Last Friday (November 7), the Arkansas House of Representatives selected committee assignments; and of note to our readers, the House Education Committee is nearly evenly split between new and old members.

While the Republicans have a majority in the House (64 seats), the House Education Committee is one of two committees with an equal number of Republicans (10) and Democrats (10). The only other committee to be divided evenly by party lines is the Insurance and Commerce Committee.

Without further ado, here is the new committee…

New members to the House Education Committee:

• Scott Baltz (D-61)
• Nate Bell (R-20)
• Bill Gossage (R-82)
• Michael John Gray* (D-47)
• Grant Hodges* (R-96)
• Greg Leding (D-86)
• Warwick Sabin (D-33)
• John W. Walker (D-34)

Returning members to the House Education Committee:

• Charles L. Armstrong (D-30)
• Bruce Cozart (R-24)
• Gary Deffenbaugh (R-79)
• Charlotte Vining Douglas (R-75)
• Jon S. Eubanks (R-74)
• Jeremy Gillam (R-45)
• Justin T. Harris (R-81) (Previously a non-voting member)
• Sheilla E. Lampkin (D-9)
• Mark Lowery (R-39)
• Mark D. McElroy (D-11)
• Reginald Murdock (D-48) (Previously a non-voting member)
• James Ratliff (D-60)

UPDATE:

On Friday, November 14, the Arkansas Senate selected committee assignments.

New members to the Senate Education Committee:

• Jane English (R-34) – Chair
• Eddie Joe Williams (R-28)
• Bobby Pierce (D-27)
• Blake Johnson* (R-20)

Returning members to the Senate Education Committee:

• Eddie Cheatham (D-26)
• Alan Clark (R-13)
• Uvalde Lindsey (D-4) – Vice-Chair
• Jim Hendren (R-27)

We want to welcome the new members and the returning members to the Education Committees.

We will continue posting on our series in the weeks to come: “Issues the Ledge Might Tackle.” We expect many education issues to surface during the 2015 General Assembly, including broadband, computer science courses, Common Core State Standards, adequacy, facilities funding, teacher insurance, and many others.

*Newly elected to Arkansas’ House of Representatives or Senate