Arkansas’ 12 weeks of paid maternity leave for public school workers are only matched by Delaware, report says
Casey Robinson was going to give birth to her son, Blue, on a Thursday.
Robinson believed she would have to return to work that Monday.
A single mother and English teacher in the Jacksonville/North Pulaski School District, Robinson said she was confused and frightened about how she was going to manage it all. A law that took effect Aug. 5, mere days after the birth of her son, changed all that.
That law, Act 904 of 2025, requires Arkansas to cover all of the costs for paid maternity leave for public school employees for up to 12 weeks. It builds on a provision in the LEARNS Act in which the state agreed to split with districts the cost of maternity leave for educators -- an opportunity few districts took up at the time.
Robinson's feelings went from scared to hopeful and thankful when administrators told her about the option. Because Blue was born before the law went into effect, she said she had to use some personal leave, but the paid maternity leave she received after was a "blessing."
"For me, teaching is a calling, and I didn't want to end something I started," she said. "Had I not had the maternity leave, I was going to have to leave teaching to find other employment because teaching is my only job. Without that income, I wouldn't have been able to pay for anything."
Robinson isn't alone. Other teachers who have been able to take advantage of paid maternity leave said it was a tremendous relief to spend that time with their newborns without having to worry about sick time or personal days. They also said the option is likely to make teaching a more appealing option for prospective educators and encourage current teachers to stay in the field longer.
Arkansas and Delaware are the only two states to offer full-paid maternity leave for up to 12 weeks, according to a State of the States report published earlier in January by the National Council on Teacher Quality. Just 14 other states offer some form of paid parental leave for teachers beyond sick days, though the offer in those states is either limited or optional for districts to join, the report states.
Studies link returning to work within the first 12 weeks after childbirth to lower breastfeeding and immunization rates, according to the report. Returning to work too quickly is also associated with lower reading and math test scores and more behavioral problems in early childhood.
"Our teachers shouldn't have to choose between their families and their classrooms, and in Arkansas, we're making sure they don't have to," Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a news release touting the report's spotlight on Arkansas. "I signed Arkansas LEARNS and started investing in our state's educators because a great education starts with great teachers. Thanks to these incentives, Arkansas is recruiting and retaining the best, ensuring our students are given every opportunity to thrive and establishing Arkansas as a national education leader."