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(December 2017) OpenTheBooks CEO Adam Andrzejewski speaking at Harvard Law School

Efficiency Project Delivers Results
State Receivables Decline $22.1 Million

(December 2017) One year after the Efficiency Project recommended reducing more than $300 million in outstanding state receivables a Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) pilot program has collected $22.1 million. The action occurred after Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced in late 2015 that the Policy Foundation would work to identify efficiencies.

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Arkansas Has Second Highest Income Tax Rate In Region

(December 2017) Arkansas' top income tax rate (6.9%) is the second-highest in the 12-state southeast region, trailing only South Carolina (7.0%), according to the Federation of State Tax Administrators. The organization serves the principal tax collection agencies of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Philadelphia, and New York.

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Arkansas Employment Growth Trails National Average

(December 2017) Nine years into a national economic expansion Arkansas' economy trails the national average in jobs creation, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics records.

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Arkansas School Choice And Finance In The 21st Century (Oct. 17 Forum)

(October 2017) The Arkansas Policy Foundation and Reason Foundation cordially invite you to a panel and workshop event, titled “Arkansas School Choice and School Finance in the 21st Century”

The event includes a panel discussion on “National Trends in School Choice and Implications for Arkansas” with Rep. Jim Dotson and Arkansas Parent Network’s Virginia Walden Ford and a panel on “The Future of School Finance and Implications for Arkansas” with the Reason Foundation’s Education Director Lisa Snell and Reason Policy Analyst, Aaron Smith. Lunch will be followed by a keynote address by Arkansas Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin.

Hear from Arkansas leaders about the landscape for school choice and more student-centered funding and opportunities for future growth. In addition, Reason Foundation education policy analysts will share national trends toward pioneering systems to fund students and schools more transparently, equitably, and flexibly.

Date: Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Time: 9 AM - 1:00 PM (lunch provided) – Registration starts at 8:30

Location: Heifer Village, 1 World Ave., Little Rock, AR 72202

You can register online at Eventbrite: Arkansas School Choice and Finance in the 21st Century

You can also RSVP via email (kaza@arkansaspolicyfoundation.org) or (lsnell@reason.org) by Friday October 13.

You can also RSVP by calling (501) 537-0825.

Transportation Department Adopts Performance-based Pay Policy

(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.

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DFA Acts On Efficiency Project Recommendations

(August 2017) The state Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) is acting on nine major recommendations from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) a leading international management consulting firm retained by the Policy Foundation in 2016 to study the agency.

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Gov. Hutchinson Seeks Action On Efficiency Project Proposal

(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.

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State Efficiency Reviews: Costs & Projected Savings

(July 2017) Management consultants conducted efficiency reviews in Kansas, Louisiana, and North Carolina this decade, at costs ranging from $2.6-to-$4.2 million. Volunteers led an earlier Kansas project. A Policy Foundation review of published reports in these states found a broad range of estimated savings ($9.3 million to $2.7 billion). To-date savings vary by state, according to state executives and budget officials.

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Tom Easterly Named 'Unsung Hero' Of 2017

(June 2017) Tom Easterly, a Murphy Commission Education Team volunteer who later played a role in a landmark Arkansas State Supreme Court decision has been named the Policy Foundation's 'Unsung Hero' of 2017.

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Efficiency Project Recommendation Approved

(May 2017) Mission creep describes the tendency of government programs to expand beyond their original purpose. One Arkansas example is a 1997 program that pays incentive bonuses to teachers that obtain national-board certification and work in high-poverty K-12 public schools. The program grew over two decades into a $16 million program that also pays bonuses to teachers in other schools.

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Arkansas Jobs Creation Trails U.s. Average

(May 2017) Arkansas state legislators cut taxes for low-income Arkansans and military retirees in this year's 91st General Assembly but failed to reduce taxes on job creators. The result? Arkansas' job creation rate trails the U.S. average by a wide margin nearly eight years into the third longest economic expansion in U.S. history.

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Medical Volunteers & State Lines

(April 2017) Arkansas is a rural state that suffers from a shortage of medical professionals. One oft-discussed idea would assign advanced nurse practitioners a greater role. A lesser-known idea allows medical professionals to volunteer across state lines.

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Dental Proposal Floated

(April 2017) State Rep. Deborah Ferguson, D-West Memphis, sponsored HB 1255 in the 91st General Assembly (2017) to 'Create A Temporary Charitable Dental License.' The measure would have allowed the Arkansas State Board of Dental Examiners to " license a dentist who practices for no more than four (4) consecutive days per calendar year in the State of Arkansas without compensation if the dentist has applied for and received a temporary license from the board." Ferguson practiced dentistry for 25 years.

Arkansas Organizational Charts

(April 2017) The Efficiency Project compiled organizational charts to help Arkansas citizens understand state government's structure.
One Arkansas citizen told the Project that state government "should standardize department organizational charts and have these on a website ... My time in the Army taught me chain of command. If you don't know the structure of the chain a person would have a hard time knowing who to contact."

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Arkansas Needs Good Samaritans

(March 2017) The Affordable Care Act does not mandate dental and vision care for adults. Charitable organizations like Remote Area Medical (RAM) can organize free clinics that provide this care in three states (Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee) that border Arkansas. But the medical and dental professionals that volunteer for RAM are forbidden from serving as Good Samaritans in Arkansas. Learn more about RAM's work in this 2008 segment from CBS' '60 Minutes.'

https://ramusa.org

Gov. Hutchinson Names Efficiency Panel

(February 19, 2017) Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced today the founding of the Transformation Advisory Board, which will continue to "examine the recommendations for potential efficiencies and cost-savings from a report by the Arkansas Policy Foundation released last year."

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Bank Department Adds 'Efficiency' To Mission Statement

(February 2017) The Arkansas State Bank Department has amended its mission statement to include efficiency after a Policy Foundation report recommended the action. The revised statement explains the Bank Department's mission is to "efficiently allocate Department resources to maintain a legal and regulatory structure for Arkansas that provides the public with convenient, safe and competitive banking, which allows for economic development within this State."

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Efficiency Project in Wall Street Journal

(January 2017) The Wall Street Journal, America's leading commercial daily published a column in its January 14 edition that discussed the Arkansas state government Efficiency Project.

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Little Rock Students Need School Choice

(January 2017) School choice and charter schools continue to advance since the Little Rock School District was taken over by the state two years ago for academic distress. The Succeed Scholarship Program was created by the state legislature and it's probable another tax credit or voucher program will be established in this year's session. Student demand is so great there are nine open-enrollment charter school systems operating in Little Rock, according to the state Department of Education.

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Mission Statement

The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations.

The Foundation emphasizes the importance of tax policy and education reform.

Principles of tax policy: Arkansas would benefit from comprehensive, pro-growth reform; Arkansans are not under-taxed; taxes and rates do matter to entrepreneurs; dynamic scoring of tax changes and effects provides benefits.

Education reform: The Foundation seeks intellectual honesty and complete openness in reporting the lack of academic progress in Arkansas' school system.

The Foundation encourages citizenship.

Looking For Archived Policy Research?
Visit http://arkansaseconomics.org/