The Senate Education Committee on Monday approved Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ education overhaul in the penultimate move before it is approved by the Legislature.
The committee’s vote sends Sanders' education overhaul, also known as the LEARNS Act, back to the Senate on Tuesday for a final vote to concur with an amendment the House made to the bill. If approved Tuesday by the Senate, the bill goes to governor’s desk for her signature. Sanders has said in previous statements that she will sign the bill.
The bill was amended in the House last week to include an “opportunity for a hearing" and notice before a teacher is terminated after the bill would repeal the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, a law that requires school districts to notify teachers of changes in their employment status before May 1 each year. The amendment also calls for school districts to adopt a salary schedule for teachers to prevent school safety plans from being subject to public records requests.
Sanders’ education overhaul has come in the form of an omnibus bill that includes state funds that students could use to attend a private or home school and a $14,000 raise in the starting salary for teachers.
The bill would tie education funding to students giving them 90% of what schools get per-student from the previous school year to attend a private or home school. Sanders’ legislation also calls for a new $50,000 a year starting salary for educators, which would rank Arkansas near the highest in the country for minimum teacher pay.