LITTLE ROCK-Arkansas legislators will fight in the 2017 session over education issues, particularly an appropriate level of funding and authorizations for charter schools, but the governor has indicated he'll try to make part of their task easier.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson last week said he wants the Legislature to kill a pair of existing tuition programs and use their $8.2 million to set up a new program before the 2017-2018 school year that ensures students headed toward high-demand jobs could attend a two-year college or technical school for free.
The need is certainly there.
Arkansas ranked second from the bottom in 2010 in the percentage of its adults with a college degree-19.5 percent, beating out West Virginia's 17.5 percent low. And per Hutchinson, about 2 of every 5 Arkansas residents have earned a degree or certificate after high school. He has a goal to make that 3 of 5 by 2025-and the current GO! and Workforce Improvement Grant programs haven't been a great help because they demand little accountability from students.
"We're taking what I see as two insufficient scholarship programs and turning them into an overarching Arkansas Future Grant initiative that will be more effective," Hutchinson said.
What troubles the Republican is that for all of the resources Arkansas can throw at education-grants and scholarships, particularly the one backed by the state lottery-some families still cannot make up the difference when a new school year rolls around.
For example, if an incoming freshman needs $6,000 to cover tuition and fees, but Pell grants and the lottery scholarship provide only $4,800, that leaves $1,200 out of pocket. That's real money for a lot of people, especially in a lump sum. Loans are available, but they add up in the future.
The governor and Higher Education Director Maria Markham want the state to close the funding gap between what grants and scholarships can provide so a community college-bound high school graduate, home-schoolers and non-traditional students know in advance that they can afford to start a higher-degree program.
Yes, there's a catch (actually, three): Arkansas will help if a student is willing to study for an in-demand job, meet with a mentor monthly and agree to work in the state for three years following graduation.
"The goal is to meet the growing economic needs of our state in high-need areas," Hutchinson said. "We want them to not be trained in Arkansas and go to Silicon Valley. The key is that they are not abandoning the state."
For the Arkansas Future Grant program to take effect, lawmakers must give their approval during the session that starts Jan. 9. He also intends to make it available under the Arkansas Works expanded Medicaid program, which on Jan. 1 will have expanded authority to place beneficiaries in job-training programs. Arkansas Works funds from the federal government wouldn't be allocated to the grant program.
With Republicans enjoying their largest majority ever at the Capitol, there will be a lot of attention on already-announced attempts to limit school funding growth despite court orders to maintain adequate and fairly distributed resources, and efforts to perhaps expand charter schools. Taking money already allotted to education and distributing it on a first-come, first-serve basis to high schoolers needing to get over the hump could be a no-brainer.
Kissel has been Arkansas news editor for The Associated Press since 1994.