A Commitment to Education

Dr. Barth engages his students at Hendrix. (Photo used with permission from J. Maschmann.)

Jay Barth’s entire adult life has been dedicated to education. In his classes at Hendrix College on Arkansas government, constitutional law, education policy, and race and politics, Jay helps students see the relevance of government in their daily lives and their own ability to make a difference. For his innovation as an instructor, Jay was recognized as the 2007 Arkansas Professor of the Year and, in 2008, was named the M.E. and Ima Graves Peace Distinguished Professor of Politics at Hendrix.

Jay has also become one of Arkansas’s foremost experts on education policy, from his early work on educational policy as an intern in the office of Governor Bill Clinton in the late 1980s to his work in the office of Senator Paul Wellstone during the debate over the “No Child Left Behind” Act as an American Political Science Association Steiger Congressional Fellow. Jay supported Wellstone’s work to be certain that the federal government live up to its commitment to fully fund programs for low-income and special needs children before placing onerous new standardized testing demands upon them.

More recently, Jay has put energy into placing the educational achievement gap front and center on the Arkansas political agenda. In early 2008, Jay co-authored a report on the achievement gap that gained a great deal of public attention. You can watch Jay discussing the report’s publication. The report suggests seven areas where Arkansas could take steps to help close the gaps in educational outcomes between white and African-American, white and Latino, and more and less wealthy students in Arkansas. One of these areas that should be a focus of new work is in the area of expanding afterschool and summer learning opportunities for students. Based on his expertise, Jay was named a member of Governor Beebe’s Task Force for Best Practices in After-School and Summer Programs which put forward specific recommendations about what Arkansas should do in this important area of educational policy. In late 2008, Jay presented the findings of his achievement gap study to the Joint Education Committee of the General Assembly and he continued work in promoting this issue during the 2009 legislative session through work on a package of achievement gap legislation signed into law by Governor Beebe.

A Commitment to Equality

Many professors distance themselves from making their communities better, preferring to stay in an “ivory tower.” That’s not been the case with Jay. Since returning to Arkansas he’s been an active and effective leader in efforts to make our state more just and equitable for all its people.

Jay serves as Arkansas’s representative on the Board of the American Civil Liberties Union, the largest organization dedicated to extending rights to segments of our population that have traditionally been denied their rights. He is also an active member of the Board of the ACLU of Arkansas that focuses on civil rights and civil liberties issues in our state.

Arkansans have too often been divided by race, religion, and other barriers. Jay has written and spoken about those divisions in our own community, including in the Arkansas Times. In addition to analyzing those divisions, he’s working to break down the lines that keep us apart through his work for Just Communities of Arkansas (formerly NCCJ) where he serves as Chair of the Board of Directors. JCA is focused on promoting equity, inclusion, and justice in our community through its education and advocacy work.

As a member of the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Arkansas and Greater Oklahoma for a number of years, Jay worked to be sure that the women of our state maintained control over their reproductive health decisions and to be certain that all Arkansans had access to the information they need to make decisions about these deeply personal issues.

Jay served as a member of the executive committee of Arkansas Families First, the group that came together to fight initiated Act One in 2008. That act is hurting Arkansas’s most vulnerable population of children by denying a large group of persons from serving as foster or adoptive parents.

As can be seen, the guiding principle in Jay’s advocacy work has been the promotion of equality and justice in our community.

Jay participating in the 2009 Martin Luther King Day Marade in downtown Little Rock.

A Commitment to His Community

While Jay dedicates a considerable amount of time to his research on public policy and government and on advocating for the causes he believes in, he also dedicates his energies to making his community a better place to live. Jay has been a resident of District 34 for over two decades. He lives in downtown Little Rock with his partner of nine years, attorney Chuck Cliett, and their two-year old bird dog, Eleanor, and three-year old grey tabby, Sabine. A member of the Downtown Neighborhood Association for a number of years, Jay now serves as Vice-President of this organization dedicated to building community among the citizens living in downtown and serving as a voice for the downtown area with the city of Little Rock.

He is also dedicated to enhancing affordable housing opportunities in the downtown area through his service on the Board of Directors of the Downtown Little Rock Community Development Corporation (DLRCDC).

Just as he is working to enhance the opportunities of those who lack resources to gain access to home ownership, he is also working to help those who lack resources gain access to higher education opportunities. The son of a single mother himself, Jay serves as Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Pulaski County that provides crucial funding for such women and men as they seek to make their own lives and those of their children better.

A Commitment to the Democratic Party

Around Democratic Party politics since he was a child, Jay Barth began working on behalf of Democratic candidates at the local and state level as a teenager. Jay is a member of the Democratic Party of Arkansas’s Executive Committee and has held a variety of leadership roles in the Party. In 2006, Jay chaired the Platform Committee of the Democratic Party of Arkansas and helped articulate the party’s principles. In the preamble of that platform, this important principle that Jay fervently believes was expressed: “We believe that society is healthiest when all are contributing to a project larger than themselves. In particular, the Democratic Party of Arkansas believes that the community has the greatest responsibility to step in to take care of those who are most vulnerable in our society, especially those at the dawn of their lives and those at their life’s twilight.” In 2008, Jay was part of a Blue Ribbon Committee that overhauled the rules of the state party.

At the local level, Jay has served on the party’s county committee for more than a decade. In 2007-2009, Jay served as First Vice-Chair of the county party and was acting chair for much of 2008, an election in which Pulaski County dramatically increased its support for President Barack Obama compared to previous elections.

Further reading

Inspiration in Iowa: Trip to caucuses motivates Hendrix’s politics expert from Hendrix Magazine

A Commitment to Collaboration

Jay testifying about the achievement gap.

Jay knows that only through working together will we make Arkansas the place we want it to be. He exemplifies that spirit in the way that he interacts with others in his personal and professional life. Those who work with Jay see him as a colleague who listens well and who puts working with others to achieve a common goal over attention to himself. This temperament will make him an effective member of the State Senate where personal relationships are crucial for success. Jay stands up for his principles, but always shows his respect for others, even with those with whom he disagrees.