LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With lawmakers still working to turn the sprawling education reform plans proposed by Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders into an actual bill, her education secretary offered more details on how some of the Arkansas LEARNS initiative will work.
Secretary for the Arkansas Department of Education, Jacob Oliva, provided some explanations beyond the broad outlines that Governor Sanders put forward at the Capitol on Wednesday.
The news conference announced that teachers would see a huge pay increase with minimum salaries jumping up to $50,000, and it also mapped out a plan to offer universal school choice within three years.
With goals of improving early childhood literacy, enabling parents, recruiting and retaining quality teachers, expanding career readiness for graduates, and improving networking and school security, the LEARNS proposal has a lot of moving parts.
Oliva fleshed out some of the finer points of a program estimated to cost $300 million in its first year with $150 million in new spending.
