The University of Central Arkansas next week will host a public forum about education reform organized in partnership with the Arkansas Policy Foundation.
The event will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 1 p.m. in the UCA Student Center Ballroom, and it will feature a panel discussion among UCA President Lu Hardin and professors Roy Whitehead and Walter Block.
Reforms enacted in Arkansas during this decade include the expansion of charter schools; fewer K-12 districts; increased transparency, including a uniform system of school accounting; and use of performance measures for administrators and teachers. Other reforms to be discussed at the Feb. 20 forum include district letter grades based on student performance, school choice, vouchers, a tax-credit system, and education under a full free-enterprise system.
Hardin became UCA president in 2002 after serving as director of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. Before that he was an Arkansas state senator for 14 years and was chairman of the Senate Education Committee. During that time he also was a professor of legal studies at Arkansas Tech University.
Whitehead is an associate professor of business law at UCA, and he has authored or co-authored more than 75 articles in peer-reviewed academic journals since 1995.
Block is a professor of economics at Loyola University in New Orleans and has authored over 210 journal articles. From 1997 to 2001, he was professor and chair of the UCA Department of Economics and Finance (1997-2001).
The Arkansas Policy Foundation is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization that analyzes the impact of public policy on Arkansas and makes recommendations. The Foundation emphasizes the importance of tax policy and education reform.