm just wondering if you would you know When we write legislation, we do it in anticipation of a certain outcome. And I would anticipate that the population that you're describing, this would be an incentive not to join the workforce. You mean during the three months? Yeah, during the three months. If we're going to incentivize them to get unemployment,
then we're going to have people, whatever that population is, leaving the workforce rather than joining the workforce. I Mean you you may not have an opinion or an idea on that What I would anticipate occurring Thank you madam chair Excuse me
Senator Jane English
Unverified
21:00
are there any other questions What is the will of the committee
Here a second not hearing the second I'm sorry thank you thank
you committee okay so I think that that is it we don't
have a senator dismaying here we've done I think we're about finished anybody else have any you want oh he's okay all right okay anyway see no further business this meeting is adjourned
Agenda
Call to Order
SB46 Caldwell TO REFLECT A MERGER BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS AND EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE BY CHANGING THE NAME OF EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE TO THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS EAST ARKANSAS COMMUNITY COLLEGE.
SCR3 J. Scott TO URGE THE ARKANSAS CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO PROPOSE AN AMENDMENT TO THE FEDERAL UNEMPLOYMENT TAX ACT TO WAIVE THE "REASONABLE ASSURANCE" CLAUSE.
HB1133 Unger TO AUTHORIZE NORTHWEST TECHNICAL INSTITUTE TO APPOINT A PRESIDENT WITH AN INDUSTRY BACKGROUND; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
Adjourn
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Jan 27, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Speaker 6
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 18
Speaker 21
Senator Dan Sullivan Chair
Unverified
Senator Stephanie Flowers
Unverified
Speaker 36
Senator Joshua Bryant
Unverified
Speaker 53
Speaker 55
Speaker 8
Senator Jamie Scott
Unverified