A $6 million public-private partnership announced Wednesday for Teach for America will add teachers to low-income communities in south and east Arkansas and bring the organization's instructors to Little Rock for the first time, Gov. Asa Hutchinson said.
Arkansas' Republican governor said during a news conference at the state Capitol that his office will provide $3 million for Teach for America in a move that will fund the training and support of about 150 new teachers in rural school districts in eastern and southern parts of the state.
"Being from a rural area of the state, looking at south and east Arkansas particularly, I understand the need, the challenge of recruiting top-quality teachers committed to education, staying in the community and competing with some of the larger school districts," Hutchinson said.
Jared Henderson, executive director of Teach for America in Arkansas, said the state's investment will benefit more than 9,000 students in those areas of the state and also inspired an "extraordinary and unprecedented" investment from private Little Rock donors.
A private match of $3 million from philanthropists and business leaders in Little Rock would go toward adding about 65 new teachers to the Little Rock School District over a period of three years, Hutchinson said.
Up to 15 teachers would tentatively be added for the 2016-17 school year, according to the governor's office.
Little Rock School District Superintendent Baker Kurrus said the district currently employs 2,197 teachers.
Among the donors was Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, who spoke at the news conference on behalf of all who donated toward the private investment.
"Most of them [the donors] believe, as I do, that bringing Teach for America teachers to Little Rock will really make a significant difference," Hussman said.
Check back with ArkansasOnline for updates on this story and read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.