In The News

Governor Asa Hutchinson on Monday signed into law a bill that will raise minimum teacher salaries by $4,000 over a four-year period.HB1145, now known as the Teacher Salary Enhancement Act, stipulates that $60 million will be pulled from the state’s Adequacy Fund to raise the pay at the 168 school districts that currently offer minimum teacher salaries lower than $36,000. Districts already paying $36,000-plus in salaries will not receive money.  Read More

The House Education Committee on Thursday voted to pass a bill that would require school counselors to spend 90 percent of their time working with students – directly or indirectly – and only 10 percent on administrative duties, such as testing.  Read More

As one frustrated legislator put it, “No one’s going to vote against this.”But, he added, four years from now, other lawmakers will be charged with finding a way to ensure that the state’s smallest school districts – those with fewer than 500 students – are still able to afford a proposed salary schedule that would boost the minimum teacher salary statewide.  Read More

Legislators found themselves once again juggling a variety unknowns Tuesday while debating whether to change the funding formula for the state’s vo-tech centers.  Read More

The Arkansas House of Representatives voted unanimously Thursday to raise the minimum salaries for teachers by $4,000 over the next four years.  Read More