May 30, 2024 at 10:00 AM - State Board of Education

Huntsville Public School District is requesting a one-year Standards for Accreditation waiver of 1-A.5 Class Size for one art instructor.  There will be a paraprofessional employed to assist the classroom teacher. At the State Board of Education's May 9, 2024, meeting, this request was originally presented to the board by the Huntsville Intermediate School principal. 

Pursuant to the authority granted to the State Board of Education, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) - Office of Early Childhood (OEC) - Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) respectfully requests approval of the Arkansas Better Chance Program Renewal Grants for the 2024-2025 school year in the total amount of $106,072,095.

The requested funds for the ABC renewal grants will provide early childhood services for children birth to 5 years old through 227 agencies that oversee 525 sites, serving 23,228 children in both center-based and home visiting settings.  These programs employ 3,509 early childhood teachers, paraprofessionals, and program coordinators.

ABC is also requesting to support foster children as well as homeless/displaced children as the need arises. ABC provides waivers for the identified children to receive immediate services.  The placement of a foster child and/or displaced child in an ABC program would add a per child award above the total awarded number of slots for that program during the 2024-2025 year.

Pursuant to the authority granted to the State Board of Education, the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) - Office of Early Childhood (OEC) - Arkansas Better Chance (ABC) respectfully requests approval of the Arkansas Better Chance Professional Service Grants for the 2024-2025 school year in the total amount of $5,983,230.

ABC Professional Service Grants support quality programming for children by providing 3,529 ABC Early Childhood teachers, paraprofessionals, coordinators, and school administrators with training, coaching, technical assistance, and services to ensure high quality early learning environments and positive outcomes for children. ABC EC staff are required to complete 30 hours annually of Early Childhood Professional Development in the areas of Arkansas Child Development and Early Learning Standards: Birth Through 60 months, Family Engagement, Trauma Informed Care, Child Growth and Development, Health and Wellness, Domain Specific Content in the areas of Emergent and Foundational Language and Literacy based on the Science of Reading, Numeracy, Promoting Social and Emotional Health and Executive Function Skills, Use of Child Assessment to Gage Kindergarten Readiness, Using Data to Guide EC development, and the Continuous Quality Improvement System.

The chair of the State Board of Education will appoint three board members to the Nominating Committee. The Nominating Committee will present nominations for chair and vice chair of the board for consideration by the full board at the regularly scheduled June meeting. According to State Board of Education operating procedures, "Members of the committee are not barred from becoming nominees themselves."