House Management House Management — The General Assembly is discussed as the body responsible for deciding whether funding changes will preserve equal educational opportunity and adequate education, as the entity conducting the adequacy study, and as the legislature responding to court cases through education-related actions in 1983 and major funding and program changes in 1995.
House Management House Management — The speaker references a recent legal change and public access to school board contact information.
— The speaker discusses the General Assembly’s role in Arkansas education adequacy, noting that it held a special session in response to the court’s ruling, questioning whether the legislature must repeat these adequacy-related actions every year, and emphasizing that the General Assembly recognizes the state’s responsibility to define what constitutes an adequate education and to conduct the adequacy study.
Jasmine — Jasmine is identified as the person who will lead the upcoming discussion and provide further details in the next presentation, including the categorical funds topic and the adequacy study.
Jasmine — Mentioned as the person who will explain the Bureau's role in the process.
Elizabeth Bynum — Elizabeth Bynum is introduced as the next presenter, then she introduces herself from the Bureau of Legislative Research and explains that she is there to present the historical framework report.
Taylor — Referenced as the prior presenter who discussed the court cases.
Taylor — Taylor is identified as the person to answer the ongoing question about Education Freedom Accounts, specifically the legal issue of what spending is allowed.
Taylor — Taylor was referenced as having provided questions to help guide the committee when making changes, with the discussion reiterating the questions Taylor presented as a resource for the committee.
Collins Kilgore — Identified as the judge who presided over the 2001 Lake View ruling.
Adrian Beck — Will present the assessment results and graduation rates tomorrow.
Jonathan Dismang — Not mentioned.
Adnan Picus — Adnan Picus was mentioned as a consultant who returned in 2014 for a desk audit.
Oglum, Oglipelik and Associates (APA) — Named as the consultants hired in 2019, with the acronym APA used for reference.
Jasmine Ray — Jasmine Ray of the Bureau of Legislative Research is introduced and begins her 2026 adequacy study presentation. She notes that school board member email addresses can likely be found and that board-member surveying could be incorporated into the next adequacy study if the committee wants to pursue it.
Jane English — Senator English is cited as having run a bill with the chair to require school board member contact information to be listed.
Jane English — Cited as having worked with the speaker to include the worksheet in the process.
Stetson Painter — Representative Stetson Painter is called on by the chair and then asks what portion of the money sent to school districts is restricted to specific line-item uses versus left to district discretion.
Stetson Painter — Called on to ask a question for the chairs.
Elizabeth — Referenced as having already shared information about the definition of adequacy.
Joey Carr — Thanked for the presentation and then asked a question about whether there had been any suggestion or conversation of something not yet completed in the excerpt.
Dan Sullivan — Senator Sullivan asks how the pre-K program aligns with school choice in K-12 and what plans exist to ensure the programs are aligned if choice works at one level should also work at the other.
Julie Mayberry — Representative Mayberry was called on and asked a series of related questions about ABC child care/programming, including why some slots remain open, whether school districts and other providers had been asked about the vacancies, and a follow-up on whether ABC could operate year-round to better serve working parents. The discussion later referenced her related questions about ABC and summer programming.
Julie Mayberry — Representative Julie Mayberry is recognized and then speaks about the need for another meeting to continue the discussion on early childhood education. She suggests forming a subcommittee to dig deeper into the issue, framing the conversation as part of an ongoing effort to further explore the topic.
Julie Mayberry — Representative Julie Mayberry asks a series of related questions about how the funding model is intended to work, whether school districts have discretion to spend the money on needs like teachers, counselors, nurses, health insurance, and operations and maintenance, and whether the funds could also be used for expenses such as electric bills or homeschool-related costs. She presses for the legal basis for any restriction and frames the issue as one of adequacy and equity in public education versus homeschooling/private schooling.
Hope Duke — Representative Duke was called on and then began her question, thanking the chair and witnesses and raising concerns about paying providers for unfilled spots and asking why slots remain open.
Hope Duke — Representative Hope Duke thanks the presenters and the chair, raises a constitutional versus public education distinction, notes that stakeholder participation is discretionary, and then yields back to the chair.
Denise Garner — Representative Garner is called on after the prior discussion.
DeAnn Vaught — Representative Vaught is brought into the discussion and asks whether unused seats from one part of the state can be reassigned to another region with greater need, tying her question to Representative Duke’s earlier point about eligibility and families narrowly missing qualification.
Breanne Davis — Referenced in connection with a bill for increased maternity leave that had passed.
Johnny Rye — Representative Rye was called on and then asked whether transportation and busing would function the same way if student slots were shifted between schools.
Steven Walker — Representative Walker was recognized and then asked a clarification question about a letter regarding ABC funding, specifically seeking clarification on attendance requirements and whether illness-related absences would impact funding.
Taylor Lloyd — Taylor Lloyd is introduced as the Bureau of Legislative Research education attorney who will present the legal framework of adequacy, is seen arriving to begin, and then introduces herself and her role, noting her experience with adequacy studies as she starts the presentation.
Canela — Asked to move the microphone closer so she could be heard better.
House Management House Management — Described as changing state education funding to use enrollment count and equalization by district wealth.
Mark Perry — Referenced as having asked about school resource officers and the matrix.
Mark Perry — Cited as having said that engagement is important.