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PULASKI COUNTY SCHOOL CHOICE MARKET NEARS 19,000 STUDENTS

(January 2018) Records show the school choice market in Pulaski County totaled nearly 19,000 K-12 students in 2017. This niche educational market includes students eligible to participate in public school choice programs, capped at three percent (3%) of enrollment; and homeschooled, private and charter students.   The Arkansas School Choice Market   School choice has […]

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ARKANSAS SCHOOL CHOICE MARKET NEARS 80,000 STUDENTS  

“The most callused aspect of the current education monopoly in Arkansas is that it willingly and deliberately forces children–except those whose parents have wealth–to attend bad schools.” Policy Foundation report,11998   (January 2018) Records show the Arkansas school choice market continues to grow at a high rate, expanding from an estimated 66,627 K-12 students (2013)2 to […]

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Arkansas Employment Growth Trails National Average

“There is significant evidence that reductions in marginal state tax rates encourage state economic growth …Rates on productive behavior should be reduced.” “Reduce the state’s income tax…repeal the state’s capital gains tax.” Arkansas Policy Foundation, Murphy Commission project, 1998 (December 2017) Nine years into a national economic expansion Arkansas’ economy trails the national average in jobs […]

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EFFICIENCY PROJECT DELIVERS RESULTS:  STATE RECEIVABLES DECLINE $22.1 MILLION

“(A) stronger FOIA has the potential to save Arkansas taxpayers millions of dollars … Records we obtained … show outstanding tax liens …. while taxes are raised and counties aren’t fully reimbursed for housing state inmates in county jails.” Watchdog.org,1 March 20, 2015   (December 2017) One year after the Efficiency Project recommended reducing more than $300 million in […]

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ARKANSAS HAS SECOND HIGHEST INCOME TAX RATE IN REGION  

(December 2017) Arkansas’ top income tax rate (6.9%)1 is the second-highest in the 12-state southeast region,2 trailing only South Carolina (7.0%), according to the Federation of State Tax Administrators.3  The organization serves the principal tax collection agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, and New York.4   South Carolina 7.0% Arkansas 6.9% West Virginia 6.5% Georgia […]

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TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT ADVANCES PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY  

“Define and implement a system of performance-based pay for all state employees.” Murphy Commission, “Making Arkansas’ State Government Performance Driven and Accountable,” September 19981   (September 2017) The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) has advanced a performance-based pay program, a reform first recommended in 1998 by the Murphy Commission, a Policy Foundation project.   The performance-based […]

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GOV. HUTCHINSON SEEKS ACTION ON EFFICIENCY PROJECT PROPOSAL  

  Facilities Partnership funding is distributed in an inefficient manner. Policy Foundation Efficiency Project, Second Report, Recommendation #49, p. 181   (August 2017) Freshman Gov. Asa Hutchinson has asked a state panel to recommend changes to a K-12 public school spending practice criticized last year by the Policy Foundation’s Efficiency Project.   “We’ve been going […]

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DFA ACTS ON EFFICIENCY PROJECT RECOMMENDATIONS  

“Analysis of these themes and issues has led to larger findings related to statewide issues and opportunities, which have been summarized into nine major recommendations.” PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Efficiency Review of Arkansas State Government (August 2016)   (August 2017) The state Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) is acting on nine major recommendations from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP […]

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