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News

Broadband is an educational adequacy issue

The battle for broadband in our schools is on. Broadband is the fiber cabling that allows schools to connect to the internet, to the Arkansas Department of Education and to have enough bandwidth in their schools to run administrative...

April General Revenues See Predicted Dip

Good news and bad news in the latest state revenue report from the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA).The April revenue summary released today by DFA revealed an anticipated decrease in net general revenue for the month. April net...

HUGE NEWS – 25,000 kids with new health coverage

Since last fall, nearly 25,000 children now have health coverage through ARKids First, Medicaid, or private insurance – a dramatic increase. The bump in the number of children with insurance is a direct result of Arkansas’s bipartisan Private Option...

Pre-K is OK in Oklahoma

As Arkansas begins to develop its state budget priorities for the 2015 legislative session, it would do well to take note of the major investments that some of our neighboring states have made in young children. Take the case...

Why Detention is Not Always the Answer

Juvenile detention – the short-term involuntary holding of juveniles – is often the gateway to longer-term incarceration. According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative (JDAI), the appropriate purpose of detention is to ensure that youth...

Youth Detention Should Be Limited

Youth detention must be utilized carefully to make sure low-level, non-violent youthful offenders do not move deeper into the criminal justice system. A new report by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families says juvenile detention – the short-term involuntary...

Why quality teachers matter

The Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the U.S. Department of Education reports that students of color experience more suspensions, poorer quality teachers, and have access to fewer advanced math and science courses. The findings, released March 14, 2014...

Recapping the March revenue report

  The majority of state revenue sources came in higher than expected last month, according to the Department of Finance and Administration’s March revenue summary. The overall year-to-date collections for 2014 are leveling out at just a few percentage...