LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In her first year in office, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders made sweeping changes to the education system and continued to promise cutting back the state income tax.
But while she touted her changes to state law, Sanders also made headlines throughout the year, including controversies surrounding a lectern and the prison system.
Sanders sat down with us to discuss a number of issues, but focused on how her administration is working on keeping the state competitive and efforts to "continue to drive people to Arkansas."
One of her goals is growing the economy and phasing out the state income tax. While she acknowledged it is not something that can be done overnight, she is "confident that we can continue chipping away at that [tax] until we get it to zero."
"Arkansas has to compete in the global economy, so one of the first steps is phasing out that income tax," Sanders said. "And you do that by making sure that every student in the state has access to a good quality education."
The governor reiterated that she believes education is the first building block in making Arkansas an economic success. One of her first goals was to pass the LEARNS Act, which transformed the state's education system as a 145-page bill.
The law increased teacher pay to $50,000 per year, repealed the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, required some underperforming public schools to partner with charter schools, and introduced a voucher program called "education freedom accounts."
Those accounts use public funds to "cover private school tuition, fees, uniforms, and some other required expenses."
Sanders champions LEARNS as "the most comprehensive transformational education package" and told us she wants every kid in the state to have "an opportunity to succeed."
"That trying to shove kind of a one size fits all down their throats isn't going to work," she said, "and so making sure that opportunity for every student however they need to learn is accessible and really empowering parents to make those decisions is critical for our state's long-term success."
The education overhaul has met criticism for not only the voucher program, but what the law deems indoctrination as well as a ban on critical race theory.
Sanders responded to concerns over the law saying that she doesn't want students "trapped in a failing school because of their zip code or how much money their parents make." She thinks that the education freedom accounts will give families the ability "to really decide how best in where their kids can be educated."
The first state report on the voucher program showed that less than 5% of students in the program were previously enrolled in a public school.
The governor also addressed the growing battle over expanding bed space in prisons. She said that while there is money allocated to build a new prison, "we have to do a better job of holding people accountable."
"We have existing space in our prisons, we want to open that up so that we are doing a better job of protecting our citizens and protecting the people of this state," Sanders said.
Not only did the Protect Arkansas Act signed into law by Sanders set in motion to build a new prison, it also changed how violent offenders would serve their sentences.
In 2024, people found guilty of violent crimes are not eligible for parole and then next year some crimes will come with serving 85% of your sentence before becoming eligible for supervised release.
But temporarily expanding the amount of beds in existing prisons was met with pushback from the state Board of Corrections due to concerns over staffing shortages and a question of who has power over the changes.
The fight over the prisons has continued into her second year and Sanders said she is focusing on making Arkansas "the best place in the country."
"We're only going to continue to build on that success so that everybody gets to see what I do and wants to be part of what's happening here in the state," Sanders said.