Despite the desperate need for pre-K funding, lawmakers sank their teeth into a nice, juicy capital gains tax cut for the rich this session. Fighting to keep state coffers adequately filled with tax dollars feels like announcing the tired...
The health and education of Arkansas children are at risk because of a new bill that would redirect billions of future state general revenue dollars that typically funds programs for children and families and put it towards highways and...
Dealing with students that have behavioral issues has become a challenge for school districts across the country. Rather than helping students make amends with their issue – a concept known as restorative justice, the “go-to” discipline response appears to...
Each year, there are more than 3,000 law enforcement incidents in Arkansas schools. The majority of children involved in these incidents are arrested for nonviolent offenses. This is a nationwide trend, and Arkansas is no different. Across the country,...
There are millions of workers each year who are cheated out of hard-earned money by fraudulent employers. This practice is called wage theft. Employers are guilty of wage theft when they do not pay at least the minimum wage,...
Mandatory retention policies without significant resourcing are often ineffective, financially draining, and damaging to student’s emotional health. Since 2002, 15 states have implemented grade level retention policies as a means to combat “social promotion.” States typically focus retention efforts...
Ninety two percent of consumers who met with in-person assisters (IPAs) were able to get the information they needed about enrolling in health coverage during open enrollment last year, according to a new study. However, those seeking to enroll...
Changes to the health insurance Arkansas provides to its educators and state employees are being debated by the legislature. The state is considering stopping contributions to part-time employees’ health coverage and “transferring” them to the Affordable Care Act’s Marketplace...
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...
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...