Arkansas

This article examines changes in educational funding for 2022 in the state of Arkansas in the United States. Arkansas is a low-income state and is regularly ranked as one of the three poorest states in the nation. The election of Sarah Huckabee Sanders in 2022 as Arkansas’ first female governor brought promises of educational change. She proposed a minimum of $50,000 starting teacher salary, up from the current $36,000. She also proposed allowing state funds to be used for private education or homeschooling. The legislature increased the amount of aid per pupil from $7,182 to $7,413 for the 2022–2023 school year and increased most categorical funding by 2%. Arkansas uses a productivity funding model to fund higher education but caps the increase per year to 2%. Since the model exceeded the 2% cap, higher education institutions received less money than the model projected necessary to operate. Currently, there is a discussion between the governor and legislature to eliminate the state income tax. Without an alternative source of income, public schools and colleges will have a challenging future.