Governor Sanders Delivers State of the State Address

LITTLE ROCK, Ark- Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday, April 8^th delivered the State of the State Address after the convening of the Fiscal Session of the 95th General Assembly.

The Governor's remarks as prepared are below:

Speaker Evans, President Hester, Constitutional Officers, members of the Supreme Court, distinguished Members of the General Assembly, my amazing family, my fellow Arkansans:

Welcome to the start of the 2026 Fiscal Session.

This year, our legislative body is not 135 members but 134. Please join me in a moment of recognition for Representative Stan Berry, who passed away last month after decades of service to our state.

Thank you.

I also want to give a special thanks to someone who traveled all the way back to Arkansas from Israel to be with our family this week - my mom, Janet Huckabee.

My dad is still in Israel, but he promised me he'd tune in to watch. Mom and Dad - we love you and we're praying for you.

On Easter Sunday, my dad sent our family the note he sent to his full embassy staff.

"This weekend marks one year since I came to serve as Ambassador. On my first full day in Jerusalem, I went to the Western Wall to place a prayer that President Trump had handwritten and gave to me in the Oval Office to bring on behalf of the American people. Two days later, Janet and I attended the Easter Sunrise Service at the Garden Tomb. It was a wonderful beginning to this "adventure of a lifetime."

"In one year, we've lived through 5 wars-with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, the 12 Day War with Iran last summer, and now Operation Epic Fury…

"Tomorrow will be a very different kind of Easter for us than last year. The Sunrise Service at the Garden Tomb is canceled due to safety concerns…If churches meet at all, they will be limited to no more than 50 people or less depending on their shelter capacity.

"Perhaps you will think that I'm deeply depressed by such a somber atmosphere and very limited options for public worship this Easter. But while there is some personal disappointment, my faith is fueled not by how FULL the churches or special services are-it's fueled by the EMPTINESS of the tomb!" signed Mike Huckabee.

Jesus is our living hope. For each of us. For our state. For our country.

America was founded 250 years ago as one nation under God. We have our differences, but our shared faith, values, and love for the people of Arkansas is stronger and more important than any difference.

The people of Arkansas sent each of us here to work together to solve problems and lead a better and more prosperous state.

250 years ago, our founders put aside their differences to create a new nation, forged around the ideals of liberty and justice. We are the heirs to that great country and we should do the same.

The immediate threats our founders faced were very different, but the challenges so many Arkansans face every day are no less daunting.

Despite adversity, there is hope. We live in the best state, in the greatest country in the world, and the State of our State has never been stronger.

Not long ago, my husband Bryan and our 10-year-old son, George, were driving to a friend's hunting camp. It was late. They had the music on, and George put the window down to look up at the stars. George said, "It should be a rule that you NEVER live somewhere you can't see the stars."

After the hunt the next morning, they were driving back home and George said "Daddy… I've made my decision. I'm going to live here in the Delta when I grow up. It has it all… You can FARM, you can HUNT…you can FISH… AND you can see the stars."

Moments I share with my kids often remind me of what's really important and just how blessed I am.

The work we do here is ultimately not about us, but about the next generation…To make Arkansas a land of unlimited opportunity for our kids and our grandkids.

But the Arkansas we know and love in all of its beauty and extraordinary potential will not be the one our kids inherit if we don't fight for it.

Since I stood before you in this chamber last year, President Trump was sworn in for a second historic term.

He has made quick work of many of his campaign promises - our country's border is no longer open, tax cuts from his first term are now permanent, our enemies abroad actually fear us, he exposed government waste, and the commonsense values that made our country great are once again guiding us forward into another Golden Age of America.

And President Trump has no greater friend than the people of Arkansas.

At the end of last year, I started the Faces of Arkansas program, which every month tells the story of a different Arkansan who's impacted by what we do here. Their portraits hang in my office as a reminder of our top priority - the people of our state.

Today, I am here not just to talk about policies, but also to tell the stories and share the faces of Arkansans who are counting on us to make a real difference in their lives.

You all know that my first policy priority as Governor has been education and three years after the LEARNS Act was signed into law, we have an incredible story we can all be proud of.

Reading scores have risen in every single grade level but one AND literacy coaches are now working in every D- and F-rated school.

Three years ago, our schools were ranked 43rd in the country. Now, we're ranked 36th - and I know we will keep moving up.

With us today is Kevin from Tillar, a senior at Cornerstone Christian.

Before the LEARNS Act, Kevin's family would never have been able to afford private school tuition, so they were resigned to Kevin struggling in his assigned school.

However, two years ago, because of the EFA program created by LEARNS, Kevin was able to enroll in Cornerstone Christian.

Thanks to Cornerstone's learning lab, he saw enormous growth in his academics. And for the first time, he had hope for his future after school.

He is now taking welding classes at U of A's technical school campus in McGehee. And at the end of this year, Kevin hopes to not just graduate with his high school diploma, but also be well on the way to his welding certificate and a good career.

Kevin -thank you for not giving up and showing the power of grit and hard work.

We hear stories like Kevin's everywhere we go. Melissa Ferguson is a mom of two who lives in Northwest Arkansas. The Fergusons are a military family with two kids with learning differences.

Melissa knew her kids needed extra care and attention when learning, and who better to give them that, than herself?

Through the EFA program, Melissa is able to homeschool her kids with specialized resources and individualized attention.

Another student is a young woman I have had the privilege of knowing for a very long time: Easterseals student Ali. She's the daughter of one of my close friends from college.

Although Ali has always been a happy kid, it was hard for her parents to find a sense of belonging for her. They wanted a place where she could find self-confidence and joy in everyday life. A place where Ali is really seen and known.

They found that community at Easterseals.

Last spring, Ali got to participate in the Easterseals' fashion show. Most kids might be nervous about something like that, but Ali wasn't!

She talked about it for days ahead of time and the night she finally got to put on her pink jumpsuit, she couldn't take enough pictures or practice enough walks down the runway.

When Ali finally took the stage for the event itself, she walked the runway without a care in the world.

That might not seem like a big deal, but for Ali it's one of those life changing, never forget experiences - and it was something that was only possible because of the specialized education she receives at Easterseals.

A good education is the key that opens the door to a lifetime of opportunity.

We cannot allow a child's destiny to be determined by their zip code or the size of their parent's bank account. We will honor our commitment to the next generation. In Arkansas, no child will ever again be trapped in a failing school or sentenced to a lifetime of poverty.

We will empower Arkansans with the opportunity to be everything God created them to be.

When you send me a budget, think of Kevin, Think of Melissa, Think of Ali and think of the 44,000 other EFA students whose lives have been FOREVER changed because we FULLY funded the LEARNS Act.

But LEARNS wasn't just about investing in education freedom - it was also THE largest investment in public schools in Arkansas history.

A big part of that went to our teachers, because we know that great education starts with great educators. We raised starting teacher pay from $36,000 to $50,000, gave every teacher a $2,000 raise and became one of only two states in the entire country to give teachers 12 weeks of paid maternity leave.

Another program I'm really proud of is the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund, which in just the first three years has already delivered $30 million in bonus pay to more than 7,000 amazing educators.

One of those teachers is Monica Brewington, a 5th-grade math teacher from Pocahontas who is here with us today.

Monica comes from a long line of educators and she has spent the last three decades in the classroom. Monica's students love her, and she has built a legacy mentoring future teachers.

Monica says she was raised to always do her best, with or without recognition. But when she got a call from her superintendent and heard she was getting a $7,000 bonus through the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund, she felt like it had all paid off. She was finally being recognized for her hard work.

A nationwide survey was just released that shows 89% of teachers in our state report being satisfied with their jobs. Thanks to LEARNS, Arkansas now ranks #1 in the nation for teacher job satisfaction.

That matters. You can't have great schools without great teachers. While other states struggle to recruit and retain them, Arkansas is now the best state in America to be a teacher.

Monica - we are inspired by what you do for our students. Thank you.

When you send me a budget, think of Monica and every other teacher counting on our work here in Little Rock.

But, the progress doesn't end there.

When I took office, only 35% of Arkansas' kids could read at grade level. It was a crisis.

By third grade, a child must be able to read in order to learn. And way too many kids in Arkansas kept falling further and further behind.

The L in LEARNS stands for Literacy. We recognized if we don't address this crisis we will not improve our public schools. So through LEARNS we funded and deployed 120 full time literacy coaches and provided literacy tutoring grants for families. And now, in the most recent year for which we have data, 2,700 additional kids are at or above reading proficiency.

Think of that: 2,700 kids who, without LEARNS, would have left school completely unprepared to succeed. We are making tremendous strides and finally on the right track to improving public education in our state.

Just a few weeks ago, I visited Murrell Taylor Elementary in Jacksonville.

It had consistently been the worst-performing school in its district. It also serves kids who need support the most: over 60% of its students come from low-income families. But because of LEARNS, in just three years, this school has gone from an F-rated school to a B…And I know they are headed for an A.

The woman who engineered that change is with us today: Principal Brandy Howell.

She is the type of person I'd like to clone and put in every single school in our state.

When I visited the school, I saw her leadership firsthand. As we were leaving one of the classrooms we visited, Principal Howell called out: "Learning is what?" I expected the students to say something like "fun" or "exciting." Instead, they responded: "required!"

It's blunt, but it's true. If we want to see every student succeed and reach their full potential - Learning MUST be required.

But slogans aren't the reason Principal Howell has been successful. This is a school where teachers track every single one of their students' progress, so that if they fall behind, they have access to the early intervention provided by the LEARNS Act.

They teach their kids to read using the data-proven science of reading, not experimental methods that have been tried and failed.

And Principal Howell supports her teachers: when she took over the school, they had thirteen staffing vacancies. Last year, they had zero.

Principal Howell - thank you for fighting for your students, setting the bar high and showing what is possible when we REQUIRE learning.

When you send me a budget, think of Principal Howell - and the students that our great educators serve every single day.

A few years ago, I heard a story from two good friends of mine from Pine Bluff: Bill and Sharri Jones. Bill and Sharri are successful business owners. When their son was younger, Bill coached his baseball team. The first year he coached, Bill noticed that his team was stacked with talent. But despite his players' athleticism, they couldn't win.

Bill enlisted his wife to help him figure out what the disconnect was. Sharri came to practice one day and quickly realized the players were hungry. Many of the kids weren't being fed regularly at home.

Sharri started bringing food to every practice. Not just orange slices and juice boxes, but full meals. She told her husband to hold more practices so she could be sure they had dinner.

She paid out-of-pocket to feed her son's entire team - just so some kids in the Delta didn't go to bed hungry. That team went on to win three championships.

One of the most heartbreaking challenges that families in poverty struggle with is food insecurity which is why we made sure every student in the state can get free school breakfast and set up summer food programs so kids are getting meals even when they aren't on campus.

When you send me a budget, think of every child in this state who would go hungry without our work to prioritize them.

Fully funding education makes up the largest portion of this year's budget request, but it's not the only priority my team focused on when crafting it. Another needed increase goes to those who protect and serve our state.

Years ago, other cities and states made the disastrous decision to defund their police. Arkansas went the opposite direction: we fund our police, and we back the blue every single day.

From the Protect Act to Death by Delivery to the Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act, we have fought to give law enforcement the tools they need to do their job and protect Arkansans.

We put a law and order and rehabilitation focused majority on the Board of Corrections, ensured the most violent criminals serve their full sentence, opened 1,500 new beds at existing prison facilities, and created a recidivism pilot program to get inmates back in the workforce and kept off the streets once they've served their time.

In 2024, I announced a new state employee pay plan to give our heroes in law enforcement and our corrections officers raises they deserve. In this year's budget, we're fully funding that commitment.

At the end of last year, our latest troop school graduated and was led by Trooper Bailey Bowers.

Trooper Bowers started in law enforcement as a state trooper in his home state of Michigan. But three years into his career up north, he wanted a change.

The pay raise we provided to new state troopers encouraged Bailey to make the leap and enroll in troop school in Arkansas. But money wasn't the only thing that brought him here.

He also valued leadership. When he arrived at troop school, he was able to focus on his three priorities: God, family, and the Arkansas State Police. He says it meant something that there were Bibles in the barracks, and that he and a group of other troop school students could gather after lights out and pray.

Today, Trooper Bowers is based at Troop L in Northwest Arkansas. And he is just one of many state troopers who have come to our state because of competitive pay, a great environment, and a state that will always protect our people and stand with our law enforcement.

Trooper Bowers, thank you for your service - we are so grateful for our heroes in uniform.

When you send me a budget, think of Trooper Bailey Bowers and all the men and women of law enforcement who keep us safe and are counting on us to back them up.

The budget we will work together to pass doesn't just invest in education, doesn't just invest in public safety, doesn't just invest in our most vulnerable - it also holds the line on the out-of-control growth of government.

That hasn't been easy. I tasked our state agencies to do more with less so we can deliver savings while still providing quality services and investing more in our key priorities.

My Arkansas Forward Initiative plays a key part in that effort. For example, we had unused phone and fax lines - but we were still paying monthly contracts on them. Arkansas Forward cut those and is now saving taxpayers more than $1.4 million every year.

We renegotiated contracts with child welfare providers to return $5.2 million to the state. We brought a costly web application contract at the Office of Early Childhood in-house, saving us $2.4 million.

In total, Arkansas Forward has identified at least 300 million dollars in savings and is working rapidly toward implementing those efficiencies.

In the meantime, you and I have worked together to cut our state income tax by 20% over the last three years, returning more than a billion dollars to taxpayers.

We eliminated Arkansas' most regressive tax, the Grocery Tax, so families can afford to put more food on their tables.

To fuel investment and growth I signed Executive Orders to streamline state government, cutting permitting in half and removed regulations.

I've led economic trade missions around the world to secure deals that helped further establish our state as a leader in aerospace, defense, steel, energy, and advanced manufacturing, creating thousands of high-paying jobs for Arkansans. Thanks in part to that work, Arkansans are producing some of the key components of Israel's Iron Dome - and, hopefully, will be instrumental in building President Trump's Golden Dome.

We cut the permitting time on new energy projects from 18 months down to 6 months, helping Arkansans continue to enjoy some of the lowest utility rates in the country.

The results are indisputable. Arkansas was recently ranked the #1 state for lowest cost of living, the #1 state Americans are relocating to the second year in a row, and #1 fastest-growing economy in the nation. And as of this morning we have more people working in our state than ever before.

Arkansas has never been stronger, but we still have challenges. For many, affordability is still a struggle. And some of our most vulnerable are particularly exposed.

A priority in my budget is the 10:33 Initiative, named after a passage in the Bible, Luke 10:33, the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan after He commanded His followers to "Love your neighbor as yourself."

As Christians and as lawmakers, we are called to be that Good Samaritan and care for the least among us. But we also know that keeping people trapped in a cycle of dependency isn't caring for them - it's making them forever reliant on government.

The 10:33 Initiative breaks that cycle.

Hollie Reyes, who is joining us today from Russellville, is someone whose story we want to see repeated all across Arkansas. Several years ago, Hollie was in court, and not for the first time.

She had been driving for five years with a suspended license, was battling addiction, living in a homeless shelter with her kids, and had just left a 20-year-long relationship. It was rock bottom.

Tickets had piled upon suspensions. Suspensions had piled upon fines. She tried to explain it all to the judge, but he told her to sit and wait until the end of the docket. Hollie thought she was going to jail.

Instead, the judge did something unexpected. He told her about a community support model that could turn her life around.

Through that program, Hollie was assigned an advocate, Latosha. Hollie told her she was overwhelmed by the barriers she faced: "I don't know how to maintain sobriety, I don't know how to pay my bills, I don't know how I'm going to feed my kids."

But Latosha helped: first they applied for SNAP to get Hollie's kids groceries, they got Hollie a driver's license, they found her a permanent place to live, and they found her job opportunities.

The next time Hollie was in court to get her license back, she wasn't alone. Latosha was there standing with her.

And today, Hollie doesn't just have a driver's license. She is employed, off food stamps, and sober.

Hollie we are so proud of the enormous change you have made to your life and for letting us tell your story.

When you send me a budget, think of Hollie and the thousands of other vulnerable Arkansans that we can move from crisis to career through the 10:33 Initiative.

We will show that integrated technology and strong community partnerships will decrease the need for welfare, grow our workforce and economy, and deliver taxpayer savings through more efficient use of resources.

Today, I am asking all of us to make the right but tough decisions. We can care for our people and still hold the line on expansion of government. No new Medicaid coverage mandates. No additional long-term ongoing expenses.

If we do that together, as soon as we pass our budget, I will call a special session to cut income taxes for the 4th time in 4 years.

This will allow us to immediately cut taxes by another two tenths of a point and return more than $180 million to Arkansas taxpayers this year. When we do this, together we will have cut 25 percent off of our state income tax in just the last 4 years and given back more than 1.5 billion dollars to our people.

Low taxes and a great quality of life are a big reason people move to our state. But I believe the best way to keep our state growing is to protect and preserve our values and way of life.

No woke indoctrination in the classroom.

No men in women's sports.

No big tech exploiting our kids.

No catch and release for the most dangerous, violent criminals.

And no foreign adversaries in Arkansas: I'm proud to have worked with this this body to be the first Governor in the country to kick Communist China off our farmland AND out of our state.

Arkansans love God and one another, and we must never forget what truly makes our state unique and special… our faith.

We can be confident in our future not because we are great and strong, but because Christ is great and strong within us.

During my two and a half years serving as President Trump's press secretary, I traveled on every single one of his foreign trips. The most unforgettable was December 25, 2018 - Christmas Day.

And if you think you've heard this story before, just wait until the end.

My husband, Bryan, and I had just cleaned up the wrapping paper left around the house by our three kids when I had to walk out on my own family's Christmas.

I couldn't tell them where I was going because the place we were going was so dangerous, they didn't want anyone to know that the President would be on the ground even for a few hours.

We boarded Air Force One in complete and total darkness - no lights on the plane, no lights on the runway. We were going completely off the grid.

Twelve hours later, in the pitch black, we landed in the war-torn part of western Iraq. Again, no lights on the plane, no lights on the runway.

The only light you could see was coming from about a mile away from where we touched down - and the reason there was light in that location was because it was a dining hall packed with hundreds of U.S. troops gathered thinking they were having Christmas dinner with senior military leadership from around the region.

They had absolutely no idea that President Trump and the First Lady were about to walk in that room.

And when they did, it was a sight and a sound that I hope I never forget. The room absolutely erupted. Men and women from every race, religion, and political party stood up and started chanting over and over again in perfect unison, "USA, USA, USA."

One of the young soldiers yelled from the back, "Mr. President, I reenlisted in the military because of you." And the President said, "And son, I am here because of you."

As the President made his way around the room, that same young soldier came up to me and said, "Sarah, you have a tough job." I told him, "What I do is nothing. I take questions. You take bombs and bullets. That's a tough job."

Then, in a moment I know I will cherish forever, the soldier reached up and pulled the Brave Rifles Patch off his shoulder and put it in my hand. He said, "Sarah, we are in this together."

I couldn't say anything. I just hugged him - thankful for the heroes who keep us free.

That moment changed my life in ways I am still seeing nearly 7 years later. I've told that story hundreds of times over many years, but I have never shared publicly the next part.

That young soldier's name is Dustin Singer. Dustin is originally from Texas - which we will try to forgive him for! After Hurricane Katrina, he dropped out of high school and worked in the oil fields. After he got laid off in 2008, he joined the army at 18.

He deployed to Iraq, then to Afghanistan, then to that last deployment in Syria and Iraq again. He finished his service with the Old Guard at Arlington National Cemetery, keeping watch over our heroes buried on our country's most hallowed ground.

My retelling of our meeting in Iraq reached Dustin when he returned back to the states and he reached out to me.

He shared how he and his wife had settled in Virginia, and that he was now raising two young kids. We talked about everything that had happened in both of our lives since that first meeting.

As we were wrapping our call, he says my next question caught him off guard: "Have you ever thought about moving to Arkansas?"

Dustin had never even been to Arkansas and certainly never considered it a place he'd call home, but I knew he was a hard worker and was the exact type of person we wanted to recruit to our state.

On January 19, 2025, Dustin officially left the Army, and on January 21, 2025, he officially started his job at the ARKANSAS Department of Veterans Affairs. He bought a bigger house for less money here in Little Rock. He even brought his grandmother to live here.

And while it's not standing on the battlefield, the work he is doing now is life changing to his fellow servicemen and women. He personally talks to dozens and dozens of veterans a week, telling them all the reasons they should move to Arkansas like he did.

He helps them when they exit the service, find a job and a home, and build a great life, right here in his new home state of Arkansas. I can think of nobody better to move or work here than those who have worn our nation's uniform.

In just one year, the program he helps run has become so successful that we are expanding it to help even more of our great veterans call Arkansas home.

One of the men Dustin recently talked to is Mason Bennett, who served with Dustin at Arlington National Cemetery. When Mason left the Army, he also moved to Virginia.

He got a job, but the cost of living was astronomical. So he moved to Alabama. The cost of living was low, but he couldn't find a job.

So, Mason got in touch with Dustin and told him he needed help. He said he was really looking for a job that could pay him $30,000. Dustin replied, "How does $57,000 sound?"

On a Monday, Mason flew into Little Rock. And on Tuesday, he was hired at the Department of Corrections to work as a corporal at the Wrightsville Unit.

Mason likes his job and the fact that he's able to continue to serve his community. But moving to Arkansas was about more than that, so much so that his mom and dad plan to move here next year.

And when asked, why here? He says, "The American Dream is alive, and it's in Arkansas."

Our nation has tragically lost more than 150 thousand veterans to suicide since 9/11 - more than 10 times the number killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the War on Terror combined.

That is unacceptable. In Arkansas we are standing with our veterans - empowering them with a new mission and sense of purpose thanks to the great work of heroes like Dustin.

Dustin and Mason are with us today - and as Governor, I proudly say to you both: welcome home! We are forever grateful for your selfless, heroic service to our nation.

When you send me a budget, think of Dustin and Mason - and Kevin, Melissa, Ali and Monica, Think of Principal Howell and Trooper Bowers. Think of Holly, and every single one of the three million people who are privileged enough to call Arkansas home.

As Mason said, the American Dream is alive in Arkansas - but it's up to each and every one of us-the heirs of pioneers and patriots-to keep it alive for generations to come.

Our vision is for an Arkansas where strong families thrive in safe communities. Where jobs are abundant and paychecks are rising.

Where the freedom that our veterans shed their blood to defend is the birthright of every man, woman and child. Where schools get back to teaching reading, writing, math, and science-and where our children learn that the identity that truly matters is the one we all share: our identity as children of God and citizens of the United States of America.

250 years ago, our founders put aside their differences and established the greatest nation the world has ever known. This session, let's remember the lessons of that founding generation and build a state that honors their legacy and stands strong and free for 250 years to come.

May God bless you, and may God bless the great state of Arkansas.

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