Category Archives: State government

Is Lake View dead?

Education, State government

Lake ViewFor the past quarter century, Arkansas’ education policies – indeed, all state spending – have been framed by the Lake View school funding lawsuit. That may have changed, and we just don’t know it yet.

Let’s start with the background. The Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee case began in 1992, when the small, poor Lake View school district sued the state. It argued that the state was violating the Arkansas Constitution’s requirement to “ever maintain a general, suitable and efficient” education system. The courts agreed that Arkansas had failed to provide “adequate” and “equitable” schools.

During the next 15 years, the case fundamentally changed Arkansas until it finally ended in 2007. Education became accepted as a state responsibility rather than a local one. The state poured money into schools while other states were cutting funding. Schools always were funded first, which meant other priorities shared what was left. Policymakers were reluctant to get too creative with a funding formula they knew was safely constitutional. No one wanted another lawsuit.

Here’s what’s changed since Lake View

But Lake View may not be so influential in the future, for two reasons. Continue reading Is Lake View dead? →

School boards head to the big ballot

Education, Elections, Politics, State government

Alabama, blue wave, school boardsIf you’re like most voters in Arkansas, you rarely if ever cast a ballot in school board elections. This May and November, that will start to change.

That’s because the Legislature last year voted to require school districts to choose between holding elections to coincide either with the May primaries or the November general elections. Because of that, school board candidates are filing for office now alongside candidates in other races.

Previously, school elections were in September, when few voters were interested or often even realized elections were occurring.

Continue reading School boards head to the big ballot →

What’s the purpose of college?

Education, Legislature, State government

The answer to “What’s the purpose of college?” is longer than the 280 characters Twitter allows per tweet. But you can at least start a conversation in that amount of space.

Such a conversation was started last week when Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, tweeted a picture of a University of Arkansas at Little Rock billboard featuring a dance major. He commented that higher education doesn’t need extra funding if this is how it would be spent. Instead of dance, the university should be encouraging computer science degrees and math teachers, he wrote.

The tweet drew a response from Savvy Shields. If you don’t recognize her name, you certainly recognize the title: Miss America 2017, and before that, Miss Arkansas. The art major disagreed, arguing that the arts can inspire people and change society. Rep. Bob Ballinger, R-Berryville, tweeted in support of Hester’s position, and then there was a minor social media firestorm that since has been forgotten.

College: Job skills or life skills?

Now that the Twitter argument has slipped into the recesses of cyberspace, the question remains: “What’s the purpose of college?”

Continue reading What’s the purpose of college? →

Your pharmacist doesn’t want to see you now

Health care, Legislature, State government

If your pharmacist doesn’t look happy to see you the next time you visit, it’s probably because she’s losing money filling your prescription.

The problems are occurring with two groups of patients. The largest are those covered by Arkansas Works, which uses Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for 285,000 low-income Arkansans. The other problem patients are the 68,100 Arkansans who purchase their health insurance through the online Arkansas Health Insurance Marketplace. Like Arkansas Works, the Marketplace was created by the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.

Who are the pharmacy benefit managers?

Pharmacists say that, in those plans, they aren’t being fairly reimbursed by their pharmacy benefit managers. Those PBMs act as middlemen between pharmacists and insurance companies, which in Arkansas are Blue Cross, Ambetter and QualChoice. Continue reading Your pharmacist doesn’t want to see you now →