Arkansas schools keep eye on employee exits

As school districts across Arkansas finalize contracts for teachers, bus drivers and other district employees before the start of the first school year under a sweeping education package, many report fewer departures than they feared.

Their strategy: transparency, clear communication and lots of planning.

After the LEARNS Act was filed in late February, some district administrators worried they would struggle to fairly compensate teachers for their experience or education levels, and that other employees would feel the sting of not receiving similar increases to their own wages. They wondered whether the many people essential to districts’ everyday operations would leave their posts in search of better pay elsewhere.

Mountain View School District Superintendent Brent Howard, in an interview at the end of March, said he was concerned over what changes to wages would do to the morale of not only teachers, but also of non-licensed staff, such as bus drivers, cafeteria workers and custodians.

“I