{"id":2248,"date":"2017-04-14T22:13:41","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T22:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/?p=2248"},"modified":"2017-04-14T22:13:41","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T22:13:41","slug":"battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Rep. Bruce Cozart (R-Hot Springs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As expected, the tug of war between school choice advocates and defenders of traditional public schools played out in Arkansas\u2019s 91st General Assembly, which concluded its flurry of lawmaking last week.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 2017 legislative session, charter schools have gained the right to force school districts to sell or lease underutilized public school buildings. The Succeed Scholarship, a voucher program that uses public funds to pay private school tuition for a limited number of children with disabilities, was expanded to include foster children in group homes and to no longer require accreditation for participating private schools. The Succeed Scholarship also received a 62.5 percent increase in funding. Efforts by Democratic lawmakers to place a moratorium on new charter schools in districts under state control and to require charters to comply with the Freedom of Information Act failed in committee.<\/p>\n

Although school choice advocates won most battles this session,\u00a0they were unable to pass a bill that would have established savings accounts\u00a0to be used at parents' discretion to pay for private school and other education costs. The bill had two iterations: Senate Bill 746 and House Bill 1222. Both failed in the\u00a0House, with the Republican majority split on the issue. Critics said education savings accounts are a roundabout way of establishing a voucher program and that they<\/p>\n

Rep. Mark Lowery (R-Maumelle), who was a co-sponsor of the House version of the education savings account bill, said its failure was a big loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cLegislators gave into the hysteria of superintendents over this program,\u201d he said. \u201cMany times local school districts fall into this lockstep acceptance of only doing things the way they have done them before, and there is the fear of the unknown that I think overshadows the fact that most legislators think that school choice is a positive choice in public education.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we have that much power, that\u2019s awesome,\u201d said Richard Abernathy, executive director of the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, which represents superintendents.\u00a0\u201cTruth be known, it was poor public policy. That\u2019s why the bill didn\u2019t get through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Superintendents are perceived as having significant influence among legislators of both parties, especially in the House. In some rural House districts, public schools may be the largest employers in the community. Abernathy testified against the education savings account bill on behalf of superintendents, who view private schools as competitors. In Arkansas, education funding is tied to each student, so when students leave public school to attend private school, school districts lose money. In smaller districts, declining enrollment could also lead to the closing of schools.<\/p>\n

Abernathy said superintendents were not the only group against the bill. SB 746 and HB 1222 had a long list of opponents, including the Arkansas Education Association (which represents public school teachers), the Arkansas School Boards Association, the Arkansas Rural Education Association and the Rural Community Alliance.<\/p>\n

Sen. Alan Clark (R-Lonsdale) said that while the majority of people in Arkansas support school choice, \u201ca lot of our legislators were scared to death because of superintendents and teachers. There is a very vocal element that does not support school choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark said he worked behind the scenes with the lead sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, Sen. Blake Johnson (R-Corning), and the Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators to fix problems in the legislation, such as a lack of protection against racial discrimination in private schools.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dealt with every problem [the superintendents] had. Once we fixed the bill, they came up with more problems,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the opponents mostly worried that it would work.\u201d\u00a0Clark said he thinks school choice could be the big issue in the next election.<\/p>\n

Tracey-Ann Nelson, the executive director of the Arkansas Education Association,\u00a0said even though the education savings account bill failed, it\u2019s not \u201cdead forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just get a breather,\u201d she said adding that the next version will be \u201cbigger, stronger, more peeling off of resources from kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark, Lowery and House Education Committee chairman Rep. Bruce Cozart (R-Hot Springs) agreed that a bill that establishes education savings accounts will be back in future legislative sessions. The lead sponsor of the bill, Rep. Jim Dotson (R-Bentonville), said a better version of the bill will pass in a few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019ve started the discussion,\u201d Dotson said. \u201cMaking K-12 education better is a continuous process. It\u2019s not a one-time, end-all idea. This education savings account idea, it is something with broad support among parents. \u2026 Now it will just take some time for those parents to begin to have public demand for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dotson said education has developed into his \u201cNo. 1 passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

The contentious battles over school choice have led some lawmakers and advocates to urge Governor Hutchinson to start a comprehensive conversation on the future of education in Arkansas. Cozart and Rep. Kim Hammer (R-Benton) called on the governor to create a blue ribbon commission while speaking on the House floor against SB 746.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf not a blue ribbon commission, then let\u2019s put a task force together,\u201d said Cozart during an interview. \u201cWhat are we looking at in the future? Are we going to have brick-and-mortar schools? More charter schools? More private schools? More homeschoolers?\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems to be a bipartisan idea. \u201cI think we are in a precarious position,\u201d said Sen. Joyce Elliott (D-Little Rock), vice-chair of the Senate Education Committee. \u201cWe have no vision towards which we are working. We passed all kinds of disparate bills not connected to anything necessarily. That gives me a great deal of concern for what education will look like in the state in the long run.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the session, when asked about the possibility of creating a blue ribbon commission, Hutchinson pointed to work being done by ForwARd Arkansas \u2014 a collaboration between the Walton Family Foundation, the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation and the Arkansas Department of Education \u2014 which is aimed at improving education in the state. Elliott, who is on the steering committee of ForwARd Arkansas, said the legislature should follow the lead of that initiative and work to create a \u201cworld class\u201d education system in Arkansas.<\/p>\n

State Commissioner of Education Johnny Key said he doesn\u2019t know the likelihood of forming a blue ribbon commission on education. \u201cThat\u2019s what adequacy does,\u201d he said, referring to Act 57 of 2003, which requires the education committees to regularly study and make recommendations on Arkansas\u2019s education system. Under the adequacy process, the legislature determines what level of funding the state must provide in order to\u00a0offer an adequate education to all public school students.<\/p>\n

\u201cBefore we make another blue ribbon commission, my suggestion would be to sit down before we start the adequacy review process and identify what evaluations need to happen that aren\u2019t happening,\u201d Key said.<\/p>\n

Some legislators think\u00a0the talk of creating a new commission\u00a0was a delay tactic\u00a0to avoid a difficult vote on HB 1222 and SB 746.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the call for a blue ribbon commission was just an attempt to derail the education savings account debate,\u201d Lowery said. \u201cThere is probably no area of public policy that is studied more than education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dotson agreed. \u201cI kind of view that as a delay tactic to try to stop this bill this session. \u00a0\u2026 I think we do that ad nauseam in the education committee.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Dotson also said he\u2019d wholeheartedly welcome the opportunity to participate in such a committee. \u201cIf something spins out of it as a deeper look at education as a whole, I\u2019m open to that, because education is one of those things that has the biggest impact on future generations.\u201d<\/p>\n

This reporting is courtesy of the Arkansas Nonprofit News Network<\/a>, an independent, nonpartisan news project dedicated to producing journalism that matters to Arkansans.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As expected, the tug of war between school choice advocates and defenders of traditional public schools played out in Arkansas\u2019s 91st General Assembly, which concluded its flurry of lawmaking last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[17,67,27,109,32,88,61,110],"class_list":["post-2248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arkansas-general-assembly","tag-asa-hutchinson","tag-education","tag-jim-dotson","tag-johnny-key","tag-mark-lowery","tag-richard-abernathy","tag-succeed-scholarship","tag-tracy-ann-nelson"],"yoast_head":"\nBattle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As expected, the tug of war between school choice advocates and defenders of traditional public schools played out in Arkansas\u2019s 91st General Assembly, which concluded its flurry of lawmaking last week.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ibby Caputo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/\",\"sameAs\":[],\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#logo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/annn_logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/annn_logo.png\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":900,\"caption\":\"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#logo\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/\",\"name\":\"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/\",\"name\":\"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage\"},\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e1028aea4a3fef833f13d50ffaed730\"},\"headline\":\"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage\"},\"wordCount\":1311,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Asa Hutchinson\",\"education\",\"Jim Dotson\",\"Johnny Key\",\"Mark Lowery\",\"Richard Abernathy\",\"Succeed Scholarship\",\"Tracy-Ann Nelson\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Arkansas General Assembly\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e1028aea4a3fef833f13d50ffaed730\",\"name\":\"Ibby Caputo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83928f5aa56450db5faee991ca89b147f961b7decf7bc3a79123d445bc4f2509?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83928f5aa56450db5faee991ca89b147f961b7decf7bc3a79123d445bc4f2509?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Ibby Caputo\"},\"description\":\"Ibby Caputo is a journalist based in the Ozark Mountains who is covering the 91st Arkansas General Assembly for ANNN with a special focus on education and tax issues. She was a 2014-2015 MIT-Knight Science Journalism Fellow and covered health care, transportation, and breaking news as a reporter for WGBH\\u2019s Boston Public Radio and WGBH TV. Her work has aired on The World, NPR News, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Marketplace Morning Report,\\u200b\\u200b and \\u200b\\u200bMarketplace Tech\\u200b. Her journalism, essays and photography have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Cape Cod Times, The Times-Picayune, theAtlantic.com and elsewhere. Ibby received an award for hard news and was part of the team that won an award for investigative reporting, both from The Associated Press. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a recurring guest speaker at the Harvard Divinity School. Ibby received her B.A. from Princeton University and an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/ibbycaputo.com\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/author\/ibby\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","og_description":"As expected, the tug of war between school choice advocates and defenders of traditional public schools played out in Arkansas\u2019s 91st General Assembly, which concluded its flurry of lawmaking last week.","og_url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/","og_site_name":"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","article_published_time":"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ibby Caputo","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization","name":"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/","sameAs":[],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/annn_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/annn_logo.png","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/","name":"Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/","name":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say - Arkansas Nonprofit News Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e1028aea4a3fef833f13d50ffaed730"},"headline":"Battle over future of education far from over, lawmakers say","datePublished":"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-14T22:13:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#webpage"},"wordCount":1311,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/arknews.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Cozart001-600x456.jpg","keywords":["Asa Hutchinson","education","Jim Dotson","Johnny Key","Mark Lowery","Richard Abernathy","Succeed Scholarship","Tracy-Ann Nelson"],"articleSection":["Arkansas General Assembly"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/2017\/04\/14\/battle-over-future-of-education-far-from-over-lawmakers-say\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8e1028aea4a3fef833f13d50ffaed730","name":"Ibby Caputo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83928f5aa56450db5faee991ca89b147f961b7decf7bc3a79123d445bc4f2509?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/83928f5aa56450db5faee991ca89b147f961b7decf7bc3a79123d445bc4f2509?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ibby Caputo"},"description":"Ibby Caputo is a journalist based in the Ozark Mountains who is covering the 91st Arkansas General Assembly for ANNN with a special focus on education and tax issues. She was a 2014-2015 MIT-Knight Science Journalism Fellow and covered health care, transportation, and breaking news as a reporter for WGBH\u2019s Boston Public Radio and WGBH TV. Her work has aired on The World, NPR News, Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Marketplace Morning Report,\u200b\u200b and \u200b\u200bMarketplace Tech\u200b. Her journalism, essays and photography have been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, Cape Cod Times, The Times-Picayune, theAtlantic.com and elsewhere. Ibby received an award for hard news and was part of the team that won an award for investigative reporting, both from The Associated Press. She is an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is a recurring guest speaker at the Harvard Divinity School. Ibby received her B.A. from Princeton University and an M.S. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.","sameAs":["http:\/\/ibbycaputo.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/author\/ibby\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arknews.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}