FORT SMITH -- Legislators for the River Valley met with the public at the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce on Friday afternoon to discuss the midpoint of the 2023 regular session and what they still hope to accomplish.
District 47 Rep. Lee Johnson, whose district includes a portion of Sebastian County, and District 27 State Sen. Justin Boyd, whose district includes most of Fort Smith, both said they think the session has been pretty slow up to this point, but will pick up in the second half.
Boyd said this is because the legislature is preparing to discuss an education bill.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced her Arkansas LEARNS plan this week, which includes increasing the minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000, moving Arkansas from 48th to fifth for base teacher salary in the nation. It also includes implementing a bonus program up to $10,000 for teachers achieving best results, an unspecified salary increase for all teachers and creating education freedom accounts to provide families state money for private school tuition or other allowable expenses.
Johnson said an official education bill hasn't been filed yet, so the legislature still has a lot of questions about how Sanders' plan will be enacted.
"My perception is they're eager for feedback and willing to get feedback and listen to feedback," he said.
Zachary Gramlich, the newly elected representative for House District 50, a district that includes the southern portion of Fort Smith, as well as a teacher at Darby Middle School, said he thinks Arkansas LEARNS can be true reform to the education system in a lot of ways.
"I'm curious how pay is going to work, because they also talked about how they weren't going to recognize master's anymore," he said. "If they did do that, that would directly affect my pay, because I got a pretty significant pay increase because I've got a master's."
Boyd briefly discussed Senate Bill 193, which amends the Arkansas Occupational Licensing of Uniformed Service Members, Veterans and Spouses Act of 2021 to allow national certifications to be considered toward occupational license requirements.
The bill also extends the application for initial licenses to the spouse of a uniformed service member or a uniformed service veteran and removes the one year limit for veterans to apply service education, training or certifications toward occupational licenses.
Boyd said the bill was requested by the Military Officers Association of America to help in the Foreign Military Sales mission.
"I'm on record in the Senate of supporting it," he added.
Ebbing Air National Guard Base at Fort Smith Regional Airport was selected last year as the Air Force's preferred location for a pilot training center for Singapore and other countries participating in the Foreign Military Sales program. The proposal would accommodate up to 24 foreign Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II aircraft and move 12 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcons from the Singapore Air Force, currently at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, Ariz.
While Ebbing is the preferred location, the Air Force chose Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Mich., if the center couldn't be at Fort Smith for some reason.
The next legislative forum will be at 3 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the chamber at 612 Garrison Ave.