School Chiefs Staying Tuned To Legislature

At A Glance

General Assembly

The regular session of the 89th Arkansas General Assembly convenes Jan. 14. Regular sessions are every two years and last about three months. The House of Representatives has 100 members, each of whom represents about 29,000 residents. The Senate has 35 members, each of whom represents about 83,000 residents. Benton and Washington counties combined are represented by 16 members of the House and six in the Senate.

Source: Staff Report

School officials plan to watch for a variety of education-related issues when the legislative session begins in Little Rock next month.

Jim Rollins, Springdale superintendent, said the 2013 session will be an important one. At Tuesday’s School Board meeting, he urged board members to pay attention to the process.

“We will hear open enrollment and school choice very often,” Rollins said.

He said there has been discussion about legislation allowing parents to educate their children in the district of their choice.

“That would be a major concern for public schools in the state,” Rollins said. “We’ll have to follow that closely if (the legislation) is introduced.”

Officials in some school districts also worry they’ll be asked to increase their contribution rates to the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System from 14 percent to 15 percent, Rollins said. Such a change would cost the Springdale district about $1 million. The district has a budget of about $160 million this fiscal year.

Retirement system officials are examining different ways to strengthen the system’s financial position. Increasing contribution rates for employers or members and decreasing current payouts are two options, said George Hopkins, system director. If the employer contribution rate were increased, it likely would be on a temporary basis.

“We think 14 (percent) is a good number, and long-term that’s what we shoot to keep,” Hopkins said.

Rollins said he also believes there will be a significant focus on how schools use their National School Lunch Act money. The state distributes the money to districts based on how many students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches. Districts may use the money in a variety of ways to enhance students’ education.

Springdale receives $6.8 million per year through the program.

“We are using those funds daily to support instruction for our students,” Rollins said. “We need to be prepared to inform our legislators how we use the funds and do all we can to retain them.”

State Rep. Debra Hobbs, R-Rogers, is a member of the House Education Committee. She said the state distributes at least $130 million each year through the National School Lunch Act. She said many schools statewide aren’t performing well, even with the money they receive through the act.

“I understand different populations have their challenges, but we still need to be seeing improvements,” Hobbs said. “It’s a significant amount we’re not getting much return on.”

Uvalde Lindsey, a Democrat from Fayetteville who was elected to the state Senate this year, will serve on the Senate Education Committee. He said some people are concerned schools are misusing their school lunch money, though he hasn’t seen evidence of it locally.

“I think that’s an issue that’s fairly easily solved,” Lindsey said.

Bentonville and Rogers officials mentioned their desire for increased flexibility regarding the amount of professional development their teachers must endure.

Michael Poore, Bentonville superintendent, would like the freedom to tailor professional development to the needs of individual teachers.

“We’re getting such strong data that allows us to understand student strengths and weaknesses,” Poore said. “It allows us to pinpoint needs in our own staff on how to deliver a better instructional model, but a lot of our professional development is scripted at the state level.”

Hobbs said she would support increased flexibility on professional development.

Ashley Siwiec, spokeswoman for the Rogers School District, said teachers are required to undergo 60 hours of professional development per year.

A new teacher evaluation system is being implemented in 2013. Siwiec said it would be nice to get at least a temporary break on the number of professional development hours so teachers would have time to learn the new evaluation system.

Siwiec said Rogers officials also will keep an eye on state actions having to do with insurance costs.

The state distributes $131 per student to each school district, money that’s intended to offset teachers’ insurance premium costs.

“The same reimbursement is quite a bit higher for state employees,” Lindsey said. “I know the teachers chafe about that. We’ll have to deal with inequities in the system. Can we afford to do it now, I don’t know. That’s on my radar screen.”

Rogers officials hope any new education-related laws would have a cost-neutral effect on schools.

“If anything is passed, we hope there would be some appropriations to go with it,” Siwiec said.

Alan Wilbourn, spokesman for the Fayetteville School District, said officials there would like to see an increase in state money to cover cost-of-living salary adjustments for staff.

Fayetteville officials are also interested in seeing the cycle of property reappraisals changed from once every three or five years to annually.

From a curriculum standpoint, Fayetteville officials will be interested to see how Common Core concepts are applied in various bills, Wilbourn said.

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