1.) School funding facts: Local school districts are elected governments. In fact, they are the largest and richest local governments in Arkansas, dwarfing city and county governments. Those local governments set salaries for their administrators, teachers and staff. Like all governments at all levels, some manage their people’s money well, and some don’t. If you’re focusing on the Legislature when it comes to the performance of your local school district, you’re mistaken. In 2019-20, the top ten districts for starting teacher salaries were: Springdale — $48,282
Fayetteville — $46,450
Bentonville — $46,171
Rogers — $45,750
Searcy — $42,600
Jonesboro — $42,400
Gravette — $42,300
Cabot — $42,000
Greenwood — $42,000
Beebe — $41,750
And yet, the top ten for per pupil total expenditure were:
Cutter-Morning Star — $30,351
Armorel — $26,378
Marvell-Elaine — $25,358
Palestine-Wheatley —$24,383
Clarendon — $23,802
Marked Tree — $23,524
Barton-Lexa — $21,677
Mineral Springs — $21,049
Des Arc — $20,258
Mulberry/Pleasant View Bi-County— $20,052
The richest school district in Arkansas, by far, is Little Rock. And yet, its starting teacher salary was $36,000 (the state’s current minimum), while its per pupil total expenditure was $17,665. For perspective, Arkansas average starting teacher salary was $36,598, and average total per pupil expenditure was $12,936. Reforming your local school district is hard. Blaming the legislature is easy. Inform yourself and hold your local elected school board members accountable. And if your administrators and/or board members are telling you it’s the Legislature’s responsibility, they know better and are using you.
2019-20 District Financial Data: http://www.officeforeducationpolicy.org/downloads/2021/02/2019-2020-finance-data-for-districts.xlsx Most Recent Data: MySchoolInfo.Arkansas.gov
2.) Disband the CDC now!
https://nypost.com/2022/08/14/too-little-too-late-disband-the-cdc-now/
3.) Just say NO to Monkeypox vaccines – AFLDS
On July 23, 2022, Dr. Tedros of The World Health Organization overruled his own special advisory committee to declare a state of emergency regarding the spread of monkeypox. The lack of consensus among the WHO special advisory committee notwithstanding, President Biden followed suit, and officially declared a public health emergency on August 2, 2022.
With this comes the push to vaccinate with yet another untested, unsafe vaccine. Monkeypox has been around for decades and is not an easily transmissible virus. Yet, at-risk persons are being encouraged to receive a vaccination which the CDC has no safety or efficacy data on.
Read more about the emergency declaration and the vaccine rollout in our full Issue Brief: Monkeypox Vaccines – The Next Big Push.
Again, JUST SAY NO to monkeypox vaccines. You and your loved ones are not at risk unless you come in close physical contact with an infected person. Healthcare workers should not rush to vaccinate either.
We at AFLDS urge everyone to share our brief and educate yourselves on this virus and the available vaccinations. Stand your ground. Do not fear. Do not lock down. Do NOT allow yourself to be inoculated.