Joint Education: Jan. 6, 2026

Senator Jane English …to order. And the first thing we have on the agenda is a motion to approve the November 3 minutes. 

Representative Keith Brooks Motion. 

Senator Jane English Second. All in favor. All opposed. Thank you very much. So one of the things that we have with our education, our focus, is for all of our students to leave high school employed, enrolled or enlisted. So today we have some folks here to talk about those opportunities for our students and where they can go afterwards.

Update on LEARNS and ACCESS

 So we are welcome today to have Dr. Tina Moore, and I believe, Dr. Ross White, and Ken Warden, who’s the Director of the Department of Higher Ed, who will come and talk to us about all these efforts. And we’ve got a lot of things going on in the state, which is really good. If you’ll identify yourselves, you will be recognized. Are you on? The little green light’s not going on? Do we have anybody back here? Oh, it’s on. Okay, great. 

Ken Warden Ken Warden, Commissioner, Arkansas Division of Higher Education. 

Tina Moore Tina Moore, Director of Workforce Development, Division of Higher Education. 

Ross White Ross White, Director of the Division of Career and Technical Education at the Arkansas Department of Education. 

Senator Jane English Very good. Thank you. You may proceed. 

Ross White Well, good afternoon. Ross White. So we’re going to spend a little bit of kind of sharing some information that we hope will kind of feed off of each other. So if you recall, in September, I actually presented to you all a little bit about the work of LEARNS and what we’ve done within the Division of Career and Technical Education as we go forward with those pieces. And some– 

Senator Jane English Can you move your microphone up just a little bit? 

Ross White All right. Is that better? 

Senator Jane English Very good. Thank you. 

Ross White So in September, we talked a little bit about LEARNS and ACCESS and really the work of those two things together and how they’re ensuring our success-ready graduates as Senator English just mentioned a moment ago, to really build that readiness piece for enlistment, enrollment and employment, ensuring that all of our graduates from our K-12 systems graduate with that, and that being the ultimate goal.

Success-ready pathways

 And so with that, we have our vision of success-ready graduates that, again, in September we discussed a little bit. But really, continuing from grades 6 through 12, how are we ensuring that students are getting those early career experiences, opportunities in our system, then student success plans, which was legislated many years ago and how we’re using that as a planning tool to then put our students on pathways that can lead to that enlistment, employment, and enrollment piece. 

And so as we look at those things, our charge has been really how do we define this for schools and how do we put it as a piece of the work they do on a regular basis. So we have success-ready pathways that we have identified that align across the state of Arkansas in what we call high-wage, high-demand pathways where we look at labor market information, but also wages that are being earned in Arkansas. 

So we were able to identify 22 pathways within our state that those exist. And so our schools have to now require them to have at least one of these offered at their K-12 district as a part of their accreditation process. And then through that, our students have the opportunities to earn merit or distinction as they graduate. And so this started with our current sophomore class and will continue being built in. 

So any student that’s entering high school at this point or the previous year is now working towards that merit and distinction opportunity. And then that also became a part of our school accountability that I know you all have heard quite a bit about with our school letter grade system. 

And so this comes in as a piece for our 9-12 campuses into their accountability. And so when students are earning merit or distinction, we’re really looking for two things. One, they’re completing pathways, which means they’re taking a series of courses, that being at least three courses, that are preparing them for that enlistment, enrollment, employment. 

And the second thing is, they’re leaving with what I call a readiness factor. But they’re leaving with something tangible, whether it be a credential, whether it’d be early post-secondary credit, whether it be work experience that they got while in high school. So it’s something that they can add to their resume to continue that work going forward and gives them a tangible piece. 

Merit and Distinction graduates

And so that’s really where merit and distinction come in. When you look at these two slides, they’re very similar. Distinction is just at a little bit higher level, which means it’s pushing them towards a little more work or more opportunity or a credential that takes a little bit more time or additional post-secondary education opportunities as that continues to go through. 

And so those are things to kind of keep in mind as we’re looking at success-ready graduates from specifically within the LEARNS Act that we’re building out that readiness for enlistment, enrollment, and employment. And so as this information has been shared in the past, kind of where we’re at now is really discussing, this is where it fits into our school accountability grade. And so it’s been reflective in the grades that were issued this fall and will continue to be. 

The class of 2028 is where we’re into full implementation for all students, but we’re already beginning to really see the impact in our enrollment. So that was our big piece for today that’s going to then lead into what Dr. Moore is going to talk about. 

Enrollment in programs

Our enrollment, the chart that’s in front of you, is really just comparing last school year to this school year. We could put multiple years on there, but I think this speaks volumes to the changes we’re already seeing. So the lighter shade on the left is last school year. So that would have been the fall of 2024. 

Our enrollment in just K-12 career and technical education on a public school campus was right at 161,000 students in seats. If we look at it for this fall, the semester we just ended, it was at 171,00. So we pretty much saw a 10,000-plus seat increase. That speaks, I think, tremendously the value that our schools are seeing in those opportunities that are there and how that fits into our students being able to be success-ready graduates, the piece as it fits in with merit and distinction, as it also then fits in with our school accountability system. 

If we look at the concurrent enrollment as well, we were at 12,000 last fall. This fall we sat right at 16,000. So about 4,000 more students were earning concurrent credit for career and technical education courses, which is at an also pretty steady increase and a piece that we can speak highly to the LEARNS Act but also the ACCESS Act. And then our secondary career centers, now you will notice there’s a little bit of a decrease in that enrollment. And part of that decrease is some of the changes that have been made at the secondary career centers around the programs they offer. 

And so to ensure that we’re aligning those programs with what the biggest needs are in our state for workforce development wise, there’s some programs that have no longer been funded, just because they don’t align to Arkansas workforce needs and through the review with the Career Education and Workforce Development Board. Those adjustments kind of caused that to be, I would say, almost a flat line in enrollment this year, just because we had some programming that’s no longer counted in those secondary career centers as we go forward. 

But across the board, we are seeing a steady increase in our enrollment in these programs. And we know that a big piece of that is due to the LEARNS Act and the focus on success-ready graduates and ensuring students are completing pathways and being able to achieve merit and distinction. 

But then at the same time, when we start to begin to discuss ACCESS, the piece around acceleration and providing those accelerated opportunities for our students, when we talk about pathways and being a success-ready graduate, that is something that we truly look at as an accelerated opportunity for most of our students. 

At the same time, when we look at those concurrent credit numbers that are in there and really having that conversation around the credentials that can be earned that students can have before they graduate high school that are coming from a post-secondary, has also really helped accelerate that conversation. And those pieces wouldn’t have happened without those two pieces of legislation going together, and then, of course, being complementary to each other.

 And so Dr. Moore is going to talk a little bit about how ACCESS is really changing the landscape from the workforce side. And then as our students are completing these pathways in the K-12 programming, what is that next step when we talk about enlistment, enrollment, and employment, and that it’s that seamless transition from their K-12 education experience to then the next step.

 And for a lot of them it is that continuing education, employment, and enlistment. And so there’s a lot of really important pieces that come from ACCESS that complement that to ensure that we’re getting these students into the workforce needs of Arkansas. 

ACCESS and Workforce

Tina Moore Thanks, Ross. And as I transition, I will be focusing on workforce scholarships and grants. But I want to first focus on some state scholarships that you’re aware of because of work that you did with ACCESS that both supports and rewards diplomas of merit and distinction. So you’re likely familiar with ACCESS to Acceleration. 

And the predominant way that students will receive merit and distinction, we anticipate being through concurrent credit, concurrent enrollment. And ACCESS to acceleration makes that possible. And you’re aware of the bullet points are on these slides, but I want to dig just a little deeper into what that really means. 

Scholarships

As a former math educator, I had a little fun crunching some numbers and looking at some percent changes. Because if we just look at this, we’re like, Okay, it’s a little more money, it’s some more classes, but what does that really mean for students and their families? So I’m going to look through my notes here so I don’t misquote anything. The former scholarship provided $125 per course. 

And the majority of courses that are taken concurrent, they’re typically three-hour courses. So that would be $41.67 per credit hour compared to now being $65 per credit hour with A to A. And that is a 56% increase in funding per credit hour. Now granted, the $65 does have to cover tuition fees and materials, which before that might have fallen on the families or students to pay for. But 56% increase is quite large. 

Well, if we look a little further, the former scholarship allowed two classes a semester. And if we use that 3-hour per course example, that’d be 12 hours per year, compared to now 30 hours per year. When you look at the funding for those hours, 12 versus 30, you go from $500 a year to $1,950 a year. That’s a 290% increase in funding. The former scholarship designated 10th, 11th, and 12th graders as eligible, while A to A includes freshmen. 

This means total funding available to high school students for concurrent courses went from a total of $1,500 to $7,800 over the lifetime of their high school experience. That’s a 420% increase. So I just wanted to focus on that because we know that multiple studies, including looking at our own Arkansas data, shows that early college has a significant effect on two-year and four-year college and university enrollment, degree attainment, as well as early labor market earnings beyond high school. 

And stronger effects happen for low-income and first-generation college students. So as we look at workforce opportunities, I just want to applaud you and thank you for making this available to students and families. It really can change the trajectory of lives and be a way out of poverty for many students. So that is how A to A makes merit and distinction more possible for students. And then students who earn merit and distinction are then eligible for state scholarships to continue their education. 

So the Arkansas Academic Challenge, you added in ACCESS that a diploma of merit would be a qualifying criteria for that, and then doubled the freshman year award. So that really opens up a lot of opportunities. As Ross outlined in the slide earlier with all the different ways to get a diploma merit, that student is automatically eligible for this funding. Additionally, this is one thing that sort of, I think, flew low on the radar for our K-12 partners until recently, and now this really has everyone’s attention. 

I want to apologize in advance for how many times I’m going to use the word distinction or distinguished over the next minute or so. It’s a little bit confusing. So the Governor’s Scholar Program, as you likely know, has two different levels. It has the Governor’s Scholar, just regular, we call it non-distinguished for lack of better terms, and then the Governor’s Distinguished Scholarship. 

The distinguished did not change. It’s in italics there. And if you want more information, you can contact Alicia Lewis, our scholarship person. But I want to focus on the non-distinguished, which is the four bullet points there that it’s referring to. Students can earn the Governor’s Scholar non-distinguished scholarship by earning a diploma of distinction. See why I apologized about using the word so much? It’s a little confusing. 

But if the high school diploma of distinction is earned, a student qualifies for this scholarship. This is big money here. We’re talking $5,000 a year, and it’s stackable with the Academic Challenge. So this can open doors for students beyond what was ever possible in Arkansas’ history. 

So I’m very excited about those opportunities. And you may say, Well, okay, I thought you were going to talk about workforce. Well, in my mind, workforce is not just short term training. 

Workforce is all education. It doesn’t matter if you’re pursuing a short term commercial driver’s license or a four year degree in logistics. It doesn’t matter if you are pursuing short term emergency medical technician training or you’re pursuing a graduate medical degree. That is all workforce training. All those folks are going to have jobs. So to me, this is still part of workforce, even though it’s not short term workforce training. 

Thank you for those opportunities that you have increased for students to have in our state. So now we’re going to focus on those scholarships and grants that are specifically labeled as workforce. And typically we’re referring to shorter term training when we say that. And to show how important that training is, the Division of Higher Ed has now changed. 

Instead of calling it non-credit training, we now call it professional skills training because that is what it is. It’s to get folks into the workforce with a livable wage. Now I know that you are familiar with this criteria because you’re the ones who said it. 

But the workforce challenge and review, because there was quite a bit in ACCESS, it expanded the definition of a proven institution of higher education to include those public or private vocational technical schools, in addition to our two and four year colleges and universities. It specified these five high demand occupational areas that you see on the screen and increased the maximum scholarship from $800 per program to $3,000 per academic year. 

We anticipate this increasing significantly the utilization of this scholarship because of the expanded definition of training providers, as well as that increase in funding. So because of that, we are developing policy to support implementation with fidelity. We are looking at considering programs that are 80 hours or more, as the intent of this legislation, the original Workforce Challenge legislation, as well this, is to get folks into a job that has a livable wage. 

And we know that the training needs to be substantial. We’re not wanting to provide $3,000 for a one-day workshop of some sort. So we’re looking at that 80-hour minimum threshold and potentially tiered funding where programs that were 80 to 179 hours would receive $1,500. And those 180 hours or more, or, on the credit side, a certificate of proficiency, would receive the $3,000. 

This might not seem like a heavy lift, but this is something that’s new to us because we started just a couple years ago, we changed the professional skills training reporting to include personal student identified information as required. It’s a quite exhaustive list of information that has to be reported for student completers. 

And that will now have to be recorded by these private career institutions that have not done that before, have not reported to us before, have not received funding through us before. So there are lots of logistics behind that. But we are working hard and we’ll have that ready for implementation this fall. We’ve already been meeting with many of the private career ed providers, getting their thoughts on the guardrails that we’re setting up and have had positive feedback. And it’s really coordinating efforts among multiple folks at our agency. 

You may have heard about the Federal Workforce Pell Grant. I just want to make sure that’s on everyone’s radar. And I’m just going to highlight some of the big pieces of this. This was part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. And the workforce Pell expanded. The regular Pell that we’re all familiar with, to include short-term training in high-quality workforce programs, there are many guardrails around this. 

The basic program requirements are listed here, these bullets, these four, 150 to 599 clock hours, or an equivalent number of credit hours, anywhere from eight weeks, but less than 15 weeks of duration, offered by an institution of higher education that’s Title IV eligible and not a correspondence course. 

Those parameters alone knock out the majority of programs in Arkansas and in the United States. We’re very happy that this funding is available, and we will try to find ways to utilize it more. But nationally, the talks are on, like, I mentioned CDL earlier. A CDL program is typically around 180 clock hours. If you look, that’s going to be, Okay, great, you’re in that guideline. Well, this is an ‘and,’ not an ‘or.’ 

Most CDL programs are going to be around four weeks. It’s not going to hit that 8-week threshold. And we certainly don’t want to make learners stay in a program for eight weeks unnecessarily, just to be able to get some funding. So currently, negotiated rulemaking is taking place. In December, there was a week of that, and now they’re following up currently. They’re probably sitting in a room like we are right now with negotiated rule making in D.C. 

We’re very fortunate that someone from Arkansas is on that committee. Eric Atchison from the ASU system is on the committee. So Arkansas’ voice is being heard in that negotiated rule-making, which is important, but they cannot change the legislation. They can provide clarity, but the guardrails are there. And when I say the guardrails, this is only the beginning of the guardrails. 

I do want to point out that very last bullet on here. It does open up Pell eligibility for those who already have a bachelor’s degree, because we know that folks may want to reskill and pursue something different, especially with the impact of technology and AI on our workforce. The bachelor’s degree that served them well may not be meeting the workforce needs of today. 

So I’m going to go through each one of these line by line, slowly. Just kidding. I’m not. I just wanted you to have it for later. So the next couple of slides outlines some more of the guardrails. I will highlight these guardrails are what the governor’s office is in charge of determining. 

I will stress on here one thing to really point out, and it’s listed in several of these bullet points, is the point of stackability and opportunity for credit down the road. It behooves us to make sure that learners are not in dead-end paths, even if it’s short-term training. We want them later on, if they decide they want to pursue a career path that has more opportunity– because a lot of times a short term training might be a livable wage, but it’s at that bare minimum of a livability wage. 

So this requires that training programs will articulate to credit and or be stackable towards other programs. And this slide lists what the Department of Education must do. And this is where a lot of folks nationally are having discussions. It’s going to be maybe a challenge to meet some of these criteria. You’ll see that a program has to be in operation already for a year before eligibility. 

The 70-70 rules, as they’re calling it, at least 70% completion rate, as well as job placement rate must be demonstrated. And then the value added earnings metric. It makes me think a lot about, I’m scared to say it because he might jump up and down, the ROI metric that Dr. Warden is so excited about for our higher ed institutions here. And that’s really important. This is taxpayer dollars. And we need to make sure that these programs are resulting in programs that lead to jobs that are paying for the training and that there’s an ROI metric in there. 

It’s important, but it can also be challenging on some of these short-term trainings. Like I said, they’re very entry-level trainings, many of these if they’re short- term. So with all that, when we look at what the award is, this is why some nationally are saying, Yeah, I don’t know if the juice is worth the squeeze for some of the programs. This is just an example. 

The federal Pell Grant maximum amount is currently $7,000, just short of $7,400. A longer workforce Pell program, the longest one, the 14 weeks, 599 clock hours, the maximum award a student could receive– and this would be the student demonstrating the greatest financial need– would be $3,980. 

The student who is Pell eligible, but for the minimum award amount, which is 10%, would only be $398. When we look at the shortest term of a Pell grant, Workforce Pell of 8 weeks or 150 clock hours, that is as little as $1,232, even for the student who has the most need. And the student that is Pell eligible with the least need, only $123. 

So that $123 may not make someone really want to go through the trouble of the FAFSA or the institution go to the trouble of all the paperwork that’s required. So that is all the information I have on that. And we’re happy to answer any questions. 

Senator Jane English Thank you very much. Okay. Representative Garner. 

Eliminated programs

Representative Denise Garner Thank you, Madam Chair. I just had a quick question at the very beginning when we were talking about the programs that have been eliminated, the workforce programs that have been eliminated, is there a list of those somewhere? How is that done? And is it done in a way that if someone is in that program that they can finish? Or maybe you aren’t using it at all. I don’t know. But what was the–

Ross White So our secondary career centers, through our operation the way they’re set up functionally, is they do– Department of Commerce oversees that operation. And so the Career Education and Workforce Development Board oversees the funding and determines it. So they’ve had for years a tiered funding, where they had different tiered levels. So then it was a tier one, a tier two, a tier three that determined the level of need for that program. 

And so what went into this year was the funding for what was considered a tier 3 program, which had the least wage or demand threshold in our state, were the programs that are no longer counting in that. Because those programs are choosing to close them because the funding is not there for them anymore. Holistically, most of those programs, the students are still finishing them out. It’s just been on a case-by-case basis. 

Also, those enrollments were very small in most of the programs. We can get you a list with the Department of Commerce, specifically from the Office of Skills Development, on which programs those were if you would like those. 

Representative Denise Garner Okay, great. Thank you. 

Senator Jane English Representative Duke. 

Non-completion and school grades

Representative Hope Duke Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, guys. Thank you for being here. It’s good to see you all. Hope you had good holidays. I’ve got a couple of questions. One I’m sure is not going to surprise you. 

So my first one is, when it comes to the letter grade that the schools get and with the, I guess, is it the merit– I gotta put my glasses back on– the merit of distinction, where their students having to be a completer– using my words. I don’t know if those are necessarily your words on this. So how much of a tick is it off if they have kids who are not completers? How much does it affect their letter grade? 

Ross White So, I mean, when you look into the formula, it is looking specifically at students who achieve that. And so it’s going to look at– kind of the numerator denominator of it is, the number of students there graduating becomes that denominator. The numerator becomes the number of students who achieved merit or distinction. 

So I mean, as we build that out, I don’t holistically look at it as if there’s a tick against them. It’s just looking at are we ensuring our students have that success for the graduate piece. Now, if you get into the math teacher over here, start talking about the math side of it, then, I mean, there is going to be that, who is their four-year cohort graduation piece. 

And the students who aren’t achieving that, when we look at that, I think it’s out of the total number points, about 1/9th of it. I mean, there is going to be some impact there long-term for them for students who are not getting through a pathway. 

Representative Hope Duke Okay, so this is a conversation that you and I and, was it Director Warden– I don’t know if I have the exact title. Commissioner Warden, whatever it is– that I had a couple of times over the last couple of years. So, but you know one of my concerns is, the Duke children will be a problem for a school district, right? 

Because in a small school district, a lot of your kids who do– and there’s a couple of layers I have on this question– do your sports and also do your band or your choir or your other pieces. So, I see this a little difficult. For them, my children, I encourage them to try things. You’re in high school. I didn’t have a single one of them complete. 

They completed their sports. But they didn’t complete, whether it was accounting or whether they went to home ec, or whatever the technology, whatever it is, whether they did ag or some of those other classes that they did. They tried a couple of those different things, which I encouraged. 

The way I see it is if you have students that do that, if they don’t complete because they went into accounting and they took a business class, they took an ag class and went, okay, this is not necessary for me, I’m going to go a different direction, that’s going to impact the school letter grade. I haven’t seen anything that’s ever convinced me differently. So is that accurate, even though the terminology may not be? 

They’re achieving versus a tick against them. It’s still the same end result, right? We want them to be selecting in ninth grade and become completers in something. 

Ross White Dr. Warden is going to answer. 

Representative Hope Duke He’s so used to this question with me. But we don’t want them to do a buffet is basically– so make me feel better. 

Ken Warden Representative Duke, thank you for the question. So is it perfect? No. But I do think it’s really good. And for the students that you’re addressing, the Duke kids that are encouraged to try everything, we have more than one way for them to achieve distinction. 

They can be an AP scholar and take a certain number of AP classes to get there. They can do an international baccalaureate program. They can also complete a technical certificate in a technical area. Or they can also achieve a certificate of general studies, which is achieving basically 30 hours that partially satisfy the General Education Corps. 

So there are multiple modalities and ways for children to reach this. Our problem is that we haven’t had students having conversations. The students that you’re talking about are doing that with intentionality. Those aren’t the kids we’re missing. The kids that we’re missing are the other 58% of the students in Arkansas that don’t attempt anything after high school. 

We only have 42% of our children in Arkansas attempting anything after high school. And when I say that, I’m talking about technical education, pure academics. That’s 20 percentage points behind the nation. Those are the children that were missing that are in the bubble of the belly of the bell curve that we’ve got to get to improve education in Arkansas. 

And I do believe that your children and those we’re talking about who explore these different things with intentionality were probably bound to that destiny. And that there are opportunities through the AP or IB or the Cambridge ACE certificate for them to get there. Is it perfect? No. And I will tell you, I am very open to any other ways where if we miss the ball here, we’re missing something and we need to plug a hole, we’re open to those conversations. I hope that helps. 

Representative Hope Duke So if a student– there’s a couple different, and you went in one of the directions that I do have a question on as far as these diplomas. But if you have a class of 68, and your 68 students do not get that completer part, I mean, is that separate from the diplomas of distinction when they’re graded on it? 

Or is it, so if you don’t have your kids complete, but you have them get this diploma distinction, then their letter grade’s not going to have any effect, positive or negative, from that? Because my understanding is they have to complete over here to get that little tick on the letter grade to get an increased score. 

Ross White So what’s up on the screen right now are the different pathways that we have. And we say pathways kind of loosely because we start to include like APs on there. I think it’s the third line on the left that talks about advanced placement. So a student taking three AP courses, those courses might not be in sequence to each other or have any correlation, but they are advanced placement courses. 

That then becomes their pathway, their success-ready pathway. And so that’s going to meet that indicator. Then the second part of taking something forward with them is going to be then earning that concurrent credit or the other options with their assessments. When we start talking about the AP scholar designations that college board puts out, because then that gives them a designation that would help them achieve that merit or distinction piece that’s there. 

So it’s not necessarily always looking at them being a completer, which is very much a career and technical education term that we use within our pathways, where our pathways are a little bit broader as we look at this holistically and many of the examples that Dr. Warden mentioned. 

Representative Hope Duke So if a student gets that example you used there, gets the AP, that is equivalent as far as the letter grade for that school district of them being a completer? 

Ross White Yes, ma’am. So if they achieve that AP Scholar designation, which the AP Scholar rules are specific to how College Board determines an AP Scholar, that then is equivalent to them being a CT completer that, let’s say, went through our automotive service program and had their ASE certification at the end. It would be the equivalent of that. And they would still be able to achieve that merit or distinction level. 

Representative Hope Duke It’s been a while since I’ve had kids in high school. So do they have to have like the end of course exam or something like that, pass that to make sure that they get that? 

Ross White The AP, they go to that qualifying score of a 3 that’s set by the College Board. And so we can send you all of the specific metrics that AP or College Board specifically puts out for like the AP Scholar. They have the AP scholar with honor. They also have the AP Scholar with designation. And they have the AP Scholar with honor designation. Each of those are set by the College Board, what those designations mean. And it all revolves around the number of courses they have taken and the scores they have achieved on those exams they have to take at the end of that course. 

Representative Hope Duke Okay, and I’ll get back in the queue for a couple of other questions that revolve around this a little bit, but they’re a little different. But I think, in the conversations we had over the last couple of years, one of my concerns is, and I just want to make that reassurance from you all, that if you have students that are not completing this because they try some of those different pathways to see what they want to do in college, because you don’t necessarily know ninth grade, you don’t necessarily know your freshman year of college, what you want to, right? 

So, they have additional, as long as they’re maybe taking an AP class or is there another pathway besides that to make sure that school district isn’t having that letter grade impacted by– because those letter grades matter. I think they’re important, right– isn’t being impacted because of that student that is moving around a little bit because they have the parent maybe that is saying, Hey, okay, you don’t like that? Okay, try something different.

Tina Moore So if I could just add to that. And I know Ross spoke about the AP scholar, and of course I’m going to focus on the concurrent piece. So if you notice on here where it says 12 or more post-secondary credits, and we said most of the concurrent credit courses are 3 hours, not all, but the majority are 3 hours. 

So a student who takes four concurrent credit courses, that counts as being on this previous slide in the top right column. That’s the concurrent-credit pathway. So they could be on any of Ross’s CTE pathways, even if they weren’t one of the H2 pathways listed here. Or they could start one here and, to your point, change their mind and do something else. 

And even if they were not a CTE completer, if they took four concurrent credit courses or concurrent credit course to get to that 12 hours, their pathway was then the concurrent credit pathway. And I stress concurrent, because the success rate in Arkansas for concurrent– success rate being an A, B, or C, meaning it’ll transfer once they pursue onto higher ed– that success rate is 91%. 

The success rate for AP on just one exam is only around 48%. I don’t have my slides with me. It’s less than 50%. So, if your eggs are all in one bucket there, concurrent is a safe bet. And then the school would get credit, the student would get a credit. Everybody’s good to go. 

Representative Hope Duke Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. And something came to me when you said that, and then I completely lost it. So I’ll get it back in the queue and come back to it when I ask my other questions. Thank you. Thank you, madam chair.

Senator Jane English Senator Flowers. 

Career counseling in schools

Senator Stephanie Flowers Thank you. Just have a couple of questions. One is, are there guidance counselors that provide the information for students 9th through 12th grade concerning these career pathways or success-ready pathways? 

Ross White Yes, ma’am. We’ve done extensive training with our school counselors across the state through their professional organizations, but as the department, hosting regular trainings to make sure that our guidance counselors in our schools, our career coaches in our schools are fully aware of the pathways and how to achieve that merit and distinction. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers And every school, 9th through 12th, has a guidance counselor present? 

Ross White Present at the trainings? 

Senator Stephanie Flowers No, present at the school. 

Ross White Yes, I mean, they’re required to have a counselor. Yes, ma’am. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers 9th through 12th grade? 

Ross White Yes, ma’am. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers And the other question I have is concerning the apprenticeships. They’re mentioned up there, but I don’t see a list of apprenticeships. Where are they fitting into these different subject matters? 

Ross White So for both merit and distinction, our students have the opportunity to, what we call work-based learning. We have multiple levels to it. But we have certified pre-apprenticeships, which are through the Department of Commerce. And I believe Mr. Waits might here in a little bit discuss that. 

And then we also have youth apprenticeships that are registered through the Department of Labor that students can complete those as well. And those are going to lead to that distinction opportunity. So those are both folded in, and we have numerous students participating in both those versions, and then we also have career practicums in our state which are also, students engage in work experience while in high school gaining credit and work experience related to their interests. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers And the guidance counselor is aware and provides that information to students?

Ross White Yes, ma’am. 

Apprenticeships

Senator Stephanie Flowers Is there a list? I’d like to have a list of the apprenticeships that are available. 

Ross White We can get you the number of students that are enlisted in apprenticeships throughout the state by district broken down. We have all that information available.

Senator Stephanie Flowers And are the districts required to have apprenticeships? 

Ross White They can decide at the local level which programs they offer. So that is a choice of theirs.

Senator Stephanie Flowers  I’m wondering if it’s available, apprenticeships are available, within every school district. 

Ross White I will speak for a lot of our apprenticeships that we have in the state that are registered with the DOL. Most of the business and industry that we’re engaged with are traveling all across the state to engage with apprenticeship opportunities. 

Specifically, we can use the construction trade. We have some specific construction companies in the State of Arkansas. They have a person solely employed for apprenticeships and then specifically even youth apprenticeships. And they travel to any community that is interested in working to engage those students in those apprenticeship opportunities to some of our most rural to our most urban. So I would say anybody who’s willing to have the conversation with them, it’s there and available right now. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Well, I certainly would appreciate a list of those apprenticeships. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Senator Jane English Representative Meeks.

Implementation of ACCESS scholarships

Representative Stephen Meeks Thank you, Madam Chair. I have just two questions. I’m over here by the pillar here. So it’s kind of ironic that we’re discussing this today because in a few minutes, my daughter will actually be taking her placement so she can take advantage of the ACCESS scholarships. So this is a very timely discussion for me. 

So it leads me to two questions. Number one, you’d mentioned earlier that the guidance counselors are trained to promote these opportunities within the public schools. Can you talk about your efforts, maybe how do we reach charter schools, private schools, home school students to let them know that these opportunities are available for them as well? 

Ross White Are you looking specifically for merit and distinction, or are you looking more at scholarships? 

Representative Stephen Meeks I’m thinking like with concurrent credit classes. So while they’re still in high school, if I’ve got a student who’s going to a private school or, in our case, my daughter is homeschooled, what are we doing to let those families know that there’s this opportunity available that they can take these concurrent classes? 

Ross White I think Dr. Warden’s going to try to answer you if we can get him on. 

Senator Jane English You’re not working again. 

Representative Stephen Meeks Some things are just best left unanswered, right? 

Senator Jane English Can you use Tina’s? Okay, there you go. 

Ken Warden Operator error, I’m sure. Representative Meeks, thank you for the question. So we do visit with our private schools and homeschools as we’re asked. And I’m happy to pull together an effort to focus on that in more and better ways to make sure that they’re aware of those opportunities. It’s new and it’s gaining traction real fast.

 There’s a learning curve. Our high school, our junior high counselors, those are some of the most important folks in the lives of our young people, especially when those young people may be first generation students who don’t have parents that are pushing them hard or showing them the options. And that’s a hardworking group of individuals that have a lot of rule changes in front of them. 

So we’re providing the support as we can and happy to do more of that. But if we’re missing something with that that you’re aware of, we’re happy to at anytime send some of our folks over or have those folks in to discuss these options and make sure that they are accessing them in the best way possible. That’s what we want. 

Tina Moore And I will add to that, I sit on the charter panel and our charter office at the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education work closely with APSRC and with the charter schools throughout the state to make sure that they are aware of the changes, whether it’s related to legislation or policy at the department, to make that they’re aware of changes and what’s available for students. 

Pell Grant issues

Representative Stephen Meeks Excellent. Okay. And then my follow up is, I was kind of curious, this federal workforce Pell Grant you’re talking about with the 150 to 599 clock hours, you’d mentioned that almost everything is disqualified, right, that there’s very few things that do qualify. 

Can you tell us some things that do qualify? What was the federal government, what was their focus of putting– whenever we’re doing legislation, if we’re putting very narrow guardrails, there’s a purpose for that. What is the purpose? Are there certain careers you’re trying to promote? Who could take advantage of this? 

Tina Moore Well, so I will say that ironically, federally, the examples that they gave included CDL and nursing assistant. Nursing assistant programs in our state and other states typically are around 90-clock hours, so that’s not going to get the hour threshold. And I gave the example that CDL earlier wouldn’t either. 

So as I pulled the data for our professional skills training in our state and narrowed it down based upon both of these criteria, there was one program that qualified. And it was a CDL program that ended up being eight weeks because it can be one that maybe someone’s attending part time. 

So we are moving towards– for this, we’re going to work with our colleges. And my partners in crime back here from Arkansas community colleges are here and working with them on this as well to work with our colleges to stack programs. Like one example might be programmable logic controllers, PLCs. They may be offering courses in PLC1, PLC2, PLC3. And those are all separate. 

Say one of those programs is a 50-hour, clock hour course, and then each of those are 50 hours. Well, if you put those together, that makes a program that would be 150 hours. So as things are packaged right now, they may not be eligible, but we feel confident that our institutions can combine training to make them more of a robust package. Often employers may want one type of skill, but they want additional ones. 

Like, it’s going to benefit everyone if they add in their OSHA, where right now OSHA might just be a standalone training by itself. So they’re just going to have to be creative in combining programs. And one thing that I left out when I was talking about this is the importance of braiding funding both state and federal funds. 

So that’s why we’re being very intentional with the Workforce Challenge, that we’re capturing programs that may not be covered by the Workforce Pell. As well as, we think about WIOA funding goes towards short-term training. The Office of Skills Development funds much of the short-term training in our state.

 So just making sure that there’s something, if not more than one, funding stream for all programs is really critical. Because in our State, we are working with colleges to develop what are often called micro-pathways or micro-credentials that are stackable. And we want to make sure as we’re encouraging institutions to develop those programs that there is some way to fund them. 

Representative Stephen Meeks Okay, all right, thank you. 

Ken Warden At risk of repeating Dr. Moore, she’s absolutely right. We anticipate that our institutions are going to repackage programs so that they’re able to better take advantage of federal opportunities, but also we are on the daily looking at ways that how what we have complements what the Fed is doing but also complements our colleagues at OSD. Cody’s here. 

He’s going to talk about apprenticeships, I think, later, but working with them to ensure that OSD funds and Workforce Challenge funds, all those things in the whole, addresses the entire landscape of education and workforce education in the state. 

Tina Moore And one thing I forgot, but with Dr. Warden speaking, it made me remember conversations we were just having yesterday about this. We do have some programs that currently live on the credit side that are part of technical certificates that require some general education type training in addition to the specific workforce training. 

And they have been moved over to that side primarily so they would be eligible for funding. We anticipate some of those programs moving back over to non-credit because that is part of the reason some students choose to do other routes besides our community colleges, because they want to go somewhere that they’re not having to do the general education courses. 

So some of those programs, even like welding, welding lives on both the credit and non-credit side. But we could easily move some of the credit programs over to the non-credit side without requiring the English composition course or the math course. 

Ken Warden The way our schools are rewarded now is for completing or producing academic credentials. So with the new workforce or professional skills formula that we’re working on now, they will be more encouraged to let– they won’t be as negatively impacted.

 Because if a student comes to a welding program and gets the certifications they need and go to work before they finish an academic credential, that impacts the institution negatively. And that’s not what we want. That’s not fair to the institution or the individual. Once they’ve met their skill goals to get the employment they need, they need to get on with it when they so choose. 

Now, if they want to come back and stack or skill up or get more academic credentials, that’s fine. But we’re trying to mold and adjust the system so that that’s positive for the students. They’re not staying any longer than they want or need. And it’s also that the institutions are better recognized for students that are meeting their employment goals, but may not have been meeting the metrics that we have previously set. Does that make sense? I hope. 

Tina Moore And congrats to your daughter. 

Senator Jane English Representative Duke. 

Scholarship questions

Representative Hope Duke Thank you again, Madam Chair. Okay, so here’s my next question. And it kind of goes around with the Governor’s Scholarship. And I guess I have initial just questions on kind of a little bit of the history of it. I want to have some clarity on it. 

So traditionally, at least what I had knowledge of, on the Governor’s Scholarship– I guess I should ask first, is that $2,500 versus whatever the other terminology was for the Governor’s Scholarship, is that relatively new or has that been there this whole time? I mean, since, I don’t know, the last 10 or 15 years. 

Tina Moore So I do not lead scholarship work at our agency. I don’t know if Dr. Warden knows offhand without looking at what the historical funding was for that. 

Ken Warden Representative Duke, are you asking about the funding per individual? 

Representative Hope Duke I guess so. So you all mentioned the changes of this with the diploma of distinction piece because that is a new piece. 

Ken Warden Right. So what we’ve done is we have broadened the eligibility opportunities. So now, on top of all the ways you could become eligible for Governor’s Scholar, you can now achieve that eligibility by achieving a diploma of distinction. 

And what that will do is, rather than getting just your Academic Challenge scholarship, if you achieve a diploma of distinction, you’re automatically eligible for that $5,000 a year award, the governor’s scholar, and can stack Academic Challenge to that. So it has the potential, if a student is in college for four years and they achieve distinction, of enhancing the financial support through the state and the lottery by $20,000. 

Representative Hope Duke So, okay, so you’re saying that what they’re getting right now, or the kids who are currently in college right now or previously, my understanding is it was a 32 on the ACT. And I think you had to have a GPA of maybe 3.5 or 4. 

Tina Moore That’s why I was saying, that part’s not changed. 

Representative Hope Duke Right, but we’re adding another piece to it. So you’re saying–

Tina Moore The other piece was already there, but it did not include the diploma of distinction. 

Ken Warden And you’re talking about Governor’s Distinguished Scholars here. 

Representative Hope Duke So that’s right. So I’m saying the $2,500 piece and the $5,000 semester piece, right? Those are two different pieces? 

Tina Moore  That is two different scholarships. 

Representative Hope Duke But the $5,000 one, are you saying the $2,500 one has always been here? 

Tina Moore That’s the same thing. One is per year and then one is per semester. So 25 each semester is $5,000 a year. 

Ken Warden I think you’re confusing Governor’s Distinguished with Governor’s Scholar. 

Representative Hope Duke So is distinguished a part of this at all? 

Ken Warden It is above and beyond. 

Representative Hope Duke It is above and beyond this. But that now will require a diploma of distinction? 

Tina Moore So this is why, when I said, I said distinction so many times it was confusing. Whether the $5,000 increased or not, that’s what I wasn’t sure about since I don’t ever oversee scholarships. But there has always been two separate parts to the Governor’s Scholar. There’s the non-distinguished, which is the $5,000 a year. 

And then there’s the distinguished, which is a large amount in italics at the bottom that’s 10,000 per year. The distinguished had no changes. That’s the very rigorous one that requires that 32 super score. The other one was already in place, but the criteria for it changed. And that criteria for the smaller scholarship, the 5,000 a year, now includes a diploma of distinction. 

What I can’t speak to is whether it was 5,000 last– it was? Okay. That’s the part I couldn’t speak too. So the money didn’t change on that one. It’s the same. The big change on it was adding that diploma of distinction. That was an added criteria that made that eligibility increase. 

Representative Hope Duke OK, so because I know initially the way that this distinguished one was one per county for several many years ago. And then the legislature or the governor, I don’t know who, decided, we don’t want to lose our 32 ACT kids to other states because we were losing them. 

And so they broadened it up to, I think, started awarding it to just everybody that had a 32. And then I don’t know if they’ve shrunk it back down again. I have no idea what the rules and things have been on that. But that leads into my next question. 

So you’re saying that one, the distinguished one, with our kids who are scoring 32s on our ACT in  our Arkansas schools, we’re not putting any other thing on them. It’s still the 32 and the GPA. It’s not the distinguished scholar. So say you go through and you get a different type of diploma, but you hit a 32 on ACT, right, you’re still eligible for that. You don’t have to have the other pieces? 

Tina Moore  You could not earn merit or distinction either one, and if you have a 32 on your ACT, you still would get that distinguished. 

Representative Hope Duke Perfect. That’s very helpful. That leads me to my next question that has to do with as far as your private schools and your homeschool. So if they’re wanting to get the diploma of distinction, if they want that Governor’s Scholarship that is the $2,500 that ends up to be 5,000 a year, then they’ve got to get a diploma of distinction. Is that correct? Are they eligible for that at all? 

Tina Moore Well, you’ll see the other bullet that I didn’t mention, but an associate degree from high school is also an eligibility. 

Ken Warden All of the other eligibility requirements for the standard Governor’s Scholarship apply. We increased eligibility by adding anyone who achieves a diploma of distinction. 

Representative Hope Duke So let me just kind of get to the question. Are they, if you are a homeschool or a private school student, obviously the governor’s scholarship, the distinguished one, 32 on the ACT, I assume that they’re eligible for that. 

All they gotta do is hit the 32 on ACT. But if you have the $5,000 one, are they under having to hit those same requirements for diploma of distinction in order to be able to receive that award of a scholarship? Because I assume in a private school, they’re not under the same diploma distinctions, but maybe they are. I don’t know. I just kind of assume they have their own sets of rules. 

Tina Moore So I’ve pulled up, just from our scholarship website, the criteria that Dr. Warden was mentioning still remains the same and this was just added to it. So homeschool students or private school students could still meet this criteria of being the highest scoring student on the ACT or SAT score cumulative GPA and class rank for an Arkansas county that a Governor’s Distinguished Scholar was not selected or they can earn the associate’s degree. The diplomas of distinction are awarded by the school district, per legislation. 

Representative Hope Duke So they’re not eligible for those. Is that correct? For the diploma of distinction for the $5,000 scholarship that’s there. 

Ken Warden So that’s a nuanced question that I need to make before I affirm. But that is not the intention. The intention is if they meet the thresholds of a technical certificate that we’re going to award them. If they meet the same expectations of someone that’s attending a public school, then they should be eligible for the scholarship. So we can ensure that happens on the application of the implementation process. 

Representative Hope Duke That’s the piece that concerns me a little bit. However you feel about, it seems to me the way that reads, diploma of distinction, if that’s governed by what you do in a public school, then you’re taking out your private schools and your homeschool kids from being eligible for the $5,000 a year. So I may not be reading it correctly. That’s why I asked the question. 

Ken Warden I think it assumes that a homeschool student cannot be awarded a diploma of distinction. 

Representative Hope Duke Which that’s what I would assume, if that’s a public school standard. 

Ken Warden I don’t know what would preclude them from being, if they hit the requirements being awarded the same or something of the equivalent. 

Representative Hope Duke If they hit those– so they will have to hit those requirements that a public school has to hit in order to be eligible for that scholarship? 

Ken Warden I lost you on the last part. 

Representative Hope Duke I just want to clarify. The diploma distinction, everybody applying for that has to hit the same requirement, which means their school, their diploma that is from the Duke School of Education, my degree requirements for them to graduate and receive a diploma from our school has to hit this diploma of distinction in order for them be eligible for that. So we have to parallel in order that diploma of distinction for them to be eligible for that particular scholarship. 

Ken Warden On top of all the prior eligibility opportunities that existed. So this is a value add. This is not taking anything away. If they were eligible before, they’re still eligible. This is another way they can achieve eligibility. 

Representative Hope Duke Okay, but they do have to do the same hoops. 

Ken Warden Yes, for this more particular eligibility criteria. 

Representative Hope Duke Which is a little bit, I mean, like the ACT is a very cut and dry one. Everyone’s taking the ACT. That’s why the $10,000 one, there’s not as many. But whenever you tie that diploma to it, which is an add a new piece to this scholarship, correct? Then you’re adding a new thing to it for the private schools and the homeschool kids as well to be eligible for it. It’s not just a public school. So everyone’s eligible to receive it, but they all have to jump through the same hoops. 

Ken Warden Yes, and the determination and the communications piece of that, we’re ironing out as we speak on when that’s submitted. We’ve already set the deadlines. And this first year of implementation, there’s a few things that we’ve got to really figure out some details, sort of like the questions you’re asking. But we’ll get there. 

Representative Hope Duke Yeah, because, I mean, I’m thinking of those a lot of different directions. But one of them, too, is if I’m a school, a private school, this is also just another potential guardrail for my kids. And so I think it’s something that private schools and homeschools and all of them are going to have to– obviously life’s about choices. 

It’s about choice, so you’ve got to choose. But people just need to be aware of, if you want this particular scholarship, you’ve gotta jump through these particular hoops. So you better know if a private school, the home school, or whatever you’re doing starting in grade nine, what does that look like? 

Ken Warden You have to keep in mind, this is an ‘or.’ This is another way. You don’t have to do all that plus something else. This is an additional eligibility opportunity. 

Representative Hope Duke I do understand that. Sometimes my questions are to make sure the people that we represent understand that as well. 

Ken Warden We’re happy to go dive deeper if we need to so. Thank you. 

Senator Jane English Representative Beck.

Representative Rick Beck Thank you, Madam Chair. So two quick questions. One is a follow-up on Representative Duke’s question. The question is now, as I understand it, you said homeschoolers can do it. They have to meet the same requirements as the public schools were as far as the diplomas of distinction. 

Do we currently have those listings available to where like someone who is homeschooling can say, Okay, well here’s the things that we need to be doing starting at the ninth grade to make our child eligible for that. And I’m not asking what they are. I’m asking do we currently have that list, and is it available to someone that would be homeschooling?

Ken Warden So we have posted that information.

Representative Rick Beck The other question I have– see, easy question, quick. So, the other question that I have is looking at the merit. One of the requirements is certified pre-apprenticeship leading to a registered apprenticeship. And I was looking back on the previous page. So, could you just walk me through one of those apprentices, to that– by the way, I’ll ask this question. Is electrical one of them? Is an electrical apprenticeship one of them? 

Ross White So, I mean, with our certified pre-apprenticeship, yes. I mean electrical, all your traditional apprenticeships, so that’s going to be specific. Like when Cody gets up here and he talks a little bit about what the Department of Commerce is doing with apprenticeships. So Arkansas is doing certified pre-apprenticeships, which is unique. And he can speak a little bit more about what that looks like, but that is through the Office of Skills Development with their apprenticeships that they’re certifying. 

Representative Rick Beck Well, maybe this is a question for later on, or you can offline this thing. But the pre-apprenticeship, as I understand it, and I could be wrong about this, but pre-apprenticeship programs do not– they get the education part; they do not get the hours required for the registered apprenticeships. Is this correct? 

Ross White I’m going to let Cody answer those questions when he comes up here. He can speak specifically about our state rules regarding that. 

Representative Rick Beck Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Low % of post-high school education

Representative Diana Gonzales Worthen Thank you, Chair. I have a question as it relates to, you mentioned earlier about 50% or higher percentage of students are not entering or attempting career pathways, career readiness pathways, etc. I think it was a little over 50%. Is that–?

Ken Warden Yes, so what I was speaking to earlier was that in Arkansas, our higher education participation rate– and when I say higher education, I mean anything beyond high school, not just a bachelor degree seeking, technical education– our participation rate is about 42% in the state. And the national average is about 62. 

That’s a problem for us. We have this whole package and the ACCESS Act is all about having better connectivity between K-12 and higher ed, and increasing access and eligibility and opportunities for students to participate in something beyond in post-secondary education, technical, academic or otherwise. 

Representative Diana Gonzales Worthen Yes. Okay. Thank you. So 42% in Arkansas. We’re kind of on the lower end of the other states. So I was wondering, since we’re looking at that in K-12 and we’re looking across the board, ensuring that we can reduce that percentage, 42%, down, what are we doing when it comes to K-5 for pre-career preparation? Experiences or exploration opportunities for K-5 students and their families so that they can hit the ground running by the time they enter sixth grade. 

Because the vision of a success-ready Arkansas graduate, this one, this slide right here, it starts at sixth grade. And I know that in the past, in nonprofits that I’ve worked in in the past, whenever there has been opportunities for families to visit a post-secondary institution, they take their children, for example. That’s just one example. 

And the excitement is there because now the questions are, they’re asking a lot of questions about post-secondary in elementary school. So I was just wondering, this starts at sixth grade. I’m wondering what we’re doing prior to that, so that overall K-12 we’re doing something K-12. 

Ken Warden So I don’t think we can start early enough, right? I think that’s your point. I don’t know that I’m equipped to answer the efforts. I’m sure my colleague Stacey Smith will be glad to, knows what those things are, be glad to share on those. But I’m not equipped to speak to those at this time. I’m happy to follow up though. 

Tina Moore Yeah, and I would only say the slide shows this because this is what the legislation requires in LEARNS. Not to say that there’s not a lot of great work being done in K-5, this is just per the legislation of what’s required. Because I know Ross and his team, when we worked on these, even the early career experiences, if I’ve heard Ross say it once, I’ve heard him say a hundred times, referring to kindergarten and community helpers, how we have to talk about more than just the community helper that students learn about, have talked about all the different careers, even in their backyards. 

Representative Diana Gonzales Worthen Yes, that’s what I was curious about. Because we have a lot of first-generation parents, low-income parents who may be working multiple jobs. And how can we serve all of the families where these two pieces are married, so we’re all aligned? That was my question, yeah, my concern. 

Senator Jane English Representative Brown. 

Lottery proceeds and scholarships

Representative Karilyn Brown Thank you, Madam Chair. I have simple questions. I’ve let my colleagues ask all the difficult ones. I understand that the Academic Challenge Scholarship, that comes from the lottery. And I assume there are a finite amount of funds. Have we ever exhausted the amount of funds in the scholarship lottery? 

Ken Warden No, ma’am, not in recent history. I think maybe early on in the evolution and creation of the lottery, that may be a concern. Right now, and I don’t know, my CFO’s not– Nick’s not–? The last I knew, and don’t hold me to the number, but it was over $350 million in the fund in excess of what we have spent over the past several years that we have accumulated that has not been spent. So we are producing– in prior years, the lottery is generating more than it’s spending.

Representative Karilyn Brown Okay. And then my next easy question is, now that we have LEARNS and it was implemented a couple of school terms ago, are we seeing that our students are achieving more and better? Have we been able to track that yet? 

Ken Warden So as far as LEARNS and implementation, I’m not equipped to speak to that. But I can say, just by the participation rates, the numbers that Ross– we’re not even a year in implementation. This ACCESS legislation didn’t pass until spring of 25. And in this fall, we’ve seen a 30%, 32, almost 33% increase in the number of students participating in concurrent credit. 

And we’ve been seeing huge increases in CTE. So I know, or I feel like, that the numbers show that these steps we’ve taken are making significant strides in participation. And I know that I feel strongly that those numbers are going to continue to grow next year and beyond. 

The thing about the bill is was it was an ominous bill that touched a lot of things. But we’ve encouraged students and parents through better financial opportunities if they stay in school their senior year. We had about half our kids their senior year had a full schedule. And they were trying to go to college without a full schedule, not taking a math class their senior year, and our remediation rates were high. 

So we’ve got to keep them in school their senior year, even if they’re going on with taking more concurrent credit so that they don’t have that time of forgetting. So we’ve got students and parents encouraged to do that with financial aid opportunities. We’ve got districts encouraged to keep them there to get them to this merit and distinction opportunities through enhanced scores through accountability. 

And then we know that our ed folks are going to be connected because they’re going to have more enrollment. So it’s really the trifecta of the package and encouraging all the entities involved to bolster this participation in these enhanced skills and opportunities for Arkansans. 

Tina Moore And one other point– sorry, and to add to the trifecta a fourth thing as well, the part of acceleration that we also talk about is the standardization, making concurrent credit weighted. So that is just an additional reason. Dr. Warden mentioned some students not having a full schedule their senior year. 

Sometimes that was due to, they had already exhausted the AP courses offered at their school, and they did not want to take concurrent credit because it would actually lower their GPA since it was not weighted. So with that change, because of ACCESS, now students are incentivized to take concurrent credit. It’ll help their GPA rather than hurt it, since it’s weighted just like AP or IB courses. 

Representative Karilyn Brown And maybe you can explain that to me offline about being weighted. My other question has to do with the governor’s scholarship. Where did the funds come from for that and is that a limited amount of money? Because it looks like we might be dipping into it a lot.

Ken Warden I just got a text from my CFO. So the lottery account right now, the balance right now is like 330 million. Correction on what I said. So in ACCESS, I think– don’t hold me to the number– but I think that the governor’s scholarships, governor’s distinguished was funded at around $18 million.

 And what we did in ACCESS was that, should the governor’s scholar scholarship amount need exceed the balance, that we could use lottery funds to supplement any overages from what was currently budgeted in the governor’s scholar amount. Does that make sense? 

Representative Karilyn Brown Yes, it does. Thank you. 

Senator Jane English Representative Mayberry. 

Trade school availability

Representative Julie Mayberry Thank you. I’m sorry. I might be a little confused. So I’m just asking for some clarification because that number just kind of perked my ears a little bit with saying that we’ve got, I guess, 330 million. So the people of the state of Arkansas approved the money for the trade schools. 

Is that what we’re talking about here and or are we saying that this 330 million– just help update me and understand where we are. I know if Robin were here, I’d ask her, because I know this is the issue that she really knows about. But if I’m questioning, and maybe some others are questioning, where do we stand with that? Are we using that money now for the trade schools? 

Ken Warden Yes, ma’am. So prior to ACCESS, lottery proceeds could not be used at private career tech schools. They could be used a private college and universities, but they could not be used at private or technical schools. So we have opened it up for use there. So that should increase some of the utilization of lottery scholarship funds. Yes, ma’am. 

Representative Julie Mayberry So do we know what that amount might be? Because it hasn’t started yet? 

Ken Warden So we did a fiscal assessment on that when we when the bill was ran. I can get you the number on what we estimated that that spend to be. 

Representative Julie Mayberry Okay, is that– this school year is the first year that that would be in effect or–? 

Ken Warden Next fall. So we’re working out all the implementation and the rules and processes for that with our friends at OSD and all the public, private career technical schools. There’s a lot of legwork. I mean, we require a lot less of the private career tech schools that we require of our public schools. 

So there’s expectations of reporting because we can’t give them taxpayer money or lottery money and not know and not be able to gauge its effectiveness, so post completion outcomes and such. So we are setting the parameters on all the metrics that we’re going to gather from them, including unique identifiers for students so that we can track wage growth and those type of things. 

But we are doing all that now. And the target date for those schools and those students attending those to apply for that will be fall of 26. 

Tina Moore And in ACCESS, it outlined that $5 million would be allocated specifically for those private career ed. 

Representative Julie Mayberry Okay, do you remember what that amount was, what it was estimated at? 

Ken Warden Dr. Moore just reminded me that that was the $5 million. So we set the fiscal impact at not to exceed $5 million for the first year because there are hundreds of private career technical schools in the state, hundreds. But not all of those are eligible because they don’t offer high wage, high demand programs. It’s a limited number of programs created to– I think the list was placed up there earlier on a slide, what skill sets that we will spend those proceeds to support. 

Representative Julie Mayberry Well, I guess my question would be, if we have $320 million that’s not being used, are we thinking about maybe increasing that lottery scholarship amount to the students? So we get it into the hands of the– I know we did last—

Ken Warden Session. Yeah. So we increased the freshman award from $1,000 to $2,000. We increased the utilization to private career technical schools. We also are  on the cusp of, this past year was the first time we did Challenge Plus. So it wasn’t just merit-based, it was need-based. And that had an impact on the lottery. 

I can’t remember the number, but I think it’s around $10-12 million. So we are seeing an increase in the utilization rate of lottery proceeds. And I think we’ve done so much now, over the next, probably biennium, we need to look and say, Okay, how many more kids are using ACCESS to Acceleration? How is it going with our private career techs? 

Are we using that 5 million? What is the Challenge Plus doing over more than just one year’s worth? So that’s very on top of my mind to make sure that– that money in the bank, that’s great, but it’s not helping students. 

Representative Julie Mayberry No, it’s not doing what it’s intended to do. So I guess I’m just making sure, where are we now? And you’ve given me the information I wanted. I knew that we have done some things, so you’re updating me. Thank you. 

Ken Warden So we have had conversations with our friends at the lottery. Director Sharon Strong, we have good support from them. We know we need to increase the utilization rate. There does need to be an amount in the bank so if something happens, the lottery stops, we could finish what we started with those students. But we think $330 million is too much. So we are working to bring that down.

Representative Julie Mayberry Okay. Thank you for the update. I appreciate it. 

Senator Jane English Representative Barnes.

Representative Glenn Barnes  Thank you. I have a question, probably two questions in one. Number one, do we have any data on how many students and where they are from who are getting the distinguished scholarship? And what journey did they take? Did they take the SAT or the ACT to qualify to get there? 

Ken Warden So, yes, sir, we do have that information, and I can get that to you. I will say we’re a heavy ACT state, so most of the students have used ACT. Now we did open up some other testing options recently because we opened up for the classical learning test, CLT. But yeah, you can use SAT, ACT, CLP now. So any of those can be used, but by and large the most heavily utilized is the ACT. 

Representative Glenn Barnes And can you give us that information? 

Ken Warden Yeah, I can get that information for you. I’m happy to. 

Senator Jane English Can you send that to Emily? Are there any other questions? This has been very informative. Seeing no further questions, we appreciate your attendance. Thank you very much for the information. And I’m sure we’ll be back with you again. 

Ken Warden Thank you very much. 

Senator Jane English Thank you. And now I’d like to introduce Cody Waits who’s the director of Workforce Connections. And the state of Arkansas was fortunate that the federal government chose us and the Department of Workforce Connections to be the administer of a $34 million national apprenticeship grant. So Cody’s here to tell us a little bit about that and what it means for the state of Arkansas. It’s quite an honor. 

Apprenticeship Program

Cody Waits It is. Thank you, Senator, and thank you members of the committee. Just real quick, hats off to counterparts and colleagues from the Department of Education, Higher Ed. They’re doing a great job with everything they’re working on. So, always appreciative of the conversations we have together. 

And I know there’s some apprenticeship-related questions. I think maybe Senator Flowers, Representative Beck, think you had some. So we’ll dive into those here in a minute. But just real quickly, over the last probably six months or so, we’ve been working with the federal US Department of Labor on a cooperative agreement. 

That’s been signed and executed by the US Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration and the Arkansas Department of Commerce Division of Workforce Connections to administer the American Manufacturing Apprenticeship Incentive Fund. And really what brought this up was, there’s a lot of conversations around, How do we address the urgent need to grow and modernize the US manufacturing workforce? 

And in direct response to Executive Order 14278 of preparing Americans for high-paying skilled trade jobs of the future, which is to expand access to high-quality registered apprenticeship programs, Arkansas will serve as the lead grantee and convener to establish this incentive fund. 

The incentive fund will support the expansion of advanced manufacturing registered apprenticeships nationwide to include 120 occupations currently in the advanced manufacturing subsector such as, but not limited to, aerospace and defense, automotive, biotechnologies, maritime industrial defense and shipbuilding, supply chain and automation, nuclear energy, semiconductors, just to name a few. Through an incentive funding model, the Arkansas Department of Commerce will motivate sponsors on a national scale to develop, expand, and or join existing advanced manufacturing registered apprenticeship programs and hire apprentices. 

Incentive funding will be distributed through a pay for performance model, where payments are linked to specific performance criteria and predetermined outcomes. The incentive fund aims to stimulate innovation and reduce barriers that prevent sponsors from committing to registered apprenticeships, thus promoting program scale and sustainability. Just a couple of other things I want to talk about here, just in the opening before I talk a little more plainly, is– there’s a couple of things here. 

So this initiative supports implementation of several presidential executive orders related to expanding registered apprenticeships. I’ve already said the one about preparing Americans for high-paying, skilled trade jobs for the future, advancing artificial intelligence or education for American youth, reinvigorating nuclear industrial base and restoring America’s maritime dominance, and serves a significant pillar in the President’s goal to reach and surpass 1 million active apprentices. 

Additionally, this initiative aligns with pillar one of America’s talent strategy, a comprehensive plan to re-industrialize the US economy by investing in workforce systems that deliver measurable results for employers, workers, and communities. This initiative is designed to incentivize growth and expansion of quality registered apprenticeships in advanced manufacturing, thereby accelerating the creation, expansion, and sustainability of registered apprenticeships. 

It’s not usually like me to read from a piece of paper, so that was a little bit different for me. At the end of the day, what we’re working on now is we’ve already had conversations with many businesses, both here in the state of Arkansas and across the United States, other state workforce agencies: Iowa, Montana, Virginia, Mississippi, Wisconsin, just to name a few. I mentioned companies. 

There’s companies here in Arkansas, such as Virco Manufacturing, Strong Manufacturing, Lockheed Martin and others that already leverage registered apprenticeships in the manufacturing areas. We’ve reached out, and had site selection consultant groups actually reach out to us ,as it relates to their interest and awareness of what’s happening in Arkansas as it relates to workforce development. It’s a really exciting opportunity for us. 

As you mentioned, Senator English, I think it really helps put Arkansas and what we’re doing and workforce development on the map. Obviously this is specific to apprenticeships, but we’ve witnessed a lot of growth in registered apprenticeships in this state over the last few years. I think at one point in time when I first came to the state back in 2017, I think we had somewhere around 4,000 active apprentices. Now we have north of 10,000 active apprentices, as reported by the Department of Labor. 

And obviously a big share of that, we were talking about electrical and things of that nature. Obviously, the construction trades are a big piece of that with the licensing aspect of it. But we’ve seen expansion of apprenticeship obviously in teacher registered apprenticeships,  of which we work with the Department of Education on, manufacturing, IT, data analytics, healthcare. There’s a number of different apprenticeship programs across the board in the state now, and that didn’t exist previously. 

So we’ve made a lot of great work. Additionally, this year and just recently, we submitted our application to the Department of Labor to be the state apprenticeship agency. That legislation was passed during this last legislative session. So as you were listening to my counterpart from the Department of Education talking about, it’s kind of the certified pre-apprenticeship which is governed and overseen by us. 

And then there’s registered apprenticeship programs that get approved by the US Department of Labor. Before the probably beginning of the next fiscal year, we’ll actually be administering all of that through here at the state level. So this pay for performance model, $3,500 incentive payments will basically be cut to organization sponsors of registered apprenticeship programs either here in the state of Arkansas or outside the state of Arkansas as part of this effort. 

Once an apprentice has been employed and registered for a period of 90 days, we will verify that that has occurred and that they’ve met those eligibility criteria and that they’re within the 120 occupations that we’ve agreed upon as part of this effort to begin with. This first six months is kind of a pilot phase for us and the Department of Labor to see how this grows out. 

But at the end of the day, we’ll be cutting those incentive payments to companies and organizations who sustain those individual apprentices for a period of 90 days until the $35.8 million is expended. It’s a four-year grant. We don’t know that the funds will last four years. We’re hoping that there’s a lot of activity over the next few months and years to come.

But with that, Senator, that’s really the gist of what it is that we’re doing and what we’re leading at a national level. There’s only been a couple of these cooperative agreements signed with the Department of Labor. We’re obviously one of them and we’re focused on advanced manufacturing. And I think that puts us in a really good position to do some great things, both at a state level and a national level. So with that, I’ll answer any questions. 

Senator Jane English Thank you. Senator Flowers. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Thank you. Mr. Waits, the $35 million grant, you say it will be administered by Arkansas. Is that for the whole United States? 

Cody Waits It is. Yes. So we were given a $35.8 million cooperative agreement, of which we will hire staff for, 100 percent funded by US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration. We’re in the process of– we just went through Legislative Council a week or two ago– so in the process now of posting positions and hiring positions 100 percent dedicated to administering this fund. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers So how much is the administration? 

Cody Waits We’re going to try to stay under 8 or 9 percent of the total amount of money. And I think that’s one of the things that the Department of Labor is really looking at in their model is, how do we put more money at a state level and try to not spend it so much in NGOs and a lot of administrative and overhead of putting these funds together. 

Because historically what you would see is you’d see a bunch of discretionary grants that would come out, and states would get a little bit here and there. And a lot of it would be taken up at administrative. And by doing it with us, I think we’re going to highlight the fact that you can do a lot more with less. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Is it going to be apportioned equally across the United States, the states of the United States? 

Cody Waits No, no. There’s no requirement that any sort of amount of money has to be expended in any way. There’s no formulas or percentages. It’s really a first come, first served basis, which is why we’re trying really hard as the administrator to make sure that all of our Arkansas companies and organizations are aware of it. 

So hope that you all will help us spread that word in your own districts and communities around this ability for manufacturing employers to take advantage of this. But we want Arkansas to get their fair share.

Senator Stephanie Flowers So technically, Arkansas agency, your agency or whatever work group comes together to administer the funds will be the decider of where the money goes. 

Cody Waits Yes and no. I mean we have certain criteria that we’ve worked on with the US Department of Labor, Employment Training and Administration. So there’s eligibility criteria. There’s actually a landing page that slide. Well, I think it’s live right now. But ArkansasOSD.com/MFGfund. 

So if you want to go to that website, there’s a lot of information on there just around documents and eligibility criteria that organizations will have to adhere to. They’ll have to sign up as vendors with the state of Arkansas. They will have to follow our procurement policies and things of that nature. But, yeah, we are the–. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers They’d have to sign up as a vendor?

Cody Waits Yeah. For us, in order to make payments to them, they’ll have to be a vendor. Yeah. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers In the state of Arkansas? What would that include? 

Cody Waits It’s really just going through the process of, if you’re going to receive a grant or if you’re going to receive a contract or something like that with the State of Arkansas, you sign up as a vendor. That’s a normal process. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers I mean, so do they have to get a certification from an agency to be a vendor? 

Cody Waits No. That’s something they do through the Department of Finance and Administration. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers OK, not through the Secretary of State? They don’t have to be a business organization recognized by the Secretary of State? 

Cody Waits Yeah, I’m not the expert on that aspect of it, Senator. So I’m not going to wade too far into that. But yeah, that’s just part of the normal process for anyone that we provide funds to or that we grant funds to. They have to register as a vendor with the state of Arkansas. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Okay, so technically, or realistically, just one or two states could end up with all that money. 

Cody Waits No, I disagree. I mean, again, right now, we’re already having conversations with about 10 different states and organizations that are within those states that, as they began applying for funds– the application opening is January 28, I believe. So as of January 28, we’ll actually start receiving applications. And whether that’s– obviously, one of the things that we’re focused on is small and medium sized businesses. 

We don’t want extremely large businesses and corporations that have locations in 7, 10 different states to have access to a majority of the funds. So we put some limits and some caps kind of in this first six months of a pilot phase on how many apprentices an organization can receive and apply for funding for. But we’re not really concerned about one or two states taking up a majority of the money. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers So Arkansas, this group or whatever administrative entity is created, I mean are the members of that team from different states or is it all Arkansas born? 

Cody Waits No, so this is administered within the Arkansas Department of Commerce Division of Workforce Connections. And so, through the Office of Skills Development is where this is going to be administered at a very local level here. We’re hiring additional staff through the federal grant funds that we received in order to administer this grant and answer questions and facilitate the funding and some of those things. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers And then I had a last question, which was about– kind of flew from my mind here now, but it was concerning—-um— 

Cody Waits I know you had asked a question previously I think about–

Senator Stephanie Flowers It was about marketing. How do other states, companies or business entities across the United States get information about this? Is that something that is going to be part of the administration through your office? 

Cody Waits It is. Yeah, and we have funds available within the budget that we built with the Department of Labor to provide for marketing and outreach and things of that nature. We’re obviously going to leverage some of our national associations, national association, state workforce agencies, National Governor’s Association, US Chamber of Commerce, our own kind of Department of Commerce, economic development, ways that we deliver messaging to companies and corporations and organizations across the US to help build the message.

 But also the US Department of Labor has it on their website. They put it out to publications. The USDepartment of Labor Secretary put out a press release a couple weeks ago around this. And so a lot of that momentum and a lot about marketing and advertising is already taking place. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Okay. And this program is designed for youth K through 12? 

Cody Waits No, this is not necessarily Youth K through 12. This is for employers that are using registered apprenticeships or are looking to use registered apprenticeships within their business as a workforce development strategy. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers But the targeted apprentice, who would that be? I mean, would it be a young person? 

Cody Waits I mean, it could be anybody that’s working in a manufacturing plant, anybody that is working in industry, anyone that is in the manufacturing sector whether they are 17, 18, 60. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers How does that support what the other group before you were talking about? 

Cody Waits Well, you gotta think of this as kind of a separate situation, right? This is a one-time cooperative agreement that we’re working on with the US Department of Labor. Our relationship with Department of Education, and Career and Tech Ed more specifically, is with the certified pre-apprenticeship framework and how that kind of comes together with kind of what they’re doing at the Department of Education, which ties into a little bit what Representative Beck was asking, which is, we at the agency have set up a certified pre-apprenticeship framework that organizations can apply to. 

Those organizations have to be in connection with employers. They have to have employer acceptance agreements so that employers will honor the hours that those students receive as they’re going through their pre-apprenticeship training. And those typically are registered apprenticeship program sponsors that are applying for that through our agency. 

When we approve that, then organizations are partnering with high schools, secondary career centers and things of that nature to offer that pre-apprenticeships in a lot of ways, whether it’s electrical, plumbing, it might be HVAC, it might be manufacturing. It could be a different– it could be data analytics, web development, whatever the case is. I don’t know all of the exact pre-apprenticeships that are offered at the high school level.

Senator Stephanie Flowers Does that go through your office? 

Cody Waits The certified pre-apprenticeship framework? 

Senator Stephanie Flowers For the high schools and for the public schools. 

Cody Waits Well, the organizations that apply to be an entity to have a certified pre-apprenticeship apply through Arkansas Department of Commerce Workforce Connections. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers So you wouldn’t have the list of apprenticeships in Arkansas? 

Cody Waits We do. We do, yes. We have them all. We can send that to you. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Yes. Thank you.

Cody Waits And if you also, if you go to arkansasosd.com, there’s an apprenticeship title there. And you can go on there and there’s an interactive map. And you can zoom in on different areas of the state, and it’ll show you all the apprenticeships within that specific area. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Including those offered to high school students? 

Cody Waits It should, yes. And if not, then we’ll get it updated. 

Senator Stephanie Flowers Okay, thank you very much. 

Cody Waits Yes, thank you. 

Senator Jane English Representative Ladyman. 

Representative Jack Ladyman Thank you, Madam Chair. I’m way over here. Yeah, this is really interesting. I guess my main question is, what type of entity would apply for these grants? Now, we’re talking about companies that would need certain skills, apprenticeships. 

But a lot of times, a company will work with a college or junior college and set up a program where the school actually does the training, but the company benefits from that by getting trained personnel where they don’t have to do it themselves, right? So who would apply for the grant? Would it be the company or the college or would it be a joint application? 

Cody Waits So there’s really kind of two different ways in which you can do this. So companies are registered apprenticeship program sponsors in some cases. So in some cases it could be a company, right? I’m trying to think of a good example real quick that I might be able to tell you. Can’t think of one. 

Representative Jack Ladyman Well, let me give you an example that I think might work. So I worked for a company that we had a university in the plant. So these were like wind technicians. This was a specific skill that they needed. And so we could do that at the plant or we could do it at ASU or some other university. So in that case, the company could apply to have that program run through ASU or it could be run through the plant, where they could hire trainers at the plant. Is that correct? 

Cody Waits Yeah. And I mean, in most cases, our two-year colleges or four-year universities are not the apprenticeship program sponsor themselves. They’re the training provider, right? So ConAgra, for example, over in Russellville, for an example, they are their own apprenticeship program sponsor. So for this fund, they could apply directly. And we would work with them directly. 

And in other cases, I mentioned companies like Virco Manufacturing or others, they are not their own registered apprenticeship program sponsor. They work with an organization called Apprenticely. Apprenticely is the registered apprenticeship program sponsor who would actually apply to this funding on behalf of that company. 

And as part of that application process, they would have to highlight to us that they have an employer acceptance agreement with Virco Manufacturing. They would have to highlight that the occupation is part of the 120 occupations that are tentatively now approved in order to be a part of this effort. 

So those are really the two kind of organizations that can apply. In some cases, a two-year college or a four-year university is a registered apprenticeship program sponsor. University of Arkansas Fort Smith for a number of years has ran their own program. ASU Newport for a period of time, I still think they run their own apprenticeship program. Black River Technical College is another one that has their own apprenticeship program sponsorship. 

So there’s a number of different types of organizations. Consultants’ firms can be registered apprenticeship program sponsors, but you have to be a registered apprenticeship program sponsor to apply for this fund. Now, what type of entity you are, whether you’re the business itself or a two-year college or a third-party provider, that’s who’s eligible to apply for this funding on behalf of the employers. 

Representative Jack Ladyman We’ve had discussions with Arkansas Tech about developing a nuclear program for technicians. So in that case, if Nuclear One, Entergy wanted to do that– maybe they already do, I don’t know–and Arkansas Tech had to develop a program, so in that case, would that be a partnership? Or who would initiate that? 

Cody Waits Yeah, either way. It just depends on how really the business wants to do it. If the business want to take on the ownership of that on themselves, then they’re more than happy to do that. If they want to outsource it to an intermediary– we use that term intermediary in a lot of ways. 

So whether that’s an organization like an Apprenticely who functions as an apprenticeship program sponsor, or whether that’s the college and they want take on that ownership of it, they can do it. Sometimes the college likes to be the training provider. Sometimes the business likes to business, and they like to outsource it to somebody else. So it just depends on kind of the nature of the parties involved and who wants to have ownership of that. 

There is some legwork that has to be done if you’re the business just in terms of getting the approvals, getting the documentation, tracking all that documentation, things of that nature. So the beauty about this, though, is typically in the past, that has been done by the US Department of Labor field office in Dallas. Once we get our application approved, that’ll all start happening here at the Department of Commerce Workforce Connections here in the state. 

So when that time comes, if they choose to do an apprenticeship program, we’d be at the table sitting down from the beginning to the end if they choose to do an apprenticeship of establishing roles and responsibilities, making sure the documentation and paperwork was in order. And again, it’s really just the choice of how the business intends to operate. 

Representative Jack Ladyman But the college or university could do all of that as long as they had a place for the students to go once they’re certified? Is that right? 

Cody Waits Correct. Yes. 

Representative Jack Ladyman All right. Thank you, sir. 

Senator Jane English What happened? Oh, okay. Representative Rye? 

Representative Johnny Rye Thank you, Madam Chairman. Cody, let me ask you this. That $35.5 million, now that’s across the entire United States. Do you happen to know how much is the figure for just the state of Arkansas alone and are we utilizing that? 

Cody Waits Yeah, we are going to be utilizing it. Yes, and that’s why we’re trying to be very intentional about having conversations with all the industry associations, state chamber of commerce. We’re working through our manufacturing extension partnership and having conversations with manufacturers. 

We already have interest across a number of different manufacturers in the state. I mentioned a few already. But there’s no set number, for example. There’s no set percentage. There is no set hard number that we’re going to have specific to us here in Arkansas. We just want to make sure that we get our companies that are interested and engaged and want to be part of this early and often so that we can have access to as much funding as will be available. Again, because it’s a first come, first served basis. 

Representative Johnny Rye Follow-up, ma’am, please. Let me ask you this. Of all of this type situation that we’re going through here with this, do you think that the parents of these children and all of the teachers, are they actually in tune with what’s going on here? 

Cody Waits Well, not specific to this specific grant, because this isn’t really targeted at that K-12 population, right? This is really targeted more towards the businesses that are using registered apprenticeship currently as a workforce development strategy or have been on the fence or trying to mitigate costs as it relates to getting into an apprenticeship model. 

So I don’t know that that necessarily impacts the students. But holistically, like more generally and broadly speaking, not just specifically to this grant, yeah, I mean, we’re trying really hard to put out the message around what apprenticeship can be and how it can help support you in many ways. 

We’ve heard earlier just about how many different pathways and opportunities there are for young students and adult learners and things of that nature. And a lot of the time, we get caught up in the K-12 piece, but there’s an adult ed population out there as well that we’re targeting and trying to get into more apprenticeships, whether it’s manufacturing, construction, healthcare, you name it. Energy. So yeah, I mean, we’re trying to change that. Be Pro, Be Proud obviously helps us with that every single day to the state chamber. 

Representative Johnny Rye Thank you, Cody. And thank you, Ms. Chairman. 

Senator Jane English Representative Painter. 

Representative Stetson Painter Right here in front of you. Will you be able to provide us some data on maybe the apprenticeships and so forth that Arkansas companies take advantage of? I think you said something about 90 days or something like that. Can you provide us at least within Arkansas, who’s taking advantage and maybe what those apprenticeships are? 

Cody Waits Absolutely. 

Representative Stetson Painter Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. 

Four-day school week ISP

Senator Jane English Do I see further questions? I don’t see any further questions. Thank you very much for the presentation. It has been very enlightening. We’ve learned a lot. And now we will have consideration of adoption of an interim study by Senator Crowell. If you’d like to come up, please. Thank you. And you’re proposing an ISP? 

Senator Steve Crowell Yes, Senator Crowell, District 3. This is just a simple ISP on the four day school week. Just a fact finding mission. I mean, that’s what ISPs are all about. 

Senator Jane English Anybody have questions? I need a motion. All in favor? All opposed? Thank you very much. Okay, seeing no further business, we are adjourned.