Arkansas Educator Volume 41, No. 1

ARKANSAS

EDUCATOR PROUDLY PUBLISHED BY THE ARKANSAS EDUCATION ASSOCIATION

VOLUME 41 N O 1 | SUMMER 2019

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INSIDE: 2019 Legislative Update: Session Success • Buses and Bondo: Conway ESP’s drive to show students a career path

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EDUCATOR VOLUME 41 NO 1 SUMMER 2019

CONTENTS 4 A Letter from the President

PRESIDENT CATHY KOEHLER VICE PRESIDENT MARY KNIGHT SECRETARY-TREASURER BRENDA BROWN AEA-NEA DIRECTOR BRENDA ROBINSON

14 Legislative Wrap Up: Education Issues at the 2019 Session 5 Buying AR Schools: Who’s Behind the Push to Privatize

19 AEA Members Influence Legislation at #RedForED Day

AEA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TRACEY-ANN NELSON EDITOR KYLE LEYENBERGER

VISIT US ONLINE AT: aeaonline.org/AREducator Follow us on Twitter @ArkEducation Become an AEA Facebook friend.

ARKANSAS EDUCATOR is published as a service to all members of the Arkansas Education Association 1500 West 4th Street Little Rock, AR 72201 t: 501-375-4611 f: 501-375-4620 tf: 800-632-0624 ADVERTISERS Advertising contents should be addressed to the Editor. Advertising rates are available upon request. Advertising is printed as a service to readers and publication does not imply Association endorsement. The Association reserves the right to refuse any advertising.

9 Member Profile: Born to Teach: LR’s Stacey McAdoo is Arkansas Teacher of the Year

21 ESP Profile: Bouquets to Bondo: Conway Paraprofessional Helps Students Find Career Path 24 Fort Smith Schools Hold First PPC Election 25 From the Desk of the Executive Director 26 Rewind: Educators Defeat Voucher Scheme in 1993

13 Community & Educators Join to Bring National Public Schools Advocate to Little Rock

SUMMER 2019

A LETTER FROM THE P RE S IDE NT Welcome to the final issue of the Arkansas Educator during my term as Arkansas Education Association President. It is an important one.

In this issue, we take a look at the incredible results of the 2019 Legislative Session, where our members, the AEA staff, and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle worked together to stand up for our students and public schools. The Legislature is an interesting place, and I learned a thing or two while attending dozens of committee meetings and sit-downs with our elected officials.

We were on the front lines of the attack on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, and we worked closely with legislators to ensure they understood the importance of a strong retirement benefit as a recruitment and retention tool.

We also helped them understand how a proposed voucher scheme would drain resources from the neighborhood public schools serving the vast majority of Arkansas students. While we defended against an unprecedented number of attacks, we also celebrated with partner organizations as the Governor signed a bill to extend in-state tuition to some immigrant students who have been living in Arkansas. This laudable goal has been on the AEA’s legislative platform for more than a decade!

While AEA continues to build relationships with our lawmakers, it is important to know what we are up against. There is a vast and well-funded network attempting to undermine the bedrock of our democracy by privatizing our schools and monetizing students. In this issue we explore some of the tentacles of pro-school privatization nonprofits and organizations working here in Arkansas and nationwide. As you’ll see, digging in leads to an aggravating and complex series of connections that are seemingly endless.

We also get to visit the 2019 Arkansas Teacher of the Year’s classroom, to learn about how she uses the arts to help her students access information. Little Rock’s Stacey McAdoo is just beginning her year of service as teacher of the year, and she’s on a mission to lift the voices of her students and community at the Arkansas Department of Education.

We also get a peek into the body shop at Conway High School, where paraprofessional and bus driver Lisa Schichtl wanted to be closer to her kids, but found a new and rewarding career. Schichtl enjoys working with students as they learn to repair car damage and possibly take the first steps into a career of their own.

As I traveled the state these last two years, I was humbled to meet with the members doing great work in our school buildings each day. Your work is vital to the future of our state and our nation, and I thank you for your devotion to your students, and for being a member.

Together, we are the AEA!!

Cathy Koehler, President, AEA

ABOUT PRESIDENT KOEHLER: AEA President Cathy Koehler’s career began as a teacher in Central Arkansas parochial schools, and she spent 24 years as a library media specialist in Little Rock School District. She is a longtime AEA board member and is a national board certified teacher in Library Media/Early Childhood through Young Adulthood. Koehler served as President of the Little Rock Education Association for the last ten years and completed one term as Vice President of the AEA. Koehler led membership through the state takeover of the LRSD in 2015 and kept a professional negotiated agreement in place under 3 different superintendents.

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BUYING ARKANSAS’S SCHOOLS Inside the web of Arkansas’s School Privatization Empire A free quality public education for every child is a foundational principal of American society and a right guaranteed by Arkansas’s Constitution. Everyone in this state, regardless of religion, race, income, disability or any other characteristic deserves an equal opportunity to learn and succeed.

MANHATTAN INSTITUTE ARKANSAS POLICY FOUNDATION STATE POLICY NETWORK

Unfortunately, a vast network of corporate interests and wealthy individuals are chipping away at this bedrock of our democracy in an effort to turn public education into a marketplace where private interests can profit off of our students.

WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION

Across the nation, states have implemented and expanded charter schools that are unaccountable to the public and voucher programs that have siphoned off public taxpayer money to pay for private school tuition.

This powerful and well-funded effort is nationwide, but one of the biggest contributors is based right here in our state, and each year the network of privatizers working in Arkansas is growing.

This network uses pass through organizations to fund a swarm of lobbyists and spend dark

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ARKANSAS DE

TRACE STRATEGIES LAURIE LEE

ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN EDUCATORS

ARKANSANS FOR EDUCATION REFORM

ASTA

ARKANSAS LEARNS

money on political candidates in our state and across the country. They initiated the recent attack on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, and have even co-opted our state’s flagship University to provide cover for the work of partisan think tank alumni who misuse statistics in support of a privatization agenda.

They have close ties to members of the Arkansas State Board of Education, and their influence is part of the reason Arkansas’s latest legislative sessions have focused more on privatization schemes like vouchers and charter school expansion rather than the investments we know will actually improve outcomes for Arkansas’s 486,000 public school students.

This article is a look at just some of the connections in our state. It is important to note that this report is not exhaustive.

The web of dark money and organizations working in Arkansas and across the country to plunder public school resources is vast and difficult to track.

EPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

ARKANSAS PUBLIC SCHOOL RESOURCE CENTER

THE REFORM ALLIANCE THE “SUCCEED SCHOLARSHIP”

HOME REGION

The Walton Family Foundation (WFF) and many of its grantees are the major school privatization players in Arkansas and even one of the biggest in the nation.

WFF is led by the billionaire heirs to the Walmart fortune. The Bentonville, AR based foundation gave away nearly $600 million in grants in 2018. According to their website, the foundation has invested more than $400 million dollars to expand charter schools since 1997. They, along with other privatization supporters have also dumped vast fortunes into think tanks, opinion outlets posing as media organizations and political races, including more than $50 million dollars in a failed attempt to install a charter supporter as the new California Superintendent of Public Instruction.

WFF has an application process like many foundations and gives to a large number of causes including so called “education reform.” In fact, K-12 Education is one of their top priorities, along with the “Home Region” of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas Delta.

The foundation’s Arkansas investments also include some donations to public school districts, however those grants are dwarfed by the amount being given to pro-privatization organizations and schools across the state. Many of these organizations then in turn fund other organizations, which an outsider could assume to be grassroots or community nonprofits springing up to support the same types of school privatization. These organizations, which lobby and change policy, do receive marginal support from other donors that may benefit from the privatization of our schools, however the organizations likely would not exist without the support of the Walton Family Foundation.

For example, Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation received $435,000 in contributions in 2017, $350,000 of this revenue came directly from the Walton Family Foundation. Their board includes the publisher of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, which regularly prints proprivatization editorials, a former CEO of

Murphy Oil, and a member of the Dillard family. The board’s only paid member, Executive Director Gary Newton, is paid more than $189,000 plus benefits.

The organization also gave $115,000 to Arkansas Learns where Newton serves as President and CEO. Arkansas Learns’ board has the same members, plus Arkansas Chamber of Commerce President Randy Zook. Zook is married to the new Chair of the Arkansas Department of Education, Dianne Zook, who is also Newton’s aunt.

Another notable consulting firm the non-profit Arkansas for Education Reform has hired is Trace Strategies. Trace Strategies, owned and operated by lobbyist Laurie Lee, received $205,756 dollars from Arkansans for Education Reform in 2016, according to the organization’s tax documents.

Lee is also the registered principal officer and Chairman of the Board of The Reform Alliance. The Reform Alliance is a registered non-profit which manages Arkansas’s voucher program, the “Succeed Scholarship.”

In 2017, WFF gave the Reform Alliance a nearly $1.5 million grant. The Reform Alliance then paid Lee’s company Trace Strategies $180,000 for “Campaign Advisory” services. It should be noted that Lee’s daughter also works at The Reform Alliance, and the nonprofit’s principal address is listed as Lee’s home on the Arkansas Secretary of State’s website.

The organization also receives a percentage of the taxpayer dollars it manages for administration. The Reform Alliance also lobbies for pro privatization legislation, and the “Succeed Scholarship.”

This voucher program has been expanded every year since it was first created. In the 2019 Legislative Session, the funding was doubled to $3 million dollars, despite lawmakers acknowledging there is no way to determine if the students participating in the program are receiving a quality education. Lawmakers also passed a bill to study the program, but elected to increase in the amount of public tax dollars that can spent on the program by $1.5 million before the study could begin. The

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the state chamber) and Fitz Hill, (former president of Arkansas Baptist College which operated a Walton-funded charter school on its campus) a current member of the State Board of Education.

In addition, DeVos’s dark money group American Federation for Children has now appeared in Arkansas and paid for ads in the 2018 election attacking candidates who stood strong for students in opposition of vouchers during the 2017 Legislative Session.

Governor has since approved $1.8 million in funding for the program, and is expected to fully fund the $3 million appropriation.

To be clear, this means the state is handing millions of your tax dollars to a nonprofit with no transparency and which hired its own chairperson as a contractor.

This linkage is important for two reasons, firstly because it highlights some of the strategies used to control the discourse surrounding the needs of our children and because it shows how key players in this space receive funding from the Waltons through multiple sources. So, what first seems like the spontaneous creation of a grassroots working group of concerned citizens, is more like astroturf paid in full by the pro-privatization empire.

IN OUR SCHOOLS

While it is no surprise the Walton’s can afford teams of lobbyists at the state Capitol, some educators may not realize they may also be contributing to the problem.

The Arkansas State Teachers Association (ASTA) bills itself as the “non-union” professional association for educators.

ASTA is the local affiliate of the Association of American Educators (AAE). AAE was created by insurance billionaire Gary Beckner, who saw an opportunity to sell insurance to educators. While claiming to represent teachers’ best interests, these organizations operate as a vehicle to disrupt school systems by breaking up collective teacher voice. Sourcewatch states that the AAE is funded in part by the Bradley Foundation as part of an effort to “defund teachers unions and achieve

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real education reform.” Trace Strategies also lists AAE as a client on its website, which means the same lobbyist pushing to expand public funding of private schools in our state is also representing ASTA members. In addition, the Walton Foundation has given millions of dollars to the AAE Foundation, including $200,000 in 2017.

AAE also produces a pro-privatization newsletter, and its foundation is an associate of the State Policy Network, alongside the American Legislative Exchange Council (which writes procorporate legislation for lawmakers to use), the Reason Foundation (which was part of the attack on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System) and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund (which has used the courts to attempt to weaken educators’ collective voice). WFF also gave the State Policy Network nearly $120,000 in 2017.

Another organization working to privatize the education system is also collecting membership dues from some public school districts. The Arkansas Public School Resource Center offers Walton funded grants and professional development opportunities to charter schools and rural public school districts. In addition, APSRC lobbies at the state Capitol and at the Federal level for privatization legislation.

The US Department of Education, under Secretary Betsy DeVos, recently awarded APSRC more than $20 million in tax dollars to expand charter schools in Arkansas. The board of APSRC includes the Speaker of the House, President of the Senate, Jim Walton, Randy Zook (head of

SPONSORING RESEARCH

According to a 2018 national poll, a strong majority (70%) of public-school parents give the traditional public schools in their neighborhoods either an A or a B – higher grades than they have given in years. However, the public more broadly gives only 4 in ten local schools an A or B and even fewer think give top grades to public schools nationally (19 %).

2019 PDK poll What is behind the disconnect? A decades long propaganda attack on educators and public schools, led by those who wish to shift to a market based system.

Creating alternative facts through the infiltration of institutions of higher education and funding think tanks is another tactic pro-privatization organizations are using. Much like the tobacco industry sponsored research to misrepresent the health effects of smoking, these organizations twist data in an attempt to justify shifting public dollars away from neighborhood public schools and into private or charter options. These think tanks are operating all over the country to provide cover for policies the general public does not support.

The University of Arkansas Fayetteville Office of Education Reform was founded in part by a $10 million gift from the Walton Family. This branch of our flagship state university consistently produces pro privatization policy papers as well as leaders in the privatization movement.

The department is headed by Dr. Jay Greene, who came to the school from the Manhattan Institute, a pro-privatization think tank that also receives Walton

funding and is an associate of the State Policy Network. Greene also sits on the advisory board of ASTA’s national affiliate.

Two faculty members at the Office of Education Reform currently preside as officers on the board of the Advance Arkansas Institute (another member of the State Policy Network). Further, many graduates of the program end up working at the Walton Family Foundation, pro privatization think tanks, and perhaps most alarmingly in top posts at the Arkansas Department of Education.

Dr. Sarah Moore, a current State Board Member is an alumna of the graduate program. Moore also served as Governor Asa Hutchinson’s education policy advisor for three years.

The UofA department also includes the “Office of Education Policy” or OEP, which just this year hired another Manhattan fellow who came from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation. This foundation, along with the WFF funded the groups that made special trips to Arkansas

OFFICE OF EDUCATION POLICY

to support and even testified during a legislative hearing in favor of policies that seek to undermine the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. The ATRS is a vital recruitment and retention tool to ensure quality teachers.

The Pew Foundation, the Reason Foundation and Bellwether Education Partners were invited to testify before the joint retirement committee by a lawmaker in 2018. During testimony attacking defined benefit plans in favor of 401(k)s, legislators forced each of the groups to admit on the record they received funding from the Arnold Foundation. In addition a staff member from the UA’s Department of Education Reform participated in the attack. While the groups have been successful in other parts of the country, including Kentucky and most recently Colorado, Arkansas legislators stood strong with our state’s educators and shot down every piece of anti-retirement legislation filed as a result of the effort.

Although this report includes a lot of names, it is just one slice of the nationwide effort to plunder our public schools. These organizations have a vast infrastructure and deep pockets that can seem daunting, but our students are counting on us to stand up and speak out.

While they may have more cash, we have the power of numbers, and common sense. Arkansas’s taxpayers and students would be better served by investing our scarce resources to improve our neighborhood public schools and helping all of the students who attend them. Our public schools are the anchor of our communities, and the best way to expand opportunity for all. This idea does not require twisted statistics, or market tested language to trick people into supporting it. It’s as old as the country itself.

LAURA & JOHN ARNOLD FOUNDATION

PEW

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REFORM REASON FOUNDATION UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS

MANHATTAN INSTITUTE

BELLWETHER EDUCATION PARTNERS

WALTON FAMILY FOUNDATION

ARKANSAS POLICY FOUNDATION STATE POLICY NETWORK

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Stacey McAdoo’s love of teaching began in her childhood bedroom.

“One of my earliest memories is in my room,” she said. “I would line all my stuffed dolls together and I would play school. My little brother would be my only live pupil.”

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“I would tell him, ‘Try to turn it into a song,’” she said. “We would do those things at home to help him study.”

Outside of her room however, McAdoo distanced herself from her dream.

She says her community in Southwest Little Rock distrusted the public school system and the classroom felt like a different world.

“I think the distrust was ‘them versus us,’ the outsiders vs. the insiders, not seeing yourself represented, not having teachers that looked like you, not being able to see yourself in the curriculum,” she said.

“We didn’t feel understood. We didn’t feel connected. We were just going to this place. That was the general sentiment in my community, it was like ‘These people don’t care about us.’”

McAdoo spent frustrating days in the classroom wondering why her teachers didn’t use the same strategies she employed to help her brother at home.

“I remember sitting in history class, and I hated history class and I shouldn’t have hated it because the text is so rich,” she said. “I would go and rewrite lesson plans and say, ‘If I were the teacher, I would do this and that type of thing.’”

When it came time to choose a career, McAdoo shied away from the path she’d seemed destined to follow, instead earning a degree in professional and technical writing.

“I fought it,” she said. “I was going to make more money… it was strictly a financial thing. I knew teachers were overworked, I knew they were underpaid, that they were losing respect in society’s eyes.”

But her day job at a telecommunications company left McAdoo unfulfilled.

“I’m working as an administrative assistant, and I know I’m supposed to teach,” she said. “I’m unhappy. I’m going to work every day, and I’m twiddling my thumbs and actually I’m still writing lesson plans and poetry and I’m doing this other stuff.”

MEMBER PROFILE STACEY MCADOO

n avid writer, McAdoo accesses knowledge through the arts and developed lessons to help her brother understand content from his classroom.

On a whim, she applied to teach Middle School English in the Little Rock School District. During her interview with Nancy Rousseau, now Principal of Little Rock Central High School, McAdoo got a lesson on process.

“I didn’t even have a license,” she said.

“I didn’t know any of that stuff. She gave me her card and said, ‘If you ever decide to go to school and get credentialed to be an educator, I would love to hire you.’”

After her brother died in a car accident, McAdoo left her job and earned a Master of Arts degree in Teaching from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

Newly certified, she started preparing to teach Middle School English when Rousseau reached out with an offer to teach communications at Central High.

“My certification is communications, so it was perfect,” McAdoo said. “I’ve been here ever since.”

Finally where she was meant to be, McAdoo didn’t waste any time putting her lifetime of prep to use.

“I don’t want to make it sound like I’m just perfect and it’s been all peaches and cream... but for real I’ve been rocking and rolling since I entered the classroom,” she said. “I go in my classroom and we make magic happen.”

Her first year also marked the beginning of the Writeous Poetry Club, bringing a poetry magazine she had created to life through her students. The teens write and perform original poetry, including a group poem imagining the inner monologues of members of the Little Rock Nine and another following terrified students’ thoughts as they experience a school shooting.

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teachers,” Key said. “She gently guides her students to think outside the box and challenge stereotypes.”

“What people don’t realize… they see the students up there and think it just comes naturally to them,” McAdoo said.

“They practice all the time. They’re in my classroom right now practicing. They spend as much time on their work, as they do anything else.”

McAdoo says other teachers are sometimes surprised to find out students are performing original pieces on stage.

“That is not the kid they see in the classroom,” she said. “For a lot of the students, the Writeous may be the first time they’ve had success. They’re not all necessarily academic stars, although there are some academic all-stars. They’re a very eclectic group that comes from all walks of life.”

While some of the students are working toward making a living from their poetry, McAdoo says the process is valuable even without a bigger goal.

“At the end of the day poetry is about expression,” she said. “It’s about discovering who you are. You can’t contribute to society if you don’t know who you are.”

After 16 years in the classroom, the magic earned McAdoo recognition as Arkansas Teacher of the Year for her work teaching communication and Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID). McAdoo doesn’t have an easy answer for how she developed the teaching style that earned her 2019 ATOY. “I don’t know,” she said. “But I went in the classroom and just tried to do what it was that I wanted when I was in school and tried to incorporate the things that I felt I needed or that would have made school more enjoyable for me.”

At the time of her award, Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) Commissioner Johnny Key commended her for a teaching style that sounds remarkably similar to the strategies she developed as a child to help her brother study.

“From incorporating rap and slam poetry in the classroom to utilizing creative opportunities that foster parent, community and civic engagement, Ms. McAdoo serves as a model of excellence for all Arkansas

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I don’t want to make it sound like I’m just perfect and it’s been all peaches and cream... but for real I’ve been rocking and rolling since I entered the classroom. I go in my classroom and we make magic happen.”

- Stacey McAdoo

The months long process to select teacher of the year includes multiple rounds of competition, beginning at each school building, then district and region. Semifinalists then teach during an on-site visit by the ATOY selection committee.

“At the very end there were… I want to say there were 10 or 12 people that came to watch me teach at one time in a little box with 24 students,” she said. “We were crammed in there and they were like, ‘Be natural.’”

McAdoo began class as normal, but says her students seemed strange.

“They didn’t have any personality,” she said. “They were trying to ‘be good’ and I was like, ‘No! I got this because y’all are not just these perfect little robots. Just be who you are!”

With the recognition comes a year of service beginning July 1, 2019. McAdoo is working with the ADE to develop what that service will look like.

What I’ve been told is that everyone’s year looks different,” she said. “It’s pretty

much a mixture of offering professional development to teachers, doing classroom visits and working with ADE on initiatives.”

She will also sit on the State Board of Education once a month, which voted to take over the LRSD in 2015, and has since voted to strip Teacher Fair Dismissal and the Employee Fair Hearing Act protections from district employees. The move sparked a wave of protest throughout the community, leaving McAdoo to figure out what it means.

“I was announced at the beginning of the school year, but while I’m being announced as Arkansas teacher of the year, my colleagues are trying to figure out, ‘Will we even have a job the next day?’” she said. “That’s going to be very difficult. I don’t think anyone has been in this situation before.”

When the protests began, students took notice.

“My students were like, “Mrs. McAdoo, you’re being quiet. We don’t hear your voice. You teach us to speak up and speak out, what are you doing?” she said. “I had to explain to them I was being quiet, but that is my nature. I’m quiet until I feel it is time. Sometimes I’m slow to respond, because when I do speak, I need it to be powerful. I need it to be meaningful and I need people to realize, ‘She’s serious.’”

She says the last year has been one of the most challenging of her career, as she tries to keep a balance between staying engaged and preparing to work in a new role.

“I still am very reserved because I do recognize that I am representing the entire state and that I will sit on the board with these individuals,” she said. “I don’t want to tarnish any possible relationships that I could have prior to going in there but I also don’t want to be a doormat either, or for people to think I’m ok with this because I’m not.”

The distrust McAdoo’s community felt when she was a student remains, and may now be stronger than ever, as people use the internet to share information and photos of the condition of school buildings and supplies in the district.

Stacey’s husband LeRon is also a teacher at Little Rock Central High, and her daughter Jamee is a student at the school.

“These students are talking to everybody everywhere, so it is very easy to see the inequities,” she said. “Now we see certain pockets that are getting things it appears other pockets are not. Growing up, I don’t think we saw that. We only saw what was going on in our area, so we didn’t know there was a huge disparity. Then, I think we knew it, we just couldn’t put our finger on and say here it is, this is how we know this. We knew it we just didn’t necessarily have the language or the evidence to support what we inherently knew and felt.”

Before her recognition, which allowed her a new level of access to the ADE, McAdoo says she felt the department was intentionally doing things to make life harder for her and her colleagues.

After visiting and meeting with staff and leadership though, she believes everyone is trying to increase student opportunity.

“I don’t know if the disconnect comes from the many different layers it goes through before it gets to the classroom teacher, but everyone seems genuine,” she said. “I think a lot of people just have different ideas about what’s good and what’s just, and what people need. Everybody seems to think that they have the answer, and they’re not including those other people in those conversations.”

While she understands she is representing more than just Little Rock now, McAdoo says she still is Little Rock, born and raised. From the bedroom classroom

where she taught her first lesson, to her award-winning style at Central High, this is the background McAdoo brings to her role as Arkansas Teacher of the Year.

McAdoo may not be sure how the year will play out, but she is positive she’ll bring the voices of her students, fellow educators and her community to the table.

“My students are so happy, and part of that is, ‘We’ve got somebody who knows us, who understands,’ and they’re expecting me to speak for them,” she says.

“They’ve given me a long list of things, you know, ‘When you go to ADE, we want you to talk about this!’ The students have ideas and they want to be heard, so I am looking forward to sharing their ideas and concerns.”

Sometimes I’m slow to respond, because when I do speak, I need it to be powerful. I need it to be meaningful and I need people to realize, ‘She’s serious.’”

- Stacey McAdoo

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“The future of this country will be determined not by what happens in Washington but what happens in our schools.”

- Dr. Pedro Noguera

PARENTS, EDUCATORS AND COMMUNITY ADVOCATES HOSTED DR. PEDRO NOGUERA FOR A CONVERSATION ABOUT EQUITY IN EDUCATION, BUILDING POWER THROUGH ORGANIZING, AND WHY EVERYONE MUST BE ADVOCATES FOR ARKANSAS’S STUDENTS. Dr. Noguera is a Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. A sociologist, Dr. Noguera’s research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions. During the talk, titled Reclaiming Our Schools: The Urgency of Unity in Action, Noguera shared information on the national trend toward privatization of public education, and the human cost of losing neighborhood public schools for families and communities. The event also featured a question and answer section, so parents, educators and community members could participate in the conversation and learn how to build power through organizing.

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“We are all in this together, and so we need to work together, to get the schools our children deserve,” Noguera said. “We need a culture that is student centered. A culture where teacher morale is high, because I’ve never seen a high performing school where the teachers feel beaten down and abused, never seen it... Our children deserve better. Our teachers deserve better. Our country deserves better. The future of this country will be determined not by what happens in Washington but what happens in our schools.”

The March 13th event was a partnership between Grassroots Arkansas, the Arkansas Education Association, the Little Rock Education Association, and Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church.

The Arkansas Education Association worked with legislators on both sides of the aisle throughout the 92nd General Assembly’s 2019 legislative session to protect Arkansas students and public education. This year, lawmakers met for 87 days and filed a total of 1,667 bills. 1,092 of those bills have now become law. AEA tracked a total of 150 education and education-related bills, which you can find on our website, aeaonline.org/political-action.

2019 We anticipated a tough legislative session, but were able to navigate it and deliver significant wins for members. From defeating a massive attack on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement and multiple voucher measures, to helping extend health insurance to more school employees and ensuring more transparency in school choice programs, AEA saw success this legislative session.

While AEA staff attended daily committee meetings and informed legislators of the impact of proposed bills, AEA members answered multiple calls to contact legislators on important bills. In addition, retired members packed the weekly joint retirement committee meetings wearing AEA’s “Hands Off My Retirement” stickers. On Wednesday, March 20 dozens of AEA members gave up part of their Spring Break to join AEA staff and leadership at the Capitol for a #RedforEd advocacy day. During the Senate Education meeting, their presence helped to stop an attempt to expand the ability to waive teacher fair dismissal for districts in fiscal or academic distress.

The following information highlights some of the most important bills of the 2019 Legislative Session:

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ATTACK ON RETIREMENT AEA worked together with supporters of public retirement systems to beat back an effort to undermine the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. The attack on ATRS began months before the 2019 Legislative Session. In September of 2018, then House chair of the Joint Retirement Committee, Rep. Doug House, invited several out-of-state organizations to testify to the Committee during two days of hearings. The invited organizations, including the Pew Foundation, the Reason Foundation and Bellwether Education Partners, have a troubling track record of attacking public pension plans in other states such as Arizona and Kentucky. It was clear Rep. House wanted to explore some of the potentially harmful proposals being discussed by the organizations he invited into the state. In fact, just days after the 2019 legislative session began, Rep. House filed a number of bills that would have allowed for a reduction of benefits for the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System (ATRS) as well as several other public retirement systems. Specifically targeting ATRS was HB1206 which would have capped any Cost of Living Adjustment at a maximum of 3% and tied it to a Southern Region Consumer Price Index and provided beneficiaries which ever was the lower number. This would have likely been a significant reduction in benefits as the current law provides for a guaranteed 3% Cost of Living Adjustment annually.

Also in Rep. House’s retirement bill package was HB1173 which became known as the “Stress Test” bill. This bill was introduced on just the second day of the legislative session. It would have required public retirement systems in Arkansas to conduct a “stress test” (later amended to be referred to as a “financial risk analysis”). AEA has seen similar “stress test” measures pass in other states which have led to a reduction of benefits. The bill was amended five times throughout the legislative session. However, when the bill was finally presented to the committee, it failed to even receive a “do pass” motion.

The Arkansas Education Association, the Arkansas Professional Firefighters and the Arkansas State Employees Association joined forces to host a breakfast meeting for legislators to continue to engage on issues in support of strong public retirement systems. Retired members packed meetings each week to oppose the bill, and AEA members filled legislators’ email and voicemail with messages supporting ATRS. AEA was pleased that as the legislative session began, Rep. House was replaced as the House Chair of the Joint Retirement Committee by Rep. Les Warren. Rep. Warren joined Sen. Bill Sample who had already been named as the Senate Chair of the Joint Retirement Committee. Both chairs worked well with AEA throughout the legislative session and were always

available to answer questions of AEA leadership and legislative staff.

We greatly appreciate their leadership on the Retirement Committee this legislative session.

MINIMUM WAGE ROLLBACK In November 2018, Arkansas voters approved an increase to the state minimum wage gradually to $11 by 2021. The ballot measure was approved by more than 2/3 of voters, but that did not stop an attempt to roll back the new support for workers.

Sen. Bob Ballinger filed SB115 , which would have exempted school employees from benefitting from the increase in the wage. AEA worked with coalition partners to monitor and oppose this bill. Weeks after it was filed, the bill sponsor chose to amend the bill to no longer exempt public school employees. Even with the amendments, the proposal was wildly unpopular and never advanced.

VOUCHERS Over the past few legislative sessions, school privatization advocates have been relentless in a push to expand voucher programs in Arkansas, despite widespread public opposition. These schemes divert public dollars into unaccountable private schools and away from the public schools serving more than 90% of Arkansas students. In the past, these bills have been narrowly defeated, however during the 2019 Session, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle stood strong and said ‘NO’ to these harmful proposals. In addition, the legislature approved a new law allowing closer study of the state’s “Succeed Scholarship” voucher program for students with disabilities and foster children. This program has been expanded each year since its creation, but lawmakers had no way to know if students in the program are getting the education they deserve.

Unfortunately, the budget for the program was doubled to $3 million through an amendment to an appropriations bill.

The House Education Committee shut down an attempt to create a multi-million dollar voucher program by exploiting the tax code. Committee members asked tough questions of the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ken Bragg, before the bill received only 7 votes of the 20-member committee.

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Rep. Tippi McCullough, Rep. LeAnne Burch, AEA President Cathy Koehler, Rep. DeAnn Vaught and Rep. Denise Garner just before a meeting of the House Education Committee.

SB620 by Sen. Blake Johnson, Sen. Mark Johnson, Rep. Ken Bragg, Rep. Doug House, Rep. Mark Lowery, and Rep. Carlton Wing was a voucher scheme backed by Governor Hutchinson that would have created a $3.5 million voucher program targeting students in Pulaski County. The filing of this bill was supported by the Trump Administration’s Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos, who issued a public statement supporting the measure which would direct public funds directly to private schools. AEA opposed this bill. The measure was referred to the Senate Education Committee, but support eroded hours before it was set to receive its first hearing and the bill died on the Committee’s agenda.

SB539 by Sen. Blake Johnson and Rep. Ken Bragg was another voucher scheme filed this legislative session.

This bill, however, was referred to the Senate Revenue and Tax Committee.

This bill would create a multi-milliondollar voucher program by exploiting the tax code to offer a dollar for dollar tax credit to corporations or individuals who

give money to a private school account.

After a significant amount of confusion, the bill was presented to a surprised Committee that had not originally intended to consider the bill at all. This bill was given the green light after it became clear that SB620 lost the support to advance in the Senate Education Committee. AEA opposed the bill, but it flew out of the committee and passed the Senate easily.

However, AEA and a handful of public education partners continued to work against the bill after it was referred to the House Education Committee. After a lengthy debate, the bill received only 7 votes of the 20-member committee and failed to advance.

HB1726 by Rep. Mark Lowery sets up a voucher program for students who become eligible if he/she reports an incident of one of a series of criminal offenses. This means that eligibility for the publicly funded voucher could be for a victim of a crime, a perpetrator of a crime or for a student who simply reports a crime. Rep. Lowery presented the bill to the House Education Committee but ultimately chose to pull the

bill from further consideration during the 2019 legislative session and put it forward for additional study via an interim study proposal. AEA believes that public funds are for public schools and opposes all voucher bills.

HB1467 By Rep. Mark Lowery expands the eligibility for the existing voucher program in Arkansas, the Succeed “Scholarship” to include students who are on an individualized service plan to be eligible for the voucher. Currently, only students on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and a small number of children in foster care are eligible. Individualized service plans can be similar to IEP’s and are a term utilized for students in private schools. This bill passed and is now Act 548.

SB490 by Sen. Kim Hammer is another measure that expands eligibility for the existing voucher program, the Succeed “Scholarship.” This bill allows students in foster care to retain the voucher once they have been reunified with family, adopted or placed in permanent guardianship.

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Supporters look on as Governor Asa Hutchinson signs HB1684, which extends in-state college tuition to immigrant students.

The proposal has been on AEA’s legislative agenda for more than a decade.

SB595 by Sen. Larry Teague was amended in the final days of the legislative session to transfer $1.8 million from the state’s “Rainy Day Fund” to the Arkansas Department of Education for the Succeed “Scholarship” voucher program.

In addition, SB138 which is the Department of Education’s appropriation bill, doubles the current appropriation for the Succeed “Scholarship” voucher program from $1.5 million to $3 million.

This program has seen the public funding for private schools increase every legislative session since the program was created in the 2015 legislative session.

This bill is now Act 727.

AEA worked with our public education coalition partners to pass HB1400 by House Education Committee Chair, Bruce Cozart. This bill requires the Bureau of Legislative Research conduct a study of the Succeed “Scholarship” voucher program. This bill will begin to provide some transparency and data for this everexpanding and troubling voucher program that targets students with special needs and forces applicants to waive their child’s federal civil rights as provided for by IDEA.

SCHOOL FUNDING INCREASE HB1685 by House Education Committee Chair, Bruce Cozart is the enabling legislation that encompasses the House and Senate Education Committee’s educational adequacy recommendations.

Prior to the 2019 legislative session, the House and Senate Education Committees meet jointly for 18 months to review public education data, hear

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from education advocacy organizations and the public about a wide range of public education issues including school facilities, educator pay, special education, transportation and more. Following this review, committee members approved a two-year recommendation to increase the foundation funding that the state sends to local school districts by 1.5% in Fiscal Year 2020 and 1.48% in Fiscal Year 2021. Foundation funding is the core of public education funding in the state of Arkansas and is sent to school districts on a per-pupil basis. This funding is calculated from a complex formula; however, it is not a spending formula. This means that it does not generally direct school districts to spend the funds in a specific way. Even though funding may be calculated to provide for things like teacher salary or other variables, school districts decide locally how to allocate the funds. This bill is now Act 667.

TEACHER PAY This session, lawmakers began to implement a four-year plan to bring the state minimum salary schedule for a first-year teacher with a Bachelor’s degree up to $36,000. The starting salary for a first-year teacher with a Bachelor’s degree in the 2018/2019 school year is $31,800.

House Education Committee Chair, Bruce Cozart filed HB1145 which will raise the starting salary to $32,800 for the 20192020 school year and up to $33,800 by the 2020-2021 school year. Lawmakers also approved a one-time expenditure of $60 million to help school districts offset the increase in labor costs.

TFDA AND EMPLOYEE FAIR HEARING ACT Senate Education Committee Chair, Jane English filed SB549 and SB483 which change the Department of Education’s Authority when a school district is in fiscal distress or in facilities distress.

AEA testified against the proposals and highlighted problems with the bill such as the provisions that allowed the waiver of the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act as well as the Employee Fair Hearing Act when a district is found to be in fiscal or facilities distress. These bills were filed as part of a package of bills put forward by the Department of Education. After AEA’s opposition, the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and the Employee Fair Hearing Act were restored to the legislation and cannot be waived under these measures. The bills are now Act 933 and Act 929 respectively.

STATE TAKEOVER EXTENSION Sen. Kim Hammer filed SB668, which would allow the state to continue to retain a school district under state control for up to nine years. Current law only allows the state to retain a district for up to five years. The bill was promoted by the chair of the Little Rock School District Citizen’s Advisory Council, Jeff Wood who testified for the bill. The bill was aimed specifically at the Little Rock School District which was taken over by the state in January of 2015. AEA opposed the bill and worked against it. The bill ultimately failed to pass the full Senate and the proposal did not advance this legislative session.

The measure was sent for further study via an interim study proposal.

SCHOOL START DATE Rep. Mark Lowery filed HB1390 this session which would have changed the school year start date. The bill would have also allowed public schools to transition from a certain number of days of studentteacher interaction to a certain number of hours. AEA met with the bill sponsor as well as the Department of Education to express concerns about how this proposal would be successfully operationalized. Ultimately, the bill sponsor chose to withdraw the bill and put it forward for additional study via an interim study proposal.

PLANNING TIME We saw two bills filed this session that would impact teacher planning time. Both were by the House Education Committee Chair, Bruce Cozart.

The first bill, HB1807 would reserve only 80 minutes of the current minimum of 200 minutes a week for “individual” planning time. The bill would also have amended the definition of “non-instructional duties” and “instructional purposes.” This bill would have brought sweeping changes to the structure of a teacher’s day. AEA opposed this bill and after several rounds of highly constructive meetings with Rep. Cozart, he withdrew the bill from consideration.

The second bill involving planning time was HB1397. This bill struck the word “individual” from the existing law providing for 200 minutes of individual planning time. AEA also opposed this bill and met with Rep. Cozart several times to lift up all of the ways educators support their students during their individual planning time. In the end, he heard the voices of educators and chose not to present the bill for consideration.

IMMIGRANT STUDENTS Rep. Dan Douglas filed HB1684, which extends in-state tuition to public institutions of higher education in Arkansas to immigrant students with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) status, or if the student personally holds or is the child of a person who holds work permit, or is legally present in the US and has immigrated from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. AEA was proud to support

this measure, which is a start to achieving what is commonly called the DREAM Act. This proposal has been on AEA’s legislative agenda for more than a decade. It is now Act 844.

BUS DRIVER INSURANCE HB1223 by Rep. Michelle Gray which will allow school bus drivers who are employed to drive regular routes during the school year eligible to participate in the State and Public Life and Health Insurance Program passed by the legislature and signed into law. The bill is now Act 563.

AEA supported this bill and urged Rep. Gray to extend her future efforts to include additional Education Support Professionals.

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING The language in current law providing for educators to collectively bargain employment contracts with their school districts was struck after the passage of SB392 By Sen. Bob Ballinger and Rep. Jim Dotson. AEA opposed this bill and it only narrowly passed the House floor by a 2-vote margin. The bill also strikes the language that says that a school district must follow the law in regard to providing a 30-minute duty free lunch as well as the planning time law unless a collectively negotiated agreement expressly addresses both of these issues. This bill is now Act 728.

AEA DUES DEDUCTION Rep. Mark Lowery filed HB1232, targeting the Arkansas Education Association, which would disallow our membership dues to be collected via payroll deduction. This type of bill has been filed in state legislatures around the US in an attempt to weaken educator organizations. However, after several productive conversations with the bill sponsor, he chose not to present the bill for consideration this legislative session.

HJR1018 by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw permanently extends a half cent sales tax approved by voters in 2012. The tax as originally passed was slated to sunset by 2022. If this measure is approved by voters it would make the tax increase permanent. The revenue generated from this proposal would go for highways and local roads.

SJR15 by Sen. Alan Clark, creates a new term limit proposal. The bill would limit the number of years a legislator could serve in the legislature to 12 years. Under the proposal, lawmakers could then wait four years and again seek election in the legislature. The proposal would also grandfather in any currently elected legislators who were elected under current law which puts a lifetime cap of 16 years on legislative service.

HJR1008 by Rep. DeAnn Vaught, makes it more difficult for citizen led Constitutional amendments to be placed on the ballot.

This proposal increases the number of counties where voter signatures must be gathered from 15 to 45. It would also remove a “cure period” which offered citizen-led ballot measure campaigns time to gather additional signatures if the Secretary of State’s office finds any of the signatures gathered to be invalid. The measure would also move the deadline for citizen led ballot measures to submit a Constitutional amendment to January 15 of the election year and require any legal challenges to the ballot measure to be filed by April 15. It also requires a 3/5 vote in both the House and Senate to refer a Constitutional measure to the people.

Currently, only a simple majority is needed.

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS The state legislature can refer up to three amendments to the State Constitution to the voters to be considered during the next general election which will be in November of 2020.

You can find the full list of the bills AEA tracked during the 92nd General Assembly at: aeaonline.org/political-action

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AEA Members Influence Legislation at

#RedForEd Day Decked out in red, dozens of Arkansas Education Association members filled the room at the March 20th meeting of the Senate Education Committee. During the meeting, Arkansas Department of Education Commissioner Johnny Key presented a bill that would have expanded the ADE’s authority to be able to waive the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, as well as the Employee Fair Hearing Act in school districts in fiscal distress.

Executive Director Tracey-Ann Nelson gave powerful testimony calling on committee members to vote against the bill which would punish educators for fiscal mismanagement they have no control over. The bill failed to clear committee, and the language about TFDA and EFHA was removed from the bill, as well as a similar proposal for districts in facilities distress.

Thank You to every member who gave up a day of their Spring Break to join AEA staff and leadership to advocate for public education!

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ESP PROFILE LISA SCHICHTL

Florist Finds Freedom in the Body Shop After nearly two decades running a Conway flower shop, Lisa Schichtl wanted to be closer to her children as they attended high school.

She found a position as a paraprofessional in Conway’s Auto Collision Technology program.

“We teach them sanding techniques and the different grits,” she said.

“They learn how to fix a dent from start to finish, hammering it out to the body filler all the way to paint.”

Schichtl’s father was a mechanic, but she says she didn’t really help in the shop.

“I was around cars a lot, but I never really worked on them like this,” she said.

“I’ve learned a lot working with Mr. Pendley since I started here.”

As a paraprofessional, Schichtl reinforces the teacher’s lessons, and provides an extra set of eyes in a shop filled with power tools, sharp objects and even a paint spray booth.

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“This is kind of the way the world is going right now. You’ll always need somebody to fix your car.”

When the district needed bus drivers, Schichtl stepped up, and now says her afternoon route is one of her favorite parts of the day.

“Those little ones getting on, that just makes your day,” she said. “They have to tell you about their day, to tell you a story or give you a hug and that just makes the end of the day so much better.”

Schichtl also understands her position provides more than just a safe ride to and from school.

She’s also the first school employee kids see, and she makes sure to be a friendly face.

“Safety is a big issue here,” she said. “We have to make sure they’re wearing their glasses and not getting hurt.”

In this day and age, you never know what might happen.

If you need it, AEA is there in case something does go wrong.”

- Schichtl on knowing AEA has her back

With a business management degree from the University of Central Arkansas, Schichtl expected the body shop gig to be a stepping stone, but after 8 years of working with students in the shop, she isn’t interested in shifting gears.

“I got here and I loved it,” she said. “By the end of the year they’re your kids. The ones that are really interested in this, you don’t even have to tell them to go out and get to work. They’re out there.”

The program offers students a chance to take projects from start to finish, providing a feeling of accomplishment and a potential path forward after graduation.

“Their eyes will just light up,” she said. “This is something fun and hands on and they really love it back here. Basically this is just the beginning of their trade. A lot of the kids in this school aren’t college ready, or they don’t want to go to college, and this is a good trade to get in.”

As the cost of college increases, many students are heading straight to work or opting for technical educations, including Schichtl’s son.

“My oldest wasn’t college material,” she said.

“He did HVAC and he’s doing great, making lots of money. We’ve had several students go on to specialty schools and they’re out probably making more money than if they’d gone to college.

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“A lot of times you’re the first person to say good morning because at home, you know you’re running around, you’re getting ready and life happens,” she said. “I try to tell everyone of them good morning and in the afternoons if I’m not giving them a hug it’s, ‘Have a good day!’ or ‘See you in the morning!’ When they step off the bus, life happens again. It’s homework and softball or baseball practice, whatever kind of sport, so a lot of times they need that. That may be the only time they get to hear it.”

Working 2 positions where safety is a priority, Schichtl says its reasuring to know the Arkansas Education Association has her back.

“In this day and age, you never know what might happen,” she said. “If you need it, they’re there in case something does go wrong.”

And she’s also glad to have someone advocating for public school employees.

“Our voice is up there at the legislature and in Washington,” she said. “They do a lot of great stuff at the schools, you know better benefits, making sure our salaries are ok, insurance.”

Schichtl recently lost her mother and both in-laws, and now the flower shop is again in her hands.

After her afternoon route, she often heads over to handle the business.

“I can do both but it’s a lot of work, especially around Valentine’s day, Mother’s day,” she said.

“An awesome woman helps me run it, and without her I would have to choose.”

A career choice that luckily, she doesn’t have to make.

“I don’t know that I would choose the flower shop,” she said. “I love both of them.”

FORT SMITH EDUCATION ASSOCIATION MEMBERS ELECTED TO DISTRICT’S NEW PERSONNEL POLICY COMMITTEE

SAVE THE DATE

Following an unprecedented attack on the Fort Smith Education Association, members organized and successfully ensured educators will continue to have a voice in school district policy.

For 48 years, Fort Smith educators worked with Fort Smith Public Schools to improve the quality of public education for students. FSEA worked with the district to pass a recent millage, provide breakfast for all students, and represent the district’s employees for nearly half a century in countless matters.

Unfortunately, the school board abruptly decided to end that agreement at the behest of outside interests and without input from Fort Smith’s educators.

The district acted on a letter it received, not from a Fort Smith educator or resident, but from an outside organization called Arkansas State Teachers Association, which is working to reduce association membership to weaken educators’ collective voice across the state.

Once the decision was made to shift to a Personnel Policy Committee, FSEA immediately began organizing to ensure they would be prepared for the coming election. When the results of the March election were announced, FSEA was represented throughout the PPC’s ranks.

On top of 15 buildings choosing a Fort Smith Education Association member as their PPC representative, the committee itself voted in FSEA members, Jennifer Lyon, as secretary, and FSEA Vice President, Ryan Gray, as the committee’s chair.

Following the election, FSEA hosted a training on PPC implementation for the new members.

“Teachers must have a voice, and they need an organized group to be able to provide the ability to focus and present teacher input to administration and the school board,” he said. “The PPC is not a replacement for negotiations, but it’s certainly the next best thing. Without an effective PPC teachers can feel closed off and unheard. In a profession that is so high stress and with such high stakes, unless we stick together and work toward common goals, we will wither on the vine and slowly lose our passion for teaching.”

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE 10/31-11/1 The Arkansas Education Association is focused on ensuring every student has a caring, qualified and committed teacher. To help educators be their best, we host the state’s most comprehensive professional development conference for educators. Join us October 31st - November 1 in Little Rock!

APPLY NOW

TO PRESENT AT THE 2019 AEA PD CONFERENCE

AEA is accepting applications to present at our 2019 AEA Professional Development Conference.

We’re excited to partner with you to provide quality professional development for Arkansas teachers.

Apply NOW to share your bright ideas with your fellow educators in Little Rock on October 31st through November 1. In order to prepare a quality agenda for attendees, we ask that you submit your application(s) at www.aeaonline.org/pd-presenters

by August 1, 2019.

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ET INVOLVED. As educators, AEA members are the experts on what students need to succeed.

For that reason, it is imperative that your voice is driving the discussion around public education at the local state and national level.

AEA successfully navigated a difficult landscape at the Capitol this year, defending against repeated attacks on the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, multiple voucher schemes, a proposed reduction in individual planning time and an effort to exclude public school employees from the voter-approved increase in minimum wage. We also successfully advocated for the passage of the state-level DREAM Act that will allow many more Arkansas high school graduates access higher education, and advocates for a new law that helps reinstate eligibility for public school employee health insurance to school bus drivers.

Let me be clear, these legislative victories were made possible by the tireless work of our members and AEA staff. That work didn’t start in January with the start of the legislative session. It is the result of member engagement in elections and building relationships with elected officials and growing member participation in the public policy process.

We are up against a well-funded effort to privatize education, and profit off of Arkansas’s children, but we have the numbers and public education

has overwhelming public support. That support is built on the trust you have earned in your school buildings and communities by dedicating yourself to your students, your profession and your professional association.

While the term “politics” often brings to mind our legislators working in Washington DC or Little Rock to develop new laws, it also hits much closer to home. It is the county judge and quorum court, the mayor and city council, and it is the locally elected school board who make hiring and firing decisions as well as develop and vote on school district policies. Make sure you know who represents you on the school board, and make sure they know you.

Offer to serve as a resource and provide honest information about how policies will play out in the school building. Volunteer for a campaign or run for office yourself! The AEA Public Affairs division has resources to help you participate in your district’s school board elections, and you would be surprised by the impact an organized group of educators can make!

Educators can’t afford to sit on the sidelines as elected officials make decisions governing our work environment, which is also our student’s learning environment. You are the expert, and every single official who represents you ought to know it.

Tracey-Ann Nelson AEA Executive Director

EDUCATOR This is YOUR magazine – Let us know what you would like to see.

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REWIND: Looking back at AEA’s past

The voucher schemes defeated in the 2019 Legislative Session are just the latest in a long history of attempts to divert public dollars into private schools.

In 1993, AEA warned members about a new effort to put a voucher scheme on the November, ‘94 ballot that could have cost as much as $234 million. Ft. Smith attorney Oscar Stilley proposed the amendments and attempted to collect the required signatures.

AEA successfully mounted a 10-month campaign to educate voters on the voucher scheme and block the petition effort in collaboration with other public-school supporters.

“There is little doubt that our country’s public schools must undergo fundamental reform to meet the challenges of a changing world,” said then AEA President Grainger Ledbetter at the time. “But educators, parents and lawmakers must not allow the debate on the direction that reform should take to be hijacked by irresponsible extremists bent on replacing public school with government funded private schools.”

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An NEA State Affiliate

1500 WEST 4TH STREET LITTLE ROCK, AR 72201-1064

Celelbration

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AEA /ATA MERGER

S AV E T H E D AT E

November 1, 2019 • 6:30 p.m.

Robinson Center Ballroom 426 W Markham Street, Little Rock, AR 72201