Board not reaching educator demand
Posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Gov. Mike Beebe’s budget proposes to place a board that awards housing grants to teachers under the Department of Education, a shift that raised questions with legislators Monday.
Education Commissioner Ken James said he and Beebe share concerns that the Arkansas Teacher Housing Development Foundation isn’t as effective as it could be at recruiting teachers. It’s only awarded $ 24, 000 in housing grants through fiscal 2008.
But the foundation director told a legislative education budget subcommittee that there were legitimate reasons few grants have been awarded.
The department funds the foundation with a $ 100, 000 annual grant. That money would continue under the Beebe and James plan, but board employees would be placed under the department’s supervision starting in fiscal 2010.
The foundation now answers to a nine-member board.
James said he wants to make sure the foundation is getting the job done and addressing problems which led to its creation during the 2003-04 special session on education.
The board’s mission is to give housing and rental stipends to educators in districts that historically have had problems with teacher recruitment.
The idea was to fund the stipends with state funds and private donations.
“We never got [private ] grants,” said Melanie Yelder, the foundation’s director.
She said all of the stipends have been funded with state dollars.
She emphasized that the $ 24, 000 figure represented what was awarded in fiscal 2008, which ended June 30.
Updated figures show the foundation has disbursed $ 69, 000, according to data distributed at the meeting.
Yelder told legislators it took time to set up the foundation and no applications were taken until October 2007. She said the law setting it up, Act 39 by Rep. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, limits those who are eligible, reducing the pool of teachers who may receive grants.
Applicants must have three years of teaching experience, be approved for a mortgage and be willing to teach in one of 28 districts, all located in the Delta.
James said in an interview he didn’t know whether he accepted Yelder’s explanation. He said he didn’t have enough information because the department has had nothing to do with the foundation other than be the “pass through” for the $ 100, 000 in state funding the foundation gets.
Legislators wanted to know whether the foundation board would be abolished. James said he didn’t know.
The Senate president pro tempore and House speaker each appoint three members to the board. The other three are the executive director of the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System, the director of the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and the president of the Arkansas chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors.
The maximum amount of rental stipend teachers may receive is $ 2, 000 a year and the maximum amount of mortgage assistance is $ 10, 000. Nine teachers have received rental assistance and eight others have received mortgage assistance, according to the foundation. Yelder declined to say whether she favored placing the foundation under the department.
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online
