LITTLE ROCK -- An Arkansas House of Representatives committee recommended a bill Thursday to increase base teacher pay in Arkansas and another to increase facilities funding for open-enrollment charter schools.
The House Education Committee approved House Bill 1623, by committee chairman Rep. Bruce Cozart, R-Hot Springs, that increases the starting salary for new teachers and increases the base pay for teachers at the higher pay grades.
The salary bump was one of a handful of recommendations from the biennial educational adequacy study required under the Arkansas Supreme Court's Lake View ruling that mandates that every school district provide an adequate education to all students.
The committee also approved of Senate Bill 789, by Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, which would establish the open-enrollment public charter school facilities funding aid program. The only funding source currently available for open-enrollment charter schools for facilities is a revolving loan fund administered through the Division of Public School Academic Facilities and Transportation.
HB1623 would increase base teacher pay for starting teachers, who have no experience, over a two-year period to $31,000. In the 2015-16 school year, the base pay would increase by $878 from $29,244 to $30,122. In the 2016-17 school year, the pay would increase by $878 from $30,122 to $31,000.
The cost to the state would be $18 million in fiscal 2016 and $16.6 million in fiscal 2017.
The recommendations passed by the educational adequacy committee would provide per-student funding to cover $424.16 of the $878 per-teacher increase for each year.
The committee voted to not pay the entire amount because members were upset that school districts had not used the full amount of adequacy per-student funding previously awarded for salaries on those salaries. Much of the adequacy funding is not required to be spent on any particular expense because of the requirement that school districts maintain local control over most of their spending.
Rep. Reginald Murdock, D-Marianna, took issue with the raises not being fully funded by the legislation.
"When we come to know our needs are a 10, but we continue to fund at less than that -- five, six or seven -- those are real children with real needs that are not being addressed in those numbers," Murdock said. "I understand we must approve something. The court said we have to stop taking dollars into recommendation and do what we must do. This is not a statement against the bill."
Cozart disagreed with Murdock, saying the state has only so much revenue coming in and has to decide how to fund all programs.
"Are we going to put it all in education and not on anything else?" he asked. "I'm probably going to have some people come up and speak against this because they don't even have the money to do what we're wanting to do right here. And you start putting more pressure on your schools that don't have the money available?"
The committee also approved SB789, creating additional funding methods for facilities at open-enrollment charter schools.
Charter school supporters have argued that the state is creating two systems of education -- public school and public charter school. Traditional public schools do not have to pay back facilities funding, while public charter schools do.
SB789 would add language allowing the revolving loan program administrators to award the $5 million in General Improvement Funds set aside by the Arkansas Legislature last year for the loans instead as grants to open-enrollment charter schools as long as they meet academic performance standards, are not in any level of academic distress and meet some other requirements. The money could be used only on facilities and would not have to be paid back.
Under the bill if a charter school closed, the facilities built with the funding would belong to the state, depending on the circumstances.
Both proposals now move to the House floor.
NW News on 03/20/2015