Category Archives: State government

Key: LRSD school board elections could happen next year

LRSD

Education Commissioner Johnny Key, right, answers questions from Clinton School Dean Skip Rutherford.

By Steve Brawner

The Little Rock School District could have a school board election so it can be returned to local control as early as May but more likely in November, Education Commissioner Johnny Key said Wednesday.

During a question and answer session at the Clinton School of Public Service, Key was asked by Dean Skip Rutherford to name the earliest possible date the LRSD could be released from state control.

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Here’s Arkansas Week for Sept. 15, 2017

Here’s the latest Arkansas Week, the public affairs show that airs on AETN. Hosted by Steve Barnes, this week’s guests were UA journalism professor emeritus Dr. Hoyt Purvis, attorney and columnist Autumn Tolbert, and yours truly. Topics were President Trump and DACA (how could it not be?), the state’s uninsured rate (now below the national average), and Rep. Steve Womack’s potential chairmanship of the House Budget Committee.

When Uncle Sam stops being Uncle Sugar Daddy

Bennett, infrastructure, highways

Scott Bennett is director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

By Steve Brawner

President Trump has talked about spending up to $1 trillion on highways and other infrastructure projects, but most of what would be spent in Arkansas wouldn’t come from Uncle Sam.

Instead, it would be up to Scott Bennett, and others like him, to find the money elsewhere – mostly from Arkansas taxpayers and drivers.

Bennett, director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, met at the White House Aug. 31 with Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, and other state transportation directors.

“One of their guiding principles is leveraging private investment. … They’re looking for $200 million projects where you put together all the state, local and private investment you can, and you’re still $20 million short. Those are the projects that they want to fund,” Bennett said.

“Devolution” and public-private partnerships

The idea of pushing projects down to the state level is known as “devolution,” and it’s something Republicans talk about, though sometimes quietly. “Public-private partnerships,” where private companies perform traditionally public services, is also a trendy idea sometimes embraced by both parties. Toll roads are often operated by private companies, and so are prisons. Continue reading →

Tax reform storms

tax, taxes, debt, deficitsBy Steve Brawner

This column was going to argue that Hurricane Harvey federal recovery aid should be funded through spending cuts elsewhere or through a special tax rather than increased deficit spending. Then a Houston-based Facebook friend pleaded for a cease-fire to all Harvey-related political talk, particularly by those of us sitting high and dry.

Point taken. Harvey is the only story that matters right now, but this week that story is about rescue, relief and resilience.

So we’ll fill this space on the opinion page with something else until a discussion about how to fund the recovery is more appropriate.

President Trump’s tax speech

President Trump Wednesday kicked off his legislative effort to reform the nation’s tax laws. In a speech at Springfield, Missouri, he outlined his goals broadly: a simpler, more competitive tax code; lower taxes for businesses and the middle class; and bringing corporate profits back from overseas.

Republicans know they must pass something big, considering voters have given them control over everything. When Democrats were similarly situated in 2009-10, they passed Obamacare. But Republicans have already whiffed on that.

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The football debates

footballBy Steve Brawner

The Razorbacks are playing only one game at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium this year and next, while the University of Arkansas at Little Rock is considering starting its own team to play there. Meanwhile, in light of recent studies regarding football’s risks, some parents are wondering if they should let their children play football at all.

I guess the question for everybody is, are football’s benefits worth the costs?

The first Razorback game at War Memorial Stadium was played in 1948. Since then the relationship has strengthened the football program’s and the university’s ties with the rest of the state. Meanwhile, the Razorbacks have been the biggest draw for the aging stadium, now the responsibility of the Department of Parks and Tourism under Act 269 passed by the Legislature this year.

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