School choice detractors, advocates come to head over Arkansas education bill

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ omnibus education bill continues to make its way through the Arkansas Legislature this week.

The bill would create new “education freedom accounts,” or public money parents can use to enroll their children in private, parochial, or charter schools. The debate on the future of education in Arkansas hinges largely on where to spend taxpayer dollars, and what public schools should look like.

After spending twenty years advocating for choice-based education policy, Laurie Lee feels like she has climbed a mountain.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-02-27/school-choice-detractors-advocates-come-to-head-over-arkansas-education-bill

Lorenzo Gritti/NPR

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' education package brings up a long-held discussion about the role of tax dollars in public education.

State Representative DeAnn Vaught Update

On Tuesday, The House Education Committee advanced HB1185. This bill states that a student who attended preschool in a non-resident school district for at least one year before kindergarten will not count against that school’s 3% cap of non-residents under the School Choice Act of 2015.

The House Education Committee also advanced HB1161. This bill creates the Support for Pregnant and Parenting Students Act. It allows pregnant and parenting students to have an additional 10 days of excused absence for a parenting mother and father after the birth of their child.

The House Public Health, Welfare, and Labor Committee advanced HB1197. This bill would disqualify a claimant from collecting unemployment compensation benefits for any week that the claimant fails to respond to an offer of employment or fails to appear for a previously scheduled job interview.

The full House passed several bills addressing teacher retirement including HB1200. HB1200 provides for members who served in the armed forces for a period in which a military draft was in effect to receive up to 5 years of free service credit before retirement regardless of their current status.

The last day to file proposed constitutional amendments is Wednesday, February 8. Constitutional amendments are filed at House Joint Resolutions or Senate Joint Resolutions. You can review the proposals filed at arkansashouse.org.

The House will reconvene on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.