ISSUES
Quality education, a decent place to live, a community where everyone has the freedom to live their best lives
Supporting Quality Public Education
No matter what their background, faith, or color, all Arkansans deserve a quality education. Public money belongs to public schools, and teachers should have the support they need to set the next generation up for success.
As the daughter of a retired public school teacher, Kaylee knows teachers teach because they love their students and want them to succeed in and out of the classroom. Arkansas teachers worked hard to enact the Fair Dismissal Act so they could focus on the whole student and see them as more than just test scores. But our legislature repealed that, resulting in stressed teachers and lower-quality learning, not lifetime student success. Teachers and staff deserve a livable wage and should have the right to negotiate their pay and working conditions.
The LEARNS Act passed by the current Republican supermajority seeks to send public money to private schools rather than strengthening our public schools. They chose ideology over the will of Arkansans, and, without new leaders in our state legislature, they’ll continue to ignore us.
Kaylee will fight to keep tax dollars in Arkansas public schools, give teachers the pay they deserve, and ensure every child in Arkansas has access to a great education in their neighborhood public school.
Housing
Whether we are brown, black, or white, all of us in Arkansas have the right to a decent place to live. Legislators bought by developers and rental agencies don’t see it that way. Arkansas has some of the worst tenant rights in the nation. We can be evicted swiftly and without a hearing. Habitability standards are so weak that nearly nothing can be done when a landlord doesn’t provide required basic housing elements or follow the legal process for a true eviction.
We need senators willing to stand up for the people’s freedom to have safe, secure, and affordable housing. Here in Benton County, Kaylee will fight to invest in housing for the middle-class to ensure our growing population can afford to build a life for themselves and their families here.
Access to Quality Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment
All Arkansans, no matter what their mental health or substance abuse status, deserve the freedom to live their best lives. But even with a $1 billion surplus for the last two years, our current legislature is unwilling to fund programs to improve the lives of adults and children affected by poor mental health or substance abuse.
COVID-19 taught us that mental health diagnoses are not to be feared or made fun of. So many of us suffered feelings of isolation, burnout, and depression during the worst of the pandemic, and for some, those still linger. Unfortunately, for many people, mental health leave is not available because they either don’t have leave time provided by their employer or because they can’t get access to quality therapeutic services. In the worst cases, some Arkansans even sit in jail awaiting a mental evaluation to determine if they are fit to stand trial, all because our community health providers are overrun and underfunded.
As a DHS attorney, Kaylee has seen just how important it is to have quality mental health and substance abuse treatment available to all Arkansans. One of the common reasons children enter foster care is due to parental substance abuse, sometimes exacerbated by underlying mental health diagnoses. With access to quality treatment, those parents could continue caring for their children and keep them out of the foster system.
We can do better. By investing in our community providers, we can reduce the backlog of people waiting for mental health evaluations in jail, get caregivers the help they need to move children back home to their families and provide support for Arkansans with mental health and substance abuse issues to live their best lives. As your State Senator, Kaylee will lead that charge.