By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau

LITTLE ROCK — Economic development is just as important a tool as financial incentives in recruiting teachers to some high need areas of the state, educators heard Tuesday.

“There is a direct relationship to the businesses in that area,” said Sue Martin, coordinator of teacher education at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.

“Because we do not have a mall … new professors or new teachers do not want to move to our area, so if business would grow in our area of the state, education would too,” she said.

Her comments came during a conference hosted in Little Rock by the University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy. The topic of the daylong conference at the Peabody Hotel was “Preparing Highly Qualified Teachers for Arkansas.”

Other educators, along with several state legislators who taught public school before going into politics, said economic development and affordable housing in safe neighborhoods also should be factored into the equation when trying to attract high quality teachers to areas of the state where teachers are needed.

Rep. David Rainey, D-Dumas, a retired educator, said the state offers financial incentives to teachers who move into high poverty areas, but they are not working as well as hoped.

Assistant Commissioner of Education Charity Smith said some small towns have no clean, safe housing available for new teachers, and that often prevents those school districts from attracting good teachers.

Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, also a former teacher, said economic development is vital in improving education.

“Until we require other folks in other departments to address this issue we can’t get there,” she said. “I don’t think there is enough money. We need to be much more proactive about economic development.”

Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, also a retired teacher, said that while the Legislature has appropriated million of dollars to increase teacher pay in the state, there is still a big difference in teacher pay between districts in southeast Arkansas and northwest Arkansas.

Also during the conference, Sandra Stotsky, a professor in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, suggested establishing high-quality standards for teachers.

She said the state’s current licensure tests for assessing prospective teachers are inadequate and said the state should consider a teacher quality report card.

“What you would put on a teacher quality report car are things to look for, to see if teachers are improving,” she said.