PARENTAL LEAVE FOR ARKANSAS TEENS- Arkansas lawmakers will consider a bill that if approved, would grant a minimum period of leave for high school students after giving birth. Rep. Ashley Hudson, Democrat of Little Rock sponsored Bill 1161; appearing before members of the House Education committee on Tuesday, she explained how the bill would help students dealing with a pregnancy avoid legal problems concerning school attendance.
“Right now in the law in Arkansas, if a student is out of school for 10 days or more than 10 days, they can be considered truant,” Hudson said. “So this would allow an additional 10 days that those students could take without penalty in order to care for the baby or to do accomplish some of these things.”
Hudson said her bill was patterned after similar legislation passed recently in Louisiana that allows students recovering from pregnancy to have extra time to deal with post-natal issues such as recovery, bonding with the infant, necessary doctor’s visits, and even allow time for court appearances necessary should the infant be put up for adoption. Olivia Gardner, education policy director with Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, said Hudson’s bill would help address some of the problems associated with the high teen birth rate in Arkansas.
“Arkansas has the highest teen birth rate in the nation, 87% higher than the national average. We all want young people in Arkansas to have every opportunity to thrive, but our staggering number of teens giving birth puts young people at risk of not finishing high school,” explained Gardner.“We must do everything we can to support pregnant and parenting students and this bill would be a powerful step in that direction.
While some Arkansas schools already have student-pregnancy leave policies in place, HB-1161 would make the 10 extra days a minimum standard throughout the state. The bill passed the committee on a voice vote and now heads to the full House for consideration.
