Votes at a glance: Senate Education Committee actions

The Senate Education Committee considered a full agenda and recorded the following outcomes:

Passed (motion carried by voice vote unless otherwise noted)
- Senate Bill 599: Committee concurrence (procedural concurrence recorded early in the meeting).
- HB 770 (as amended): Passage recorded (no public opposition signed up).
- HB 1891: Establishes a Department of Education‑run support network for teachers working with students with dyslexia (sponsor said no budget impact).
- SB 609: Requires disclosure of large foreign gifts to higher‑education institutions and prohibits hosting Confucius Institutes or specified affiliated entities (threshold aligned with Patriot Act reporting; sponsor said universities were consulted).
- HB 1591: Allows a superintendent, at discretion, to inform a campus school resource officer when a teacher has been suspended or terminated if there is a student‑safety concern.
- HB 1610: Codifies existing Department of Education guidance on restraint and seclusion; remains permissive on training.
- HB 1700: Directs the Department of Education to compile career‑readiness information for students and parents and add to the Arkansas Ready for Life searchable database.
- HB 1848: Healthy Active Arkansas encouragement bill (model guidance and small grant language for school gardens and farm‑to‑school reimbursements).
- HB 1826: School‑nurse professional development training requirement (one on‑campus RN completes targeted PD during licensure period).
- HB 1863 (listed in transcript as 18‑60‑3): Facility accessibility planning resources for districts; sponsor emphasized planning not immediate costly mandates.
- HB 1837: Adds prohibitions on grooming a child by public school employees.
- Higher‑education parity measure: Extends eligibility considerations for private nonprofit institutions for certain veterans' dependent benefits.
- House Concurrent Resolution 1020: Adopted; calls for inter‑institutional collaboration over the biennium.

Failed
- HB 17‑49 (teacher speech/pronoun protections): Failed in committee by a 3–3 tie after extensive public testimony.
- HB 1701 (permissive teaching of creationist viewpoints): Failed on committee vote after concerns about scope, religious neutrality and past controversy.

Next steps: Several passed bills require agency work to develop guidance or grant mechanisms; sponsors and agencies signaled follow‑up coordination.