With so much attention focused on last week’s teacher insurance special session, an important case handed down last Thursday from the Arkansas Supreme Court was all but overlooked. In Deer-Mt. Judea School Dist. v. Kimbrell, the Arkansas Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s ruling to dismiss some of the Deer-Mt. Judea School District’s claims against …
The 2013 Special Session
Governor Beebe has called a special session of the Arkansas General Assembly to begin today at 3:00 p.m. for legislators to address the health insurance premium increase that public school teachers and employees would otherwise face starting January 1, 2014, which I’ve discussed here and here. Governor Beebe had stated that he would not call a …
Update on Teacher Health Insurance
Last month, I broke down here why school employee health insurance is more expensive than that for general state employees and why school employees may be facing a 50% increase in premiums starting in January. Several weeks ago, Governor Beebe delayed school employee enrollment from October 1 until November 1 (enrollment ends November 20) to give …
Feds Issue Guidance on Race-Based Admissions
Late last month, the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice jointly issued this “Dear Colleague” Letter and “Questions and Answer” to college and university presidents across the country as additional guidance to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Fisher v. University of …
Arkansas Supreme Court Rejects Teacher Union Appeal
Today, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued an opinion affirming a circuit court’s dismissal of the lawsuit filed by the Pulaski Association of Classroom Teachers (PACT) and the Pulaski Association of Support Staff (PASS) against Dr. Tom Kimbrell, Education Commissioner, and the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE), among others, for Dr. Kimbrell’s decision to order the Pulaski …
Some Arkansas Schools Allowed to Arm Teachers
I wrote here last month about a recent Attorney General Opinion in which the AG said that school districts do not qualify under state law to obtain a license from the Arkansas Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies to use staff as armed guards. This opinion was in response to news that the Clarksville School …
Why is Teacher Health Insurance so Expensive?
As you may have heard, there’s a pretty significant debate going on at the state capitol this week with regards to public school employee health insurance rates. Teachers and other public school employees will see a significant increase in their plan premiums for 2014, while state employees, who have always enjoyed significantly lower rates, will …
Justice Department Asks Court to Block Louisiana Voucher Program in Some Schools
If you’ve read much of this blog, then you may have realized that I like discussing the topics of school choice and school vouchers, as you can see from my posts here, here, and here, just to point out a few. I like discussing these topics because everyone has a strong opinion about them, and regardless …
California Court: Lay School Employees May Administer Insulin
Earlier this week, the California Supreme Court, in American Nurses Association v. Torlakson, ruled that trained school personnel who are not licensed health care providers may administer insulin to diabetic students. This case stemmed from a federal class action lawsuit filed by parents of diabetic students in the California public school system, along with the …
AG Weighs In On Arming School District Staff
As I recently discussed here, a bill was filed in the last legislative session that would have allowed school districts to contract with existing staff to carry concealed weapons on campus and provide additional security. That bill failed, but as I’m sure you’ve read by now, that didn’t stop at least one Arkansas school district …