Education rally set at Capitol rotunda

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Jim Walton, the chairman and chief executive officer of Arvest Bank Group Inc., will be the featured speakers at an education rally at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday in the rotunda of the state Capitol building.

Bush was governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. He is chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

The rally, to be held in conjunction with National School Choice Week, is being organized by A+ Arkansas. The group also is hosting what is titled an Education Summit at 11:30 a.m., after the rally, at the DoubleTree Hotel in Little Rock.

A+ Arkansas is a coalition of parents, educators and community leaders seeking to increase accountability in schools and improve opportunities for Arkansas’ youth.

The meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel includes lunch and panel discussions by teachers, administrators, business leaders, educational experts and policymakers.

Patrick Wolf, professor and 21st Century Endowed Chair in School Choice in the department of education reform at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville’s College of Education and Health Professions, will discuss Arkansas education issues with conference participants.

Fourteen speakers are listed for the event. They include Walter E. Hussman Jr., publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and chief executive officer of the newspaper’s parent company, WEHCO Media Inc.; William Dillard II, chief executive officer of Dillard’s Inc.; John Bacon, chief executive officer of eStem Public Charter Schools; Michele Linch, executive director of the Arkansas State Teachers Association; and Jim Cooper, chairman of the Arkansas Board of Education.

Others are Leslie Hiner, vice president of programs and state relations at Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice; state Reps. Mark Biviano and James McLean; state Sen. Johnny Key; Georgia state Rep. Alisha Morgan; T. Willard Fair, chief executive officer of the Urban League of Greater Miami Inc.; Angela Shirey, Teach For America director of development; Virginia Walden Ford, executive director of the Arkansas Parent Network; and Luke Gordy, executive director of the Arkansans for Education Reform Foundation.

Requests to attend the conference luncheon can be sent by e-mail to info@ aplusarkansas.org. More information about A+ Arkansas is available at AplusArkansas. org.