KUAR | By Daniel Breen
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is criticizing state lawmakers for abruptly changing spending rules concerning federal dollars already appropriated to public schools.
Members of the Arkansas Legislative Council last week voted to rescind $500 million in spending authority from the Department of Education. That money, from the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER, had already been appropriated to the Education Department for schools to use mainly for improvements, hiring and retention.
Lawmakers instead proposed requiring schools to use the funding to provide bonuses of $5,000 to teachers and $2,500 to staff, and for districts to submit detailed spending plans to the committee for approval.
Daniel Breen/KUAR News
Gov. Asa Hutchinson greets a member of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators at the group's annual summer meeting at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock Monday.