Education Issues

Arkansas public schools face a number of critical issues that affect their ability to meet the educational needs of students. Those issues include:

• Adequate funding for education – The Arkansas General Assembly continues to evaluate the issue of “adequacy” and funding for an adequate education. The term “adequacy” resulted from the Lake View lawsuit. The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that an adequate education must be provided to all school children on a substantially equal basis with regard to curricula, facilities and equipment and that the state must define adequacy and determine whether adequacy is being achieved.
• Unfunded mandates – Laws are passed and rules are created at both the state and federal levels that cause additional expense for schools, and often no additional funding is allocated to pay for these mandates.
• Assessment under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – The notion of one test to determine a school’s performance continues to confound many educators, board members and parents. Punitive penalties assessed against districts which do not meet NCLB goals have not proven to be effective as many schools progress through the ranks of academic distress.
• Use of public funds for non-public schools – During the past decade, millions of taxpayer dollars have been funneled to non-public schools through vouchers. Additionally, the establishment of charter schools which are not led by a publicly elected board results in privately appointed individuals making budget decisions about public funds.
• Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) – Congress will consider proposals to revamp the existing law which created the assessment and accountability system known as No Child Left Behind. In March of 2010 the Secretary of Education released his “Blueprint for Reform” which can be accessed on the U.S. Dept. of Education website.