Arkansas education ballot initiative receives pushback in final days before deadline to gather signatures

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – In the final days of the signature-gathering phase, the ballot initiative group is making its final push for its education amendment to qualify for the November ballot.

According to Bill Kopsky with For AR Kids in a news conference Tuesday, the group is roughly 25,000 signatures short and needs to meet the minimum in a few more counties. Posts from social media indicate the group may still need signatures in more counties than what was announced in the press conference.

The group’s ballot initiative aims to create free access to Pre-K for 3 & 4-year-olds, establish the minimum academic standards for Arkansas schools and require all schools that accept state taxpayer funds to follow the same rules & standards.

Opponents say multiple things are causing them to stand against the initiative. Rep. Brit McKenzie (R-Rogers) said the unknown dollar amount for this measure is a concern.

“The education rights amendment of 2024 is a bill that we don’t know the final cost of,” McKenzie said. “It is an expensive, expensive investment that would undo a significant amount of work that the legislature, the governor and the state at large has done.”

Kopsky said it is the work of the legislators that has resulted in this amendment.

“Our lawmakers have failed our kids for generations,” he said. “We’re not giving Arkansas kids an opportunity for quality education. Our amendment changes that.”

The group technically needs more than 90,000 signatures across Arkansas and those have to come from at least 50 counties in the state. They have until 5 p.m. Friday, July 5 to turn in the signatures.

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