Arkansas budget committee advances $2.7B proposed budget for schools, $500M for corrections

Committee advances Ark. prisons, schools budgets

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Legislators on Wednesday advanced a proposed $2.7 billion budget for Arkansas public schools, which would give them about $500 more per student.

The Joint Budget Committee accepted the proposal on a voice vote. The House and Senate will consider it after the General Assembly’s fiscal session begins Feb. 8.

The proposal would increase per-student funding to $6,023 for the state’s 450,000 public school students.

Legislators also advanced budget proposals for the Correction Department, which runs the state prison system, and for the Community Correction Department, which handles lesser offenders and probation and parole.

Correction Department Interim Director Ray Hobbs told lawmakers the system is growing by about 500 prisoners per year. The department is preparing to add 300 beds at a new unit in Malvern.

Sen. Randy Laverty, D-Jasper, said he wants the state to start using house arrest for nonviolent offenders so it won’t have to continue to spend millions to house them in prisons.

As of Wednesday, the state prison system held nearly 15,100 convicts, including almost 1,500 who are in county jails waiting for prison space to open.

The panel recommended a 2011 budget of $404.2 million, which is $15.4 million less than the Correction Department sought. Legislators also advanced a budget of $100.6 million for the Community Correction Department, $9.4 million less than the department requested.

On Monday, Beebe announced a $100 million state budget cut for the current year, but state school funding was left untouched. The cut followed a similar reduction last fall, when the Education Department had surplus money to absorb a $38 million cut. Beebe provided about $8 million from a rainy day fund to tide over the prison system and some state human services.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Tom Kimbrell told the panel the proposal would maintain schools’ “adequacy,” which was the quality level needed to remove the education budget from state Supreme Court supervision in 2007.

Kimbrell said he understands additional funding may not be possible given the state’s shrinking revenues.

“We know where we are economically in this state,” he said.

Committee members spent little time discussing the budget, instead focusing on improvements on test scores among students who plan to attend college. More than half of high school graduates need remedial courses, something Kimbrell said is being addressed through programs to help students become proficient at their grade levels.

Federal guidelines have set 2014 for all students to be proficient. Kimbrell said Arkansas is nearing the 60 percent mark.

“Down the line, I think we’ll see the fruits of our efforts,” he said.

Rep. Johnnie Roebuck, D-Arkadelphia, asked whether the Education Department is monitoring results in districts where private contractors provide some services. Kimbrell said it is, and the state can try to adopt the best practices in other districts.