Monticello Live

The state’s budget for Fiscal Year 2012 will grow slightly because of moderate growth in the Arkansas economy.

The director of the state Finance and Administration Department notified legislators that an additional $39.4 million would be available for state agencies to spend between now and the end of the fiscal year on June 30.

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The state’s medical school is taking steps to establish a dental school at its Little Rock campus.

Foundations have donated large sums to the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for its long-range plans to expand teaching at its school of dental hygiene and oral health clinics. It will take several years but eventually the goal is for Arkansas to have its own school of dentistry, which should go a long way toward alleviating the shortage of dental services in many parts of the state.

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Legislative leaders and the governor’s office made progress toward a balanced budget agreement.

By the end of the second week of the fiscal session, opposing sides were no longer disputing a difference of how to spend $21 million within an overall budget of $4.7 billion. They had narrowed their differences and were working for compromise on a dispute over a few million dollars in state agency spending.

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When the governor presented his requests for supplemental appropriations, the legislature got a clear picture of its agenda for the fiscal session that begins on February 13.

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Last year Arkansas high school graduates were better prepared academically for college than they have been in the recent past, according to a recent survey based on remediation rates of freshmen.

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Fifteen Arkansas school districts and one technical center will receive money to expand and innovate course offerings in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

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The new year began with good financial news for state government, although budget officials were careful to temper their statements with sober caution about potential long-term problems.

First, the governor and the director of the Human Services Department reported that the state Medicaid program appears to have enough money to get through the next fiscal year without a major shortfall.

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Provisions in the Arkansas tort reform law limiting punitive damages that can be awarded in a civil suit were ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court.

The ruling came in a lawsuit out of Lonoke County filed by rice farmers against a German multi-national corporation. The farmers claimed that their rice was contaminated by genetically altered strains that had not been approved for human consumption. The rice farmers won $5.9 million in compensatory damages and $42 million in punitive damages.

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From Senator Jimmy Jeffress, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, andRepresentative Eddie Cheatham, chairman of the House Education Committee

Picture it: a single parent maintains a full-time job while working to complete a college degree to learn the job skills needed to better provide for his or her family.

It’s a common scenario, and many people can make it work by taking advantage of the flexibility and accessibility of online courses. Most of Arkansas’s higher education institutions offer courses online. Last school year, Arkansas students enrolled in more than 10,000 web-based classes offered at Arkansas campuses. Increasing the availability of online classes is key to improving the state’s college graduation rate. (more…)

Local law enforcement agencies in Arkansas and all across the United States got some good news recently when the federal Department of Justice announced that funding for cleanup of meth labs had been partially restored.

The grant program was cut earlier this year, leaving state and local governments with the bill for cleanup.

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The governor has authorized a transfer of money from an emergency fund so that trial court assistants will be paid through December.

However, the funding problem of the trial courts likely will continue unless there is a sudden turnaround in collections of filing fees and court costs. They have gone down dramatically since the summer. The salaries of the trial court assistants are paid from filing fees and court costs.

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The state Board of Education denied applications from organizations seeking to open charter schools for at risk youths in Texarkana, West Memphis and Jonesboro. The Board also denied a request to open a bilingual charter school in Little Rock for Spanish speaking students learning English as a second language.

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Arkansas voters overwhelmingly voted to renew a bond program that will pay for improvements to more than 400 miles of interstate highways.

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Legislators got a double dose of good news last week – enrollment is on the increase in Arkansas colleges and universities while the number of juveniles getting in trouble and being sent to lockups has gone down.

To top it off, state government revenue for September was up slightly from last year. Budget officials remain cautious, but an increase in revenue indicates economic growth and is welcome.

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Arkansas two-year colleges have received a federal grant of $14.7 million to help students complete degree programs in fields in which they are more likely to find good jobs.

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The governor has set November 8 as the date of a special election on whether to renew $575 million in bonds to repair about 300 miles of interstate highways.

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With the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, Arkansas has begun the transition toward teaching national mathematics and English curricula known as Common Core State Standards.

The first step toward bringing Arkansas schools in line with Common Core is to introduce the national standards in kindergarten through second grade classes, beginning this school year. Next year the curriculum standards will be brought into classes from third to eighth grades. Ninth through twelfth grade classes will work under the Common Core standards beginning in the 2013-2014 school year.

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Several members of the state Board of Education suggested newer and tougher standards for determining whether an Arkansas school district should be classified as being in academic distress.

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Officials at the state Department of Human Services are working to correct problems at the State Hospital.

One area of concern is treatment of children with dual diagnoses, meaning they suffer from mental illness as well as a developmental disability. An advocacy group has asked federal authorities to review disciplinary incidents to determine if treatment of children put them in danger. The group also is seeking changes in how medications are prescribed to avoid excess use of sedatives as a method of keeping the children docile.

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Senator Jimmy Jeffress (right) presents a Senate citation to Michael Binns, Sr., in recognition of his retirement after 35 years of teaching music.

Binns conducted concert choir recitals, taught hundreds of students to sight read music and was named Arkansas Senior High School Choir Director of the Year five times.

Hundreds of his choir students have been named All Region for Southeast Arkansas.