The latest on public school employee insurance woes: the task force looks at bigger-picture fixes and EBD says premiums will be announced on July 29th.
Benjamin Hardy
Benjamin Hardy is managing editor at the Arkansas Times.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Rural superintendents tell legislators to allow schools to access state fiber optic network
More from the ongoing lobbying battle between Internet providers and a coalition of education and business interests that wants to create a public/private partnership for expanded K-12 broadband.
Posted inArkansas Reporter
Arkansas begins to grapple with climate change
New proposed EPA rule could dramatically impact state.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Picking apart the teachers’ insurance “fix” just approved by the legislature
The crisis in the public school employee (PSE) insurance system is complicated. The politics behind it are complicated. The solutions just passed by the legislature to once again shore up the troubled fund — those are complicated, too. But the underlying reason behind the fund’s insolvency is simple: the public isn’t paying enough for its share of PSE insurance.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Details on the corrections and lottery bills at the special session
Details on talk about funding Department of Corrections overtime back pay, and the keno argument gets punted to the 2015 session.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Arkansas starts talking about how to address climate change
Earlier this month, the EPA announced a proposed rule that will require a 30 percent reduction in carbon emissions produced by power plants, phased in over the coming decades. The feds are setting goals (which will be tailored to individual states), but it’s up to the states themselves to come up with plans that address those targets. On Wednesday morning, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) held a public meeting to solicit preliminary input from stakeholders including utility companies, environmental groups and consumer advocates. Finally, Arkansas is starting to talk about thinking about how to address climate change.
Posted inArkansas Blog
No solution in sight for public school employee insurance crisis
To avoid a calamitous rise in insurance rates for public school employees (PSEs) at the end of 2014, the legislature will need to convene in special session this summer. Gov. Beebe won’t call a session until legislative leaders are confident that the votes are present to pass whatever fix is proposed. Today, the task force created to study the PSE insurance problem met jointly with the full Ed committee to review draft legislation proposed by Sen. Jim Hendren (R), the task force chair.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Acxiom VP tells lawmakers the state should allow school districts to use public internet infrastructure; private internet providers aren’t happy
In yet another Education committee meeting this morning about expanding broadband internet access to school districts, an executive vice president of Acxiom said he “wholeheartedly endorsed” a report released last month that recommends a public-private partnership to bring the state’s subpar K-12 internet connectivity up to national standards.
Posted inAE Feature
The Rep lovingly pokes fun at The Bard in “The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr”
No need to know Shakespeare to get the jokes.