LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — Arkansas’ expanded paid maternity leave policy for public and charter school educators is in the national spotlight following a favorable case study by the National Council on Teacher Quality.
State Representative Andrew Collins, who helped lead the effort, highlighted the policy’s dual aim of addressing the state’s teacher shortage and improving maternal health.
“We had a couple issues we were trying to address with this bill. One was we have a teacher shortage in Arkansas, and obviously, if you have a teacher shortage, that makes educating our kids that much tougher. Two, we are the worst state in the country, unfortunately for maternal health, and so by making sure that new moms who were teachers had access to 12 weeks of paid leave, that was going to kind of get at both issues,” Collins said…