By STEVE BRAWNER
The 2023 legislative session transformed the state’s K-12 education system through Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ LEARNS Act. This year, the focus will be on colleges and universities.
In her State of the State address Jan. 14, Sanders introduced Arkansas ACCESS, her plan for higher education reform.
ACCESS would include several features. Students could complete one application form that they could use for any state-supported college or university, rather than having to complete a different one for each school where they apply. The state would pay for high school students to take college classes. That’s already happening, but apparently she would expand it. She said the state would provide scholarships for associate’s degrees and for worker training credentials that are not part of a degree plan. She also said the state would change its higher education funding formula to provide more money for those non-degree credentials.
Sanders also said she would make it possible to fire any professor who “wastes time indoctrinating our students instead of educating them.” She said students shouldn’t be “bombarded with anti-American, historically illiterate, woke nonsense.”
The legislation has not been filed, so we don’t know the details. We don’t even know what the letters of “ACCESS” stand for, assuming it’s an acronym.
When will we find out? Going back in history to 2023, Sanders unveiled the details of her LEARNS plan on Feb. 8, while the 144-page bill was filed on Feb. 20. Among its provisions was letting families use public school funds for private and homeschooling, and increasing the minimum teacher salary to $50,000. After it was filed, it sailed through the legislative process in a couple of weeks.
Sanders believes the state’s educational institutions must focus on workforce skills development, rather than providing a general, mind-broadening education.
Dr. Brendan Kelly, president of the Arkansas State University System, told me that colleges and universities have already been moving in that direction. Education, he said, “has to be tied to participation in the economy.” Students are looking for marketable skills, not learning for the sake of learning.
“I think the major trend in higher education, and I will guarantee that is true for the ASU System, is going to be ‘transformation’ over the coming years,” he said. “I believe very strongly that we need to be chasing after the needs and expectations of those we’re in service to, and not the historical models that we are all used to.”
Kelly wants to package higher education to provide more continuing education opportunities so people can update and improve their skills. His system is providing more short-term transitional credentials in addition to the traditional two-year and four-year degrees.
My field of journalism is an example. Journalism does not have a continuing education tradition, even though it’s constantly changing. When I first started in newspapers, we developed photos from film in the dark room, and we printed the pages on legal paper on a laser printer and manually pasted them on a big sheet before sending them to the press. Yes, we did have computers.
A 55-year-old like me might need to update my skills from time to time. ASU now offers short-term certificates in corporate media, graphic communication, media ministry, and nonprofit strategic communication. Will ACCESS provide more funding for more such offerings? We’ll see.
Meanwhile, students can learn technical skills for fields such as welding and auto mechanics at Arkansas’ 22 community colleges. The University of Arkansas – Cossatot started an aerial broadband lineman program at its De Queen campus a year-and-a-half ago. Students can learn to install overhead internet lines in four weeks at no cost to themselves. Then they are qualified for an entry level job that pays $20 an hour, said the chancellor, Dr. Stephen Cole.
UA – Cossatot created the program in concert with the state’s Office of Skills Development and with two other schools. Arkansas State University Three Rivers in Malvern is providing tower training. The University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton is teaching trenching and boring skills for underground broadband installation. Industry partners helped drive the curricula.
The collaborative process, he said, is “the perfect model for the state.”
Higher education is very expensive – for students and taxpayers – and it must produce a return on investment, not just a diploma and student debt. As Kelly told me, it must provide skills not just for the first job out of college, but that can help a person progress throughout their careers.
That starts with having access. Probably ACCESS will help, too. We’ll know more soon.
Steve Brawner is a syndicated columnist published in 18 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.
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