A quality K-12 education is critical to the future well-being of Arkansas’s children. The benefits of a high-quality education, or the negative impacts brought about by the opposite, will affect almost every aspect of a child’s life well into adulthood. A quality K-12 education makes it more likely that a student will graduate from high school. They’re also more likely to attend and graduate from college or a post-secondary program, and earn higher income as an adult.

In 2010, 94 percent of Arkansas students in grades K-12 were enrolled in public schools, making the success of public education vitally important. Adequate funding is essential to the ability of public schools to provide students with the education they need and deserve. Schools need a lot of financial support and funding comes from multiple sources. During the 2009-2010 school year, state and local governments, as well as the federal government, invested more than $5 billion dollars in Arkansas to ensure that children receive a good education.