Senate panel advances bill to expand career coach program statewide

Senate Education Committee members advanced legislation to expand Arkansas’s career coach program, a school-based counseling and workforce-alignment initiative, with a voice vote on SB61.

Sponsor testimony said the program, launched in February 2009, initially improved college-readiness metrics during its first five years and later broadened its performance measures to include college- and career-readiness. The bill aims to extend the program’s reach to all 75 counties and update metrics of success to include college-going rates, ACT scores, remediation reductions, FAFSA applications and work-based learning participation.

Sonia Wright McMurray of the Department of Education’s Division of Career and Technical Education told the committee that current coverage is uneven: about 49.3 percent of counties have career coaches. She said funding constraints prevent the division from reaching the desired staffing level and described the program’s deployment model, noting a target ratio of approximately one career coach per 500 students and that two-year colleges frequently serve as host employers who deploy coaches to partner schools.

Senator Chesterfield pressed whether students in some schools miss concurrent-credit and college-preparation information because coaches or counselors are not present. McMurray said the career coach role explicitly includes sharing information about concurrent credit and related opportunities but conceded some gaps exist where districts lack funding or host partners.

Committee members also questioned the bill’s reliance on ACT scores as a metric and asked whether the language should include the SAT or other assessments; one member requested an amendment to ensure inclusivity of acceptable college-admissions tests.

A motion to 'do pass' SB61 was made, seconded and carried by voice vote. The transcript records no roll-call tally.