KUAR | By Josie Lenora
When Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders talks about the Arkansas LEARNS Act, she almost always mentions teacher pay.
“It starts by immediately offering incentives to attract and retain the best brightest teachers to Arkansas,” she said when she first introduced the bill. “Instead of being in 48th in the nation for starting teacher salary, we will now be in the top five.”
Under the law, new teachers will get $50,000 a year, a far higher base salary than even a year ago, when, according to the National Education Association, Arkansas offered on average $37,000 to first-year teachers.
Lindsey Balbierz For NPR
As the LEARNS bill rolls out, teachers and districts experience confusion about how teacher pay provisions in the law will pan out.