Arkansas PBS announces executive director’s departure next month

Arkansas PBS CEO and Executive Director Courtney Pledger, whose eight-year tenure included multiple conflicts with the state Legislature, will step down in May, the agency announced Thursday in a news release.

Pledger took over the state’s educational public television network in 2017. She “leaves behind a legacy of transformative leadership and innovative growth across content, education, and community engagement,” the PBS news release states.

In a statement, Pledger said she appreciated “building a phenomenal team eager to take on new challenges and collaborating with some of the very best independent creators and community partners in Arkansas.”

“It has been my great honor to lead Arkansas PBS through a transformative time that points to the limitless potential of our statewide public media network,” said Pledger, who is also the vice chair of PBS’ 27-member national board of directors.

The “transformative time” included the COVID-19 pandemic, during which Arkansas PBS broadened its resources for K-12 students while schools were closed.

The agency also started providing live high school sports coverage and online archives of state government meetings during Pledger’s tenure, according to the news release.

“Her tenure marked a deepening of Arkansas PBS’s community relevance, with an expanded multi-platform presence, robust social media engagement, and popular in-person events,” the news release states.

West Doss, chairman of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, said in an interview that Pledger decided months ago to leave the agency. He said Pledger has been “a big part of some incredible growth and new initiatives that we’ve done” and is “well-respected by our commission.”

The commission will meet Monday morning to discuss Pledger’s departure, and applications to succeed her will be open soon, Doss said.

Disputes over funding and audits

In the past few years, Arkansas PBS has faced legislative obstacles to its ability to spend its money. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Jonesboro, has been the Legislature’s most vocal critic of Arkansas PBS, and he unsuccessfully tried to reduce Arkansas PBS’ spending authority in the 2022 and 2024 fiscal sessions.

Arkansas PBS’ funds include approximately $5.8 million from state general revenue, $2.5 million from the federal Corporation for Public Broadcasting and $1.7 million in private donations, agency Chief Financial Officer Jason Kunau said in February.

Arkansas PBS’ spending authority has repeatedly faced resistance in the Arkansas House. Appropriations need approval from three-fourths of lawmakers, and PBS’ fiscal year 2026 appropriation required five attempts to get 76 House members’ support.

Earlier this year, Pledger urged lawmakers not to abolish the Arkansas Educational Television Commission, which oversees Arkansas PBS’ programs and finances. A proposed law from Sullivan would have moved the commission’s powers and authorities to the state Department of Education; Arkansas PBS is already under the department’s umbrella but operates independently.

The agency would have stood to lose funding via grants and donations if it no longer had an independent board, Pledger told a Senate committee.

Sullivan disputed the claim that the agency could have lost funding for its services, which include the state’s emergency alert system.

However, the Department of Education would have faced an “expensive and time-consuming” effort to obtain Arkansas PBS’ Federal Communications Commission license if the agency’s governance changed, according to a Washington, D.C. law firm that specializes in telecommunications law.

The agency came under legislative scrutiny in 2023 when its regularly scheduled 2022 audit indicated that administrators might have sidestepped state laws related to contract bidding. Purchases of more than $20,000 would have triggered a bidding process, and the network made several purchases just below that threshold from the same company, according to the 2022 audit.

A specially requested audit of the network’s expenditures, purchasing procedures and “internal controls” from July 1, 2021 to Dec. 30, 2023, concluded last year, with auditors referring the findings to a prosecuting attorney.

Pledger told lawmakers the agency had no intention to break or circumvent state law and had learned from its “mistakes and errors.”

While both audits remained unresolved, a legislative subcommittee tabled a potential merit pay raise for Pledger at Sullivan’s urging in August 2023 and tabled an appropriation request from the agency later that year because Pledger had missed some scheduled appearances before committees. Lawmakers said her absence was disrespectful; the network’s then-chief financial officer said Pledger missed a meeting due to illness.

After the proposal to abolish the PBS commission passed the Senate in February, Doss and Sullivan said they reached an agreement that led Sullivan to leave the commission alone. The panel convenes four times a year and will next meet in June.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders appointed Sullivan’s wife, Maria Sullivan, to the Arkansas Educational Television Commission last year. Doss said Maria Sullivan is set to lead an Arkansas PBS task force aimed at better serving homeschoolers, which is a high priority for her husband.