Among those in attendance were student groups from Maumelle High School and Maumelle Charter.
Addressing the group were state Sen. Jane English (North Little Rock) and state Rep. David Ray (Maumelle) and state Rep. Brandon Achor (Maumelle) was scheduled to be there but was unable to attend.
English and Ray covered the high points of this past legislative session along with a Q&A at the end.
Mostly they talked about the LEARNS Act, which is a reform of education in the state, and also the criminal justice act, which, among other things, will build a new 3,000 bed prison in the state.
“We've had massive prison overcrowding at the state level for years,” Ray said. “Our previous governor didn't want to build a prison. And so, that sort of got kicked down the road. So the problem followed down to the local level. … the state overflow has been pushed down into the counties.”
Which, Ray said, caused the county jails to be overcrowded and has required some counties to build new, and larger facilities. That wasn’t the case in Pulaski County though, as local voters rejected a jail expansion.
“County jails were not made to do what state prisons do,” Ray added. “New state prisons have a host of rehabilitative programs that just aren't available in the counties.”
As for the session, English said, “some of it is going to work, some of it is not going to work. But we have to give things an opportunity to try it and try something new because some of these things that we've been doing for all these years haven't worked."
The presence of the high school students, along with their teachers, meant that more of the focus of the breakfast was on LEARNS.
In response to one question, English said, “I think it's scary for the folks who are thinking, the biggest topic seems to be the vouchers or the educational freedom accounts, whatever.”
But, English said, “parents need to have the opportunity to decide what is the best for their kids, whether it's going to the school here in Maumelle, the charter school. You've made that decision. Some parents have chosen to send their children to the charter school. And some parents have chosen to send their kids to the regular school. They're both public schools but people have made those decisions about what they want to do with their children.”
Ray also addressed some of the concerns.
“I'll try to explain some of the pushback,” he said. “But an easy way to think about this education overhaul is in two buckets. Okay. Bucket one is a massive investment into public schools and into the teaching profession writ large. The second bucket are educational reforms.”
He added, “and you have to have both right because if just throwing money at the problem were enough to fix it, all of our problems would have been solved a long time ago. Right? If we could just spend more money and it would all go away. We would solve everything from crabgrass to male pattern baldness. That's just not going to happen.”
Ray noted that under former Gov. Mike Beebe, the average teacher salary was around $29,000 and under Asa Hutchinson, the average salary went to around $36,000. The LEARNS Act makes the starting teacher salary in the state $50,000.
“So massive investment in public education” he said. “To the push back. I would say number one, we have to start somewhere. Number two local districts still have the ability to go in and reward teachers how they feel is appropriate for educational attainment, for years of service, for things like that.”
Both legislators were also asked about the recent lawsuit filed against the LEARNS Act and to the critics during the legislative session that said the lawmakers were moving too fast and that they were just going to end up in court.
Critics like state Sen. Jimmy Hickey (Texarkana) who said exactly that.
“A lawsuit was going to happen anyway. Right. No matter what,” Ray and, “the lawsuit that was filed yesterday. Frankly, I think it's frivolous, that it's gonna get tossed out.”
That lawsuit is over the emergency clause that lawyers contend was improperly done and that LEARNS won’t be in effect until July 1, or 90 days after passage, and not immediately.
“As to the comment that the process is rushed,” Ray said .”Look, I think that the legislative process as a whole is too rushed, not just this bill specifically, all of it. I wish that we had more time … I don't think that [fast process] results in better government for the citizens. … But you know, some of these, some of the complaints about. So I think there are some valid concerns that maybe the legislative process moves too fast. But I think specifically with regard to LEARNS, a lot of what I heard on that point from people, that was an argument used by people who didn't support the bill anyway. Right. So it was sort of a red herring. They wanted to say, hey, no, no, you're moving, you're moving too fast. Don't pass it.”
While the lawsuit has been filed and assigned a Pulaski County Circuit Judge, no trial date has been set.
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Legislators talk LEARNS at Chamber breakfast
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About two dozen were in attendance for Tuesday morning Legislative Breakfast put on by the Maumelle Area Chamber of Commerce at Park on the River.
The event was co-sponsored by AT&T and Chick-fil-A.
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Among those in attendance were student groups from Maumelle High School and Maumelle Charter.
Addressing the group were state Sen. Jane English (North Little Rock) and state Rep. David Ray (Maumelle) and state Rep. Brandon Achor (Maumelle) was scheduled to be there but was unable to attend.
English and Ray covered the high points of this past legislative session along with a Q&A at the end.
Mostly they talked about the LEARNS Act, which is a reform of education in the state, and also the criminal justice act, which, among other things, will build a new 3,000 bed prison in the state.
“We've had massive prison overcrowding at the state level for years,” Ray said. “Our previous governor didn't want to build a prison. And so, that sort of got kicked down the road. So the problem followed down to the local level. … the state overflow has been pushed down into the counties.”
Which, Ray said, caused the county jails to be overcrowded and has required some counties to build new, and larger facilities. That wasn’t the case in Pulaski County though, as local voters rejected a jail expansion.
“County jails were not made to do what state prisons do,” Ray added. “New state prisons have a host of rehabilitative programs that just aren't available in the counties.”
As for the session, English said, “some of it is going to work, some of it is not going to work. But we have to give things an opportunity to try it and try something new because some of these things that we've been doing for all these years haven't worked."
The presence of the high school students, along with their teachers, meant that more of the focus of the breakfast was on LEARNS.
In response to one question, English said, “I think it's scary for the folks who are thinking, the biggest topic seems to be the vouchers or the educational freedom accounts, whatever.”
But, English said, “parents need to have the opportunity to decide what is the best for their kids, whether it's going to the school here in Maumelle, the charter school. You've made that decision. Some parents have chosen to send their children to the charter school. And some parents have chosen to send their kids to the regular school. They're both public schools but people have made those decisions about what they want to do with their children.”
Ray also addressed some of the concerns.
“I'll try to explain some of the pushback,” he said. “But an easy way to think about this education overhaul is in two buckets. Okay. Bucket one is a massive investment into public schools and into the teaching profession writ large. The second bucket are educational reforms.”
He added, “and you have to have both right because if just throwing money at the problem were enough to fix it, all of our problems would have been solved a long time ago. Right? If we could just spend more money and it would all go away. We would solve everything from crabgrass to male pattern baldness. That's just not going to happen.”
Ray noted that under former Gov. Mike Beebe, the average teacher salary was around $29,000 and under Asa Hutchinson, the average salary went to around $36,000. The LEARNS Act makes the starting teacher salary in the state $50,000.
“So massive investment in public education” he said. “To the push back. I would say number one, we have to start somewhere. Number two local districts still have the ability to go in and reward teachers how they feel is appropriate for educational attainment, for years of service, for things like that.”
Both legislators were also asked about the recent lawsuit filed against the LEARNS Act and to the critics during the legislative session that said the lawmakers were moving too fast and that they were just going to end up in court.
Critics like state Sen. Jimmy Hickey (Texarkana) who said exactly that.
“A lawsuit was going to happen anyway. Right. No matter what,” Ray and, “the lawsuit that was filed yesterday. Frankly, I think it's frivolous, that it's gonna get tossed out.”
That lawsuit is over the emergency clause that lawyers contend was improperly done and that LEARNS won’t be in effect until July 1, or 90 days after passage, and not immediately.
“As to the comment that the process is rushed,” Ray said .”Look, I think that the legislative process as a whole is too rushed, not just this bill specifically, all of it. I wish that we had more time … I don't think that [fast process] results in better government for the citizens. … But you know, some of these, some of the complaints about. So I think there are some valid concerns that maybe the legislative process moves too fast. But I think specifically with regard to LEARNS, a lot of what I heard on that point from people, that was an argument used by people who didn't support the bill anyway. Right. So it was sort of a red herring. They wanted to say, hey, no, no, you're moving, you're moving too fast. Don't pass it.”
While the lawsuit has been filed and assigned a Pulaski County Circuit Judge, no trial date has been set.