Arkansas education amendment supporters continue gathering signatures as deadline looms

For AR Kids spokesperson Bill Kopsky points out polling data the group collected regarding a proposed constitutional amendment it hopes to submit to voters during a press conference on Dec. 21, 2023 in the Old Supreme Court chamber of the Arkansas Capitol. (John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate)

Supporters of an Arkansas education ballot initiative said they’ve been successful in gathering thousands of signatures and remain confident they can qualify for the November ballot despite opposition groups raising significantly more money.

The primary goal of the Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 is to hold private schools that receive state funding to the same standards as public schools. Supporters have until July 5 to collect 90,704 signatures from at least 50 counties to qualify the measure for the 2024 election.

The proposed constitutional amendment is backed by For AR Kids , a ballot question committee consisting of several groups, including the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, Arkansas Education Association, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Citizens First Congress, Arkansas Retired Teachers Association and Stand Up Arkansas.

During a virtual press conference last week, Stand Up Arkansas founder Steve Grappe said the coalition has 25,000 signatures reported, but he estimates they’ve collected between 45,000 and 50,000 in total. He also said they’ve reached the minimum signature requirement in 11 counties and are approaching that threshold in 10 more.

Arkansas LEARNS Act repeal effort fails to gather enough signatures for ‘24 ballot question

While an admittedly daunting task, Grappe said he’s confident volunteers can collect the remaining signatures by the deadline because he participated in a “way less organized” petition drive last summer that gathered nearly 54,000 signatures in 50 days.

According to financial documents filed on May 15, For AR Kids has raised $4,560 dollars since December. Meanwhile, Arkansans for Students and Educators , a ballot question committee focused on the “disqualification and/or defeat” of the proposed constitutional amendment, has raised $636,000 since forming in April.

Arkansas Public Policy Panel Executive Director Bill Kopsky said signature collection, not fundraising, has been For AR Kids’ priority.

“We are confident we will get enough money, once the signature phase is over, in hand to be competitive in the fall,” Kopsky said. “We’re not going to spend dollar for dollar with the Walton family, but we’re going to be well enough resourced to be able to reach voters, educate voters and do what the campaign needs to pass.”

Arkansans for Students and Educators’ largest contributor is Walmart heir Jim Walton who donated $500,000. The Walton Family Foundation is no stranger to education, having invested more than $407 million “to grow high-quality charter schools” since 1997, according to the foundation’s website.

Arkansans for Students and Educators also received a $100,000 contribution from Stronger Arkansas , a separate ballot question committee that opposes the education ballot initiative, as well as proposed constitutional amendments focused on medical marijuana and abortion access.

“Our opposition clearly sees how much support the measure has with our Arkansas voters … that’s obvious by how much money they’ve raised to try and stop our progress,” Arkansas Education Association President April Reisma said.

Cost concerns

Arkansans for Students and Educators and Stronger Arkansas both have close ties to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who championed the passage of the LEARNS Act . The wide-ranging 2023 law made sweeping changes to the Arkansas’ education system, including increasing the state’s minimum teacher salary to $50,000 and creating a school voucher program that provides state funding for allowable educational expenses, such as private school tuition.

The proposed education amendment stems from the new Educational Freedom Account program, which critics argue is unfair because private schools receiving state funding don’t have to follow the same requirements as their public counterparts, such as admitting all students, providing transportation and administering certain standardized tests.

The LEARNS Act does require private schools to administer approved annual exams for EFA students.

In addition to equal standards, the proposed constitutional amendment would guarantee voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds, after-school and summer programming, quality special education and assistance for children in families within 200% of the Federal Poverty Line ( $62,400 for a family of four ).

The measure would also establish the minimum quality standards ordered in the Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee court decision. That case, which lasted 15 years, established a process for Arkansas public schools to be adequately funded.

Earlier this month, Opportunity Arkansas, Arkansas Learns and The Reform Alliance launched For AR Families, an initiative “to ensure Arkansans know the truth about the misleadingly named ‘Education[al] Rights Amendment of 2024,’” according to a press release .

Arkansas groups declare neutrality, opposition to proposed education ballot initiative

Nic Horton, founder and CEO of policy organization Opportunity Arkansas, said his goal is to educate voters about the policy impact of the ballot initiative and noted he’s not advocating for or against the measure.

One of Horton’s biggest concerns is a lack of identified funding for proposed programs like universal pre-K and afterschool programs that his organization estimates could cost taxpayers more than $1 billion.

Without a funding mechanism or income and duration limits for participants, Horton said the measure would cement “a blank check” into the state Constitution.

Opponents of the state’s voucher program have been critical of using state funds to finance wealthy families’ private school education. Without income restrictions for pre-K and afterschool participants, Horton said, the ballot initiative’s proposed programs would be doing the same thing.

“Talk about doublespeak,” he said. “That is to me exceptionally inconsistent and hypocritical with everything else that they’ve said in their opposition to education freedom, and they’re turning around and doing the exact same thing at a significantly higher cost.”

For fiscal year 2025, $97.5 million has been appropriated for the state’s voucher program. Lawmakers approved a $65.8 million increase for the program during this year’s fiscal session . A Department of Finance and Administration official told lawmakers last year that the EFA program could cost $175 million its third year , the first year it’s available to all students.

For AR Kids representatives said they don’t yet have an estimated cost for their amendment, but a team of economists are working on a cost-benefit analysis, which they said will be available before the election. While provisions like universal pre-K have a cost, Kopsky said,  they have a huge return on investment and will improve Arkansas’ status in national rankings.

The state had a roughly $1 billion surplus for the last three fiscal years, and those funds could support the ballot measure’s provisions, Grappe said.

Horton said the surplus theoretically is an option, but questioned the wisdom of using one-time funding to support permanent programs. Additionally, Horton said a better use of the funding, and something many Arkansans are interested in, would be phasing out the state income tax, which Gov. Sanders has promised to do, if it can be done responsibly.

“I’m not sure it’s good budgeting to use one-time money for these permanent, universal welfare programs that we have no idea how much they’re going to be used, who’s going to enroll, how much they’re going to cost, what are all the benefits going to be,” he said.

Horton also criticized creating these programs through a constitutional amendment. By writing them into the state’s constitution, it will be more difficult to alter them and allows for less public input than if this proposal went through the legislative process and was debated and passed by lawmakers, he said.

If For AR Kids collects the minimum number of required signatures, the group could still face legal challenges that could prevent the measure from making it to the November ballot. Kopsky said the coalition has “a really strong legal team” prepared to defend the measure if necessary.

The post Arkansas education amendment supporters continue gathering signatures as deadline looms appeared first on Arkansas Advocate .