NWA EDITORIAL: Thursday's thumbs

Good news can come from unexpected places

Time for another round of up- and downturned digits involving recent news or other events:

[THUMBS UP] People say all the time they want good news in the newspaper. We do to, and there's usually lots of it, just not always in the everyone-is-happy, Hallmark Channel Christmas movie kind of way.

Give’em a thumb

Want to give some brief feedback on news? Someone who deserves a pat on the back? An idea that needs a dose of common sense? Recommend a “Thursday thumb” by calling Greg Harton at (479) 872-5026 or by email at [email protected].

For example, how about a story about people in prison?

How can that be good news?

Gov. Asa Hutchinson and U.S. Sen. John Boozman recently visited a prison in Wrightsville to watch 25 state inmates receive the bachelor of arts degree from Shorter College. The graduates were part of the Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, in which Arkansas has participated for two years.

Government officials are evaluating the kind of impact educational opportunities might have in the lives of people who are, at the moment, on the wrong side of the law. Here's our bet: Creating an atmosphere in which learning occurs will have more positive outcomes than one in which inmates are simply housed until their sentences are completed.

Not everyone thinks inmates deserve such opportunities. They're criminals and that's all there is to it, some people say. But Arkansas can't build enough prisons to be able to afford such old-fashioned ideas. Does the state not chock up a win if its efforts produce people through the prison system who can take advantage of more employment opportunities or who have the knowledge that creates new options in their lives? Successes in such a program will mean not just fewer people in prison, but more people being a productive part of our society rather than a drag on it.

That's good news all day long.

[THUMBS DOWN] Most of the time, it's great to hear policymakers talking about how much -- or is it how little? -- we pay the men and women who have taken the challenge to educate the state's children through the public education system, without which Arkansas would be in a world of hurt. If they're talking about it, maybe it means they'll do something about it. Still, there are all sorts of ways that train can run off the tracks.

Recent reporting out of the state's capital says lawmakers aren't happy that state funding they'd like to see go toward teacher salaries is being used, in some school districts, for other needs. Now, some lawmakers preparing for next year's regular session of the Arkansas General Assembly say they're ready to start attaching strings to some basic funding the state allocates for public education across the state. State Sen. Jim Hendren, who will be the president pro tem of the state Senate come January, recently said attention will be given in the halls of the legislature to making sure dollars go to teachers.

We're hoping lawmakers will listen to their school district leaders and leave decision-making about spending and meeting needs at the local level. Arkansas has 238 school districts; anything arising from the Legislature that attempts a one-size-fits-all solution is bound to cause at least as many problems as solutions. Small school district leaders, as in West Fork, say they need to be able to spend some of that state funding on other needs unmet by the state, such as special education.

Sen. Joyce Elliott responded that attaching strings to state education funding would necessitate an evaluation of needs by state-level leaders rather than by the local school district officials. It's not guaranteed, but most of the time, local school district personnel have a much better handle on funding needs than any collection of lawmakers in Little Rock.

[THUMBS DOWN] The whopping dollar figures in the latest expenditure reports for congressional candidates in Arkansas are daunting. U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of our Third Congressional District spent nearly $1.1 million to get re-elected this year. His opponent, Josh Mahoney, reported spending $259,712.

Bruce Westerman of Hot Springs, incumbent representative of the Fourth District, spent almost $1.2 million.

But the one most eye-popping was the central Arkansas contest between Rep. French Hill and challenger state Rep. Clarke Tucker. Between the two campaigns, the bill for the 2018 battle came to more than $5.6 million.

The need for such spending typically favors incumbents, leaving challengers an almost insurmountable task.

We've got nothing against incumbents, but it's a concern when the price for even attempting a run to represent a part of Arkansas in Congress is a six- or seven-figure proposition.

[THUMBS UP] The Hogification of the University of Arkansas campus continues, still incomplete even 109 years after football Coach Hugo Bezdek is said to have made a declaration that his team had played "like a band of razorback hogs" in a defeat of LSU. Earlier this year, the school unveiled a massive Wild Band of Razorbacks monument just outside the football stadium. And now, based on student requests, the school is working with the city of Fayetteville to switch out the standard green city street signs for read ones that will each feature a white "running Razorback" logo. The athletics department chipped in the $13,000-plus to pay for the 28 new signs. Who knew there was anything left on the Hill that didn't have a Hog on it? We're sure there's more to come. What's next, Hog-shaped toilet seats that say "Go, Hogs?"

Why not?

Commentary on 12/13/2018

Upcoming Events