The Clinton School Of Public Service
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) Extending state legislative term limits, reducing dependency on standardized tests, and passing a half-cent sales tax are among recommendations from students at the Clinton School of Public Service.
Students released their recommendations to state lawmakers Saturday during the Arkansas 2032 conference.
The recommendations covered several topics including economic development, public health, race relations, the aging population, K-12 public education and higher education. They will be forwarded to state elected officials and community leaders
Among the recommendations are:
- Extend state legislative term limits to 20 years collectively between both the House of Representatives and the Senate
- Pass a half-cent sales tax increase designated specifically to higher education to supplement, not supplant, existing revenues
- Develop a uniform distance-learning model that incorporates all Arkansas higher education institutions
- Ensure entrepreneurs are able to obtain financing, including development of more micro-finance opportunities
- Reduce dependence on standardized testing scores for learning assessment
- Identify coalitions to help bridge regional gaps that currently exist within the state and adapt strategies to encourage more regional collaboration
- Implement financial literacy curricula in the public school system (K-12)
- Expand the Natural State advertising brand to include health promotion to increase awareness of existing natural resources for active living
- Develop a multimedia public advertising campaign to every generational market featuring cultural icons addressing racism
- Mandate K-12 and higher education campuses to have on-campus diversity professionals and/or department that provide preventative and responsive race relations programming.
- Better utilize and promote the home health care system to facilitate independent living
- Create a third party oversight entity that will identify and expose racial disparities in public systems addressing disparities in sentencing in our judicial system, governmental contracts and racial profiling by individuals of authority