Category Archives: Education

Did you know there’s an election coming up?

Education, Elections

Alabama, blue wave, school boards, Hixson, Breanne, red tide, judicial electionsBy Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Elections are approaching, but they won’t be covered by the 24-hour national news stations. You won’t see 30-second ads on any Arkansas TV stations, either.

I’m talking about the annual school elections, which will be May 21. Early voting begins May 14.

When it comes to political glamor, school board elections rank somewhere around the county clerk’s race. The state’s nearly 1,500 board members don’t run under party labels and aren’t paid for their service. (Pay varies across the country. Many make nothing. In Mississippi, they get $67 per meeting or a flat $2,400 a year. In Los Angeles, they received a 174 percent raise in 2017 to $125,000.) In Arkansas, board members have no power individually and no power when not participating in a called meeting. If you complain to your board member about some issue at school, he or she is supposed to direct you to someone who gets paid to fix it.

But they do play important roles. Probably their most important is hiring and firing the superintendent. They work with school administrators to pass a budget and set policy (while being constrained by many state and federal dictates). School boards decide when it’s time to ask the community for a millage increase to pay for a new building. There is evidence that good boards are associated with improved student performance. Continue reading Did you know there’s an election coming up? →

Bismarck school success based on teamwork, expectations

Education
Art teacher Whitney Thornton teaches students to draw a monster.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

If I were to tell you that one school district was singled out this year by the Arkansas School Recognition Program, you probably wouldn’t guess it would be Bismarck.

The rural district outside of Hot Springs doesn’t have an international corporate behemoth in its backyard. Sixty-three percent of its students qualified for free and reduced lunch prices last school year, compared to a state average of 60 percent.

But when almost $7 million was awarded to 175 schools based on test scores and improvement, all three of Bismarck’s schools specifically were honored by Gov. Asa Hutchinson at the State Capitol Oct. 29. School personnel and students attended the event.

Through the program, the 51 schools in the top 5 percent in performance and growth received $99.18 per student. The top 6-10 percent received $49.58 per student.

Bismarck Elementary received almost $36,500 for ranking in the top 5 percent in student performance, and that same amount for ranking in the top 5 percent in student growth. Ranking as one of the state’s best schools in both performance and improvement is an impressive achievement, especially considering the school already was in the top 6-10 percent for performance the previous year. Bismarck Middle School and Bismarck High School each received more than $15,000 for ranking in the top 6-10 percent.

It was the second straight year all three schools received awards through the program, which began in 2013. No wonder schooldigger.com ranks Bismarck the state’s fifth best district.

So what’s Bismarck doing right? Continue reading Bismarck school success based on teamwork, expectations →

Tax credits for private school scholarship bill fails

Education, Legislature, State government

Note: Senate Bill 620 never ran in committee. Instead, Johnson tried to run another scholarship bill, Senate Bill 539, that failed in the House Education Committee April 4. 

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

This is the part of the legislative session when you might expect Gov. Asa Hutchinson to set it on cruise control. Instead, he made a right turn last week and stepped on the gas.

I write that first sentence because he’s accomplished three of his four priorities: a tax cut, increased highway funding, and higher teacher pay. All that’s left is shrinking the number of state agencies from 42 to 15. That government transformation is slowly working its way through the Legislature – as one would expect with a 2,000-page bill.

Still to come is the Revenue Stabilization Act process, where lawmakers will determine exactly how tax dollars will be spent. There might be a big fight over the Arkansas Works health program, but probably not. Then everyone can go home.

Hutchinson has accomplished a lot and still has a lot to do, which is one reason his strong support of Senate Bill 620 by Sen. Blake Johnson, R-Corning, and Rep. Ken Bragg, R-Sheridan, is interesting. Continue reading Tax credits for private school scholarship bill fails →

Senator wants to starve kids!

Education, Legislature, Media, State government

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Democracy is hard. It’s even harder when journalists don’t do their jobs.

Such has been the case the past couple of weeks regarding an Arkansas bill that sounds like it cuts school lunches for poor kids, but doesn’t.

Senate Bill 349 by Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, would set up a process for reducing and then ending National School Lunch Act state categorical funding for some poorly performing districts.

If you read that quickly, what word stood out? For many, it’s “lunch.” That’s especially the case for those who also might be inclined to react unfavorably to the “R” beside Clark’s name. Continue reading Senator wants to starve kids! →