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Wealth, Education, and The Opportunity Gap

Education has been called “the great equalizer,” because it is a key tool in lifting the working poor out of poverty, decreasing crime, and improving health. Arkansas has made education a priority since statehood. The state’s constitution says the...

The AACF Guide to School Funding

Where does it come from? Where does it go? This guide tells you: • Why school funding matters • Where the money comes from • How school funds can be used to help low-income students • How parents can...

Data Book shows need for pre-K funding boost

Arkansas is slipping when it comes to pre-K education. Every year, the Annie E. Casey Foundation releases the Kids Count Data Book, featuring new numbers on the well-being of children in Arkansas. Over the past year, we’ve seen a...

AACF statement on increase in pre-K funding

The following is a statement from Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families: Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) and the Invest Early Coalition would like to thank Governor Hutchinson and the Arkansas General...

Law enforcement group supports pre-K increase

Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national, bipartisan, nonprofit anti-crime organization of nearly 5,000 police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors, attorneys general and other law enforcement leaders and violence survivors, has published a letter sent to Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson in support...

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

The health and education of Arkansas children are at risk because of a new bill that would redirect billions of future state general revenue dollars that typically funds programs for children and families and put it towards highways and...

Show pre-K some love!

Learning begins way before kindergarten. The experts agree that high-quality pre-k gives kids a strong start toward success in school. But the Arkansas Better Chance pre-K program hasn’t seen a dime of new funding since 2008, which means that pre-K centers...

AACF statement on (lack of) pre-K funding

The Joint Budget Committee of the Arkansas General Assembly recently rejected an increase in state funding for the Arkansas Better Chance pre-K program for fiscal year 2016. This marks the eighth straight year without an increase, a cut once...