The AACF Guide to School Funding
Where does it come from? Where does it go? This guide tells you: • Why school funding matters • Where the money comes from • How school funds can be used to help low-income students • How parents can...
4 things you should know about pre-K and the economy
From our latest publication, The Business Case for Pre-K: The importance of pre-K rises as the number of children living in poverty goes up. In Arkansas that is 29 percent of our children. Nationally it’s 23 percent. Pre-K enables...
Kathryn Hazelett to join AACF
AACF is excited to announce that Kathryn Hazelett will join our staff as our new education policy director. Kathryn has a history of working toward positive policy changes that benefit Arkansas’s children and families. She is passionate about education and it...
Data Book shows need for pre-K funding boost
Arkansas is slipping when it comes to pre-K education. Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book, featuring new numbers on the well-being of children in Arkansas. Over the past year, we’ve seen a...
5 things you should know about race equity and the 2015 session
This legislative session was filled with missed opportunities. Lawmakers passed bills that weren’t good for families of color. As Arkansas becomes a more diverse state, it is important for Arkansas’s economic and social future that all people have a...
Tell us your #prekstories
AACF is looking for Arkansans to tell us their stories about why pre-K is important to them. If you’re a business leader, a college student, a member of law enforcement, a prosecutor, a teacher, a member of the clergy,...
Pondering equity and education on anniversary of King’s letter
On April 16 we remember and celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for his call to action in the Letter from a Birmingham Jail. He warned, “Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the...
AACF statement on increase in pre-K funding
The following is a statement from Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) and the Invest Early Coalition would like to thank Governor Hutchinson and the Arkansas General...
No Luck in Improving NSLA Spending This Session
The state of Arkansas gives funding to school districts based on their levels of poverty. The money is intended to support low-income children and help public schools narrow the achievement gap in education. But many would argue that it...
Law enforcement group supports pre-K increase
Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national, bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization of nearly 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, attorneys general and other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors, has published a letter sent to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson in support...