This article was first published by the Arkansas Advocate and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
An Arkansas state senator filed legislation Monday seeking to abolish the state boards that oversee public libraries and educational public television programs.
The Arkansas State Library Board oversees public libraries and disburses state funds to them on a quarterly basis, and the Arkansas Educational Television Commission oversees Arkansas PBS’ programs and finances. Both are under the umbrella of the Arkansas Department of Education but act independently of the agency.
Senate Bill 184 would abolish both boards and transfer their powers and authorities to the education department. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, is sponsoring the bill and said there would be “really no change in oversight” of the entities each board supervises if the bill becomes law.
“Outside of those financial disbursement decisions, I’m not aware of any decisions they’ve made that can’t be made by the Department of Education,” Sullivan said in an interview.
Sullivan has been publicly critical of public libraries and Arkansas PBS, and in recent years he has sponsored legislation that would directly impact the finances and operations of both entities. He unsuccessfully tried to reduce Arkansas PBS’ spending authority in the 2022 and 2024 fiscal sessions.
He said Monday that the Arkansas Educational Television Commission has not taken action on the “terrible” findings in multiple audits, though he questioned whether the commission has the authority to do so. His wife, Maria Sullivan, has been on the commission since June 2024, appointed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Arkansas PBS’ business practices came under scrutiny in 2023 after the network’s regularly scheduled 2022 audit indicated that administrators might have sidestepped state laws related to contract bidding. A fresh audit of the network’s expenditures, purchasing procedures and “internal controls” from July 1, 2021, to Dec. 30, 2023, concluded last year, with auditors referring the findings to a prosecuting attorney.
PBS Executive Director and CEO Courtney Pledger said the issues auditors found were “mistakes and errors” that will not happen again due to operational changes.
Sullivan said the audits did not provide a comprehensive review of “leadership qualities and roles and what was going on” at Arkansas PBS, but SB 184 would give the Department of Education the authority to investigate these things.
He added that the proposed elimination of two “bureaucratic” entities would align the Arkansas State Library and Arkansas PBS with “the vision for the executive branch,” including the implementation of the LEARNS Act of 2023. The wide-ranging education overhaul law, championed by Sanders, includes a focus on improving elementary students’ reading skills.
Sullivan asked Pledger and other PBS officials last year if the network measures increases in students’ learning, test scores and the quality of Arkansas schools based on the reach of its grant-funded supplementary education programs. Pledger said she did not have a concrete way to measure those things.
Library oversight and funding
Two years ago, Sullivan sponsored Act 372, which would have given elected officials the final say over whether to relocate challenged library materials some consider “obscene” and made librarians legally liable for disseminating such materials. Parts of the law were temporarily and later permanently blocked by a federal judge; Attorney General Tim Griffin appealed the ruling last month.
Sanders appointed Sullivan’s former Senate colleague, Jason Rapert of Conway, to the State Library Board in late 2023. Rapert argued at all four board meetings last year that libraries with “sexually explicit” content within children’s reach should not receive state funds, but his defunding motions failed due to opposition from the other six board members.
Rapert has called for the state Legislature to abolish the State Library Board in response to its rejection of his efforts to keep children away from materials he said are “grooming” them. Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, expressed support for this proposal in December.
On Sunday, Rapert commented on a Facebook post in which Sullivan expressed agreement with an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette opinion piece criticizing the Central Arkansas Library System. Rapert reiterated his support for abolishing the State Library Board, saying most Arkansans “are unaware and ignorant of the fiefdom these liberal activists have created.” Sullivan said he would file such a bill on Monday, along with another bill to “loosen the stranglehold the American Library Association has on library directors by allowing local officials to hire directors that reflect and respect the wishes of local patrons.”
The American Library Association is a nonprofit trade association that advocates for public libraries and helps them secure grant funding. Sullivan once said that the Legislature should defund the Arkansas Library Association, the state’s chapter of the ALA. The organization receives no state funds.
Sullivan has also said the Legislature should “eliminate all the funding for public libraries that have the American Library Association in their policy” during this year’s legislative session. ALA’s Library Bill of Rights states that access to libraries should not be restricted based on a person’s age. Far-right conservatives nationwide have claimed this statement is proof that the ALA believes in forcing content about sexual activity and LGBTQ+ topics onto children.
Voters in Sullivan’s home county of Craighead narrowly approved cutting its library system’s funding in half in 2022 after citizens decried the availability of books they considered “inappropriate for minors,” including LGBTQ+ books. The system cut 13 employees and reduced its hours of operation to adjust to the loss of funding, and a refunding effort failed in November.
‘Local control’
The second bill Sullivan mentioned in his exchange with Rapert, Senate Bill 181, would loosen the current requirement that library directors hold a master’s degree “from an accredited American Library Association program.” The legislation, filed Monday, would allow someone with “work experience in the field of library operations” but without a master’s degree to run a library with approval from its local governing board.
Sullivan said the bill would foster “local control” over libraries, since the citizens on library boards are “the people who pay the taxes” that fund most libraries.
If a local library does not have an administrator with a master’s degree, the Arkansas State Library gives those libraries the option of forming an agreement with a librarian in another county who has the requisite education. This individual would handle certain aspects of library administration and allow the local entity to keep receiving state funds, which are crucial to keeping the library’s doors open.
A few counties statewide took advantage of this option last year, according to State Library Board documents. The Marion County Library has this option after its previous director was arrested in December for alleged financial crimes.
Marion County Judge Jason Stumph dismissed the previous library board after the director’s arrest, saying the members failed in their supervisory duty. The county governing board confirmed five new library board members in January. Board Chairman Marcus Flippin said he and his cohorts are aware of the library’s current need to meet certain administrative requirements for state funding.