Senator Jane English represents Senate District 13, which includes parts of North Little Rock and northern Pulaski County. She was sworn into the state Senate in January of 2013.
Senator English is chair of the Senate Education Committee. She is a member of the Senate City, County and Local Affairs Committee, the Joint Performance Review, the Senate Efficiency Committee, the Joint Budget Committee, the Arkansas Legislative Council and the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee.
Senator English served two terms in the House of Representatives, from 2009 through the end of 2012.
During the 95th General Assembly, Senator English sponsored legislation that makes school business more transparent, such as a bill to require school boards to allow public comments at every meeting. She also sponsored legislation that requires each school board to publish their meeting agendas, the names of school board members and their e-mail addresses on the school web site.
Throughout her legislative career she has made it a priority to improve vocational and career education. She worked to restructure job training and adult education in Arkansas so that local business leaders have a greater say in class offerings, and so that students have greater access to training in the fields that are most in demand by business and industry.
Senator English also is known for helping veterans and promoting economic development. She was part of the coalition that successfully supported the location of a new nursing home for veterans in North Little Rock, after the previous facility in Little Rock had closed.
A native of Lincoln, Nebraska, Senator English graduated from Arkansas Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics/Finance. From 1984 to 1997 she was a Senior Project Manager with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, working to recruit new manufacturing companies and helping existing companies expand.
From 1997 to 1998 she was the executive director of the Fort Chaffee Public Trust. She was the executive director of the Arkansas Manufacturers Association from 1998 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004 she was the executive director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board, a Cabinet position under Governor Mike Huckabee. In 2005, she was an economics/workforce advisor to Lieutenant Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.
She has been married for more than 63 years to retired Army Colonel Don English and they have one son and one daughter.
