Search Result for: Arkansas


A Win for Everyone: arkansas's Teacher Housing Incentives

...arkansas's Teacher Housing Incentives Help Schools Keep Teachers, Help Teachers Grow Investments, and Help Communities Build Wealth This article appeared in the November 2008 Rural Policy Matters. Recruiting teachers is no small challenge for many rural schools especially those in communities where many people struggle economically. But an unusual — and surprisingly simple — program in arkansas is making a difference. "Our agency, the arkansas Teacher Housing Development Fou...
Date: 2008-11-06

An Investigation of School Closures Resulting from Forced District Reorganization in arkansas

...me as consolidating schools. Not necessarily. And not, we suspect, all that often." — arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 2, 2006 editorial, "Once more, from the top." Some policymakers and other advocates of reorganizing arkansas' public education system have insisted that the minimum district size requirements included in Act 60 and the district closings authorized under the Omnibus Education Act are aimed at closing school districts only, for the sake of "administra...
Date: 2006-05-24

arkansas Adequacy Level Set

... free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. A panel of arkansas legislators is recommending an increase in school funding of 2% to 2.4% in the next state budget. The increase would provide an additional $60 million for schools. The Joint Adequacy Evaluation Oversight Subcommittee, responsible for making the recommendation, is composed of members of the education committees of the arkansas House and Senate. It must determine annually an adequate le...
Date: 2010-11-26

arkansas Cases Challenge School and District Consolidation

... legal cases suggest that a new strategy for challenging consolidation decisions may be emerging in arkansas, even as state authorities expand their use of consolidation laws. In one case, the State Board of Education voted to dissolve the Twin Rivers School District in northeast arkansas for accreditation violations. The district will be annexed into six neighboring districts with students split between them. The State Board had taken over the district in February. Twin Rivers supporters say ...
Date: 2010-06-25

arkansas Communities Forge Revitalization Process

...out the vexing rural challenge of declining enrollment. Grandon is Policy and Education Director of arkansas Advocates for Rural and Community Education (ACRE). “In many communities there’s a demoralized sense that decline happens to rural places and there’s nothing local people can do about it.”   That’s where ACRE, a state-wide group of rural residents committed to helping rural schools and communities survive and thrive, took exception.   &n...
Date: 2009-03-16

arkansas Community Revitalization Efforts Share Great Approaches

...Rural and Community Education/ACRE) decided to address some of these circumstances in their work in arkansas. The organization works to preserve and improve rural and community schools and create a more prosperous future for rural students and communities. Lavina Grandon, Policy and Education Director for the Alliance, notes that rural schools lose enrollment because their communities don’t have the jobs and economic opportunities that residents need. “It became clear that rural sch...
Date: 2010-05-27

arkansas Court Decision Jeopardizes Lake View Funding Reforms

...This article appeared in the December 2012 Rural Policy Matters. In a ruling issued November 29th, the arkansas Supreme Court held that school districts collecting excess property tax over state-mandated levels could keep overage instead of remitting it to the state. While the Kimbrell v. McCleskey ruling impacts fewer than five percent of all school districts in the state currently, education policy experts, stakeholders, and political leaders including Governor Mike Bebee are concerned that t...
Date: 2012-12-20

arkansas Groups Gear Up for Action on Formula Fairness Campaign

...This article appeared in the July 2010 Rural Policy Matters.  arkansas Rural Education Association (AREA) and the Rural Community Alliance (RCA), both co-sponsors of the Formula Fairness Campaign, geared up for the Title I formula fight almost certain to be part of the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act by asking Rural Trust Policy Director Marty Strange to address leadership gatherings in July. The RCA summer conference at Conway, arkansas, brought together abo...
Date: 2010-07-24

arkansas Increases School Funding and Addresses Transportation

...: Links are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. arkansas’ recently enacted $1.9 billion budget includes a 2% increase for public schools in the state. In addition, Governor Mike Beebe agreed to set aside a special school transportation fund that will help rural districts. State Senator Jimmy Jeffress, who leads the arkansas Senate Education committee, had introduced a funding bill that would have allocated additional transportation fundi...
Date: 2011-04-27

arkansas Lawsuit Makes Agricultural Claims

...r time. Another lawsuit challenging the consolidation of a small school district has been filed in arkansas, this time in federal court. Friends of Weiner School District have asked for a declaratory judgment to prevent the application of Act 60, the state’s consolidation statute, to the Weiner school district, which is being forced to merge with neighboring Harrisburg because Weiner’s enrollment dropped below the minimum 350-student threshold, triggering Act 60. The lawsuit claims...
Date: 2010-07-23

arkansas Panel Waits to Make Budget Recommendation

...ks are free and current at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. An arkansas legislative committee charged with determining the adequacy of student funding in the state has postponed making its annual recommendation in order to do more study. The Joint Adequacy Evaluation Oversight Subcommittee meets annually to make a report to the Education Committees of the state legislature on what constitutes an adequate education and how much funding is needed. That report ...
Date: 2010-09-28

arkansas Rural Advocates Protect Transportation Funding for Districts

... over time. When Rural Community Alliance (RCA) leadership learned last month that a bill to amend arkansas school transportation funding law was quietly making its way through committee, they moved quickly to analyze its impact on isolated rural districts and worked with their members in those districts as well as school leadership to halt its passage. As a result, ten districts will continue to be able to continue to operate local schools that keep students close to home. ...
Date: 2012-03-30

arkansas State Board Denies Innovative Consolidation Approach

...nt at time of posting, but may require registration or expire over time. The state school board of arkansas has denied a request by two small high-achieving school districts to merge with each other. Delight, in southwest arkansas, and Weiner, in the northeast portion of the state had both fallen below the state’s 350-student minimum enrollment requirement. Both districts enjoy high student achievement and graduation levels as well as strong parental and community support. Both districts...
Date: 2010-02-25

Big Congrats to arkansas's Rural Community Alliance

...nt work of protecting and enhancing rural communities, their schools, and quality education for all arkansas students. Read more about the Rural Community Alliance at www.thenewrural.org. Read more from the February 2010 Rural Policy Matters. ...
Date: 2010-02-25

Bus Rides at Issue in arkansas Legal Appeal

...Matters.   How long students may ride a school bus is at the heart of an appeal filed in the arkansas Supreme Court.   Several students of the Fourche Valley Elementary and High schools, along with their parents, will ask the high court to void decisions by State Board of Education and a lower court of to close the community’s schools until the state defines excessive transportation time. The schools are considered isolated under arkansas law. The original lawsuit was covered...
Date: 2009-09-29