Governor Addresses EPSCoR On Education And The Key To The American Dream

Monday, Oct 13, 2008

During his keynote address to the 2008 NSF EPSCoR Annual Conference attendees, Governor Mike Beebe spoke regarding the challenges of combating remediation at all levels of the Arkansas educational system.

As part of his thirty minutes on stage, Governor Beebe emphasized the importance of both short term and long term systemic remedies to the problem. His proposed solution is to establish a solid foundation with Pre-K education that would follow students all the way through to graduation from colleges. The Governor noted that Arkansas is now being “held up as one of the models in our country for universal, certified, qualified, quality Pre K instruction.”

He also pointed to potential remedies in the form of after school instruction and summer programs designed to help kids catch up.

And no one seems to understand the need for quality education more than Governor Beebe himself, who said that higher education helped him achieve the American Dream. “If it weren’t for higher education I wouldn’t be making this speech,” he said.

The Governor assured the audience that education is his “top priority”, and he has the numbers to back it up. Currently, seventy cents of every general revenue dollar goes toward some form of education in Arkansas.