Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' LEARNS act lands Arkansas teachers merit-based bonuses

About 9% of Arkansas' teachers will get bonuses from the Merit Teacher Incentive Fund Program.

State of play: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and state Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva announced the bonuses in a news release Tuesday.

• Money will be "made available" for distribution by the end of this month, the release says.

Context: The fund was established as part of the LEARNS Act and rewards teachers whose student performance scores increased or who served as a mentor "and/or taught in a subject, geographical or designation area experiencing a critical teacher shortage."

By the numbers: The bonuses range from $1,500 to $10,000 and will be awarded to 2,937 of Arkansas' nearly 33,000 educators; some will receive bonuses for more than one category.

• A total of 3,612 bonuses were awarded, according to the Arkansas Department of Education.
• About 35 teachers will receive $10,000 and another 35 will get $9,000, documents show.
• The total payout to teachers is more than $9.7 million.

Zoom in: A distribution map shows that 11.6% of Bentonville teachers are receiving an average bonus of $3,745; the same figures elsewhere are 11.2% and $3,649 in Rogers; 5.7% and $3,641 in Springdale; and 10.6% and $3,838 in Fayetteville.

• Cross County in east Arkansas has the highest rate (26.9%) of teachers receiving bonuses for an average of $2,667. That's followed by McGehee (23.5% and $1,935) and DeWitt (20% and $3,050).