Senate committee approves bill to move state library functions to Department of Education amid heated testimony

The Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee voted to advance Senate Bill 536, a measure that would abolish the Arkansas State Library as an independent agency and transfer its statutory functions, personnel and some appropriations to the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE).

Proponent Senator Sullivan said the measure is about “oversight, innovation, accountability, and opportunity” and told the committee he would support increasing library funding if the new structure produced accountability. “I would be the first 1 to increase library funding,” he told colleagues.

Supporters and committee members framed the bill as aligning library oversight with the state’s broader education structure and tightening how state aid is distributed. Daniel Schultz, general counsel for ADE, told the committee that the agency is “confident that the agency will be able to fully fulfill the goals set out in the law both currently and as reconstituted and will . . . fulfill the obligation set forth by the ADE.”

But the bill generated sustained opposition from library directors, state library staff and regional library system leaders who testified the change would disrupt…