The Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators is tracking 231 bills this legislative session, according to Ken Ramey, superintendent of Siloam Springs Schools.
Ramey is serving as finance and facilities chairman for the AAEA legislative committee. The AAEA establishes three committees, including the finance and facilities committee, prior to each legislative session to identify education related concerns that need to be addressed by law revisions, to review proposed legislation and to advocate for changes that benefit children.
March 16 was the deadline for filing bills, Ramey said. The majority of bills filed on the deadline day were shell bills with a bill number and title but with no law written, Ramey said last week. It won't be clearly evident what is in the body of the bills until they are written.
The education-related bills before the Arkansas legislature include 75 finance and facilities bills, 59 curriculum bills and 97 governance bills, Ramey said on Friday.
During the March 12 meeting of the Siloam Springs School Board, he presented board members with a 28-page bill-tracking report from AAEA describing each proposed bill, their potential effect on education and the AAEA's position on them.
Some of the bills represent a "significant devaluing of public education" and open the door for privatizing education and charter school vouchers that would go to for-profit companies, Ramey said during the school board meeting.
Last week, Ramey explained the bills open more educational opportunities for students to select their own pathways, but he said he is concerned about accountability for taxpayer money.
"Don't have different standards for different people and different schools," he said.
Ramey said he was concerned about senate bill 789, filed by Jim Hendren of Gravette, which would give open enrollment public charter schools $1,700 per student in additional funds for facility assistance with no accountability. In comparison, traditional public schools receive $63 per student. The bill has since been passed by the house and senate and was signed into law by Governor Asa Hutchinson on March 27.
Senate bill 847, filed by Alan Clark of Hot Springs, is also opposed by the AAEA. It would require the Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation Division to identify underutilized public school academic facilities and consider petitions from open enrollment charter schools for use of the facilities. It has passed a first and second reading in the House of Representatives and has been referred to the House Education Committee.
Other similar bills, opposed by the AAEA, include House Bill 1527, which would create a scholarship program for special needs students to go to private schools and House Bill 1745 which would establish an individual income tax credit opportunity scholarship program. Private schools are not subject to the same standards as public schools for providing for special needs students.
House Bill 1527 has been passed in the House and Senate and has been returned to committee with a recommendation of "do pass." House Bill 1745 has been recommended for study by the Joint Interim Committee on Revenue and Taxation.
Bills filed during the 2015 legislative session can be viewed at www.arkleg.state.ar.us.
General News on 04/01/2015