What a relief! Imagine reading a bill--written by a lawmaker, a legislator, a politician!--that is simple and easy to understand. And takes up less than one page at that.
Where are the first six pages of "Whereupon it is the sense of the Legislature meeting inter alia knowingly or otherwise prima facie to be entitled ... ."
Instead, thankfully, gleefully, wonderfully, we get Senate Bill 304, that reads:
"The Commissioner of Education shall appoint a public charter authorizing panel that may consist of individuals from outside the department as well as professional staff employed at the department to serve at the pleasure of the commissioner."
And that's it. There's a period [.] at the end of the sentence, and that's the bill.
This simple piece of writing would tweak the law so that folks outside the Department of Education can sit on the charter authorizing panel, too, not only the pros at the department. This would allow, for example, the commissioner to appoint a principal of some wildly successful charter school to the panel. Or maybe one of those whiz kids from the University of Arkansas' school of education who study these things.
Our considered editorial opinion: Why not? Why not have folks on the charter schools panel who know charters best? Who know their weaknesses and strengths, and know what it's like inside them?
The world needs more expertise in government. And one-paragraph legislative bills.
Editorial on 02/16/2017