Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva (second from right) lists some of the priorities in the executive order signed Wednesday by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (right). The order was the second in Sanders’ first two days in office to focus on Arkansas’ education system. (Photo by Hunter Field/Arkansas Advocate)
On her second day in office, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order focusing on state education and literacy levels.
An Arkansas Advocate article by Tess Vrbin goes in-depth into the order as well as into a proposed single omnibus bill the Sanders administration hopes to advance to the State Legislature.
In the article, Sanders is quoted as describing the order as, “a comprehensive approach [to] education that we want to parallel” with a single bill that will move through the Legislature, encompassing the same issues and more, including teacher pay. The bill will be filed “very soon,” Sanders said.
“I think putting everything in [one bill] and building a broad base of support is the best thing for the state, and ultimately the best thing for the students of Arkansas,” she said. “Hopefully, all of the stakeholders involved will get a little bit of some of the things that they want to see.”
The order directs the Department of Education, in some cases in coordination with the Department of Human Services to conduct 90-day reviews of:
- Kindergarten readiness, including a census of children from infants to 5-year-olds who are in early childhood care and education programs.
- Literacy instruction, including determining whether school districts are implementing the 2019 Arkansas Right to Read Act and using a curriculum aligned with the Science of Reading.
- How school districts involve parents, including parental and public access to curriculum information and required reading materials.
How and where districts have spent federal pandemic relief funds. - Teacher preparation and licensure requirements, including a review of and report of the state’s educator workforce.
- The implementation of school safety laws by school districts, including development of proposed regulations to the State Board of Education based on the 2022 School Safety Commission’s final report.
To read the entire Arkansas Advocate article, click here.
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