State poverty funding (more commonly known as “NSLA funding”) is the part of the state-funded adequacy package for schools that is targeted to low-income students. It is named NSLA after the National School Lunch Act program, the eligibility for which determines each school district’s student count for state NSLA funding. NSLA funding provides programs and […]

Want to know more about the state of children’s health here in Arkansas? As Arkansas’s economy has begun to recover from the recession, ARKids First has been a vital resource to thousands of Arkansas families. The latest data on poverty in Arkansas shows that 27 percent of children under age 18 live in poverty compared […]

The National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) releases a State of Preschool report every year. Arkansas usually does well in these rankings given the success of the state’s Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) program. Arkansas ranks 11th in access for 4-year-olds and 5th in access for 3-year-olds. Arkansas ranks 10th in the country when it […]

Arkansas veterans would benefit greatly from the new affordable coverage options available in the state. Statewide, 20,300 Arkansas veterans are uninsured. The state is considering whether or not to strengthen health care coverage for low- and moderate-income Arkansans. The proposed solution involves using Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance plans for low-income adults – […]

Arkansas policymakers have choices to make in the coming weeks that will determine whether every Arkansan has access to affordable, high-quality health coverage beginning January 1, 2014. Research shows that better access to coverage is good for Arkansas. Our consumer- and child-friendly principles should guide Arkansas’s efforts to cover low-income families and improve access to […]

According to an analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), House Bill 1585 would target personal income tax relief to Arkansas taxpayers who make over $155,000 per year (the top five percent of earners). This group would receive one-half (50 percent) of the total benefits resulting from the tax cut. That’s compared […]

This publication describes how far Arkansas has come in reforming the juvenile justice system and lays out a plan for moving forward. The state’s laws, regulations, and practices must align with its commitment to a system of juvenile justice that will effectively serve youth for the long term. A thoughtful, engaged, and community-driven approach can […]

The past year at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families has been one of expansion and innovation. Improved access to early childhood education has always been something that we’ve worked toward at AACF. This year we expanded our education work to two important issues that affect our children: improving grade-level reading for children in the […]

Arkansas has an opportunity to strengthen its Medicaid program and stimulate economic activity statewide by extending coverage to an estimated 250,000 uninsured Arkansans, including 10,000 children. Arkansas can cover parents and other adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), which is about $31,800 for a family of four. The […]

Black students in Arkansas schools are more likely to be suspended and receive corporal punishment than their white counterparts, according to a new report from Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF). In 2012 black students were given out-of-school suspension more than five times as often as white students, in-school-suspension almost three times as often, […]