Anti-LEARNS group CAPES believes it has enough signatures after all

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

A day after saying it had failed to collect enough signatures to qualify its referendum for the ballot, the anti-LEARNS Act group Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) now says it thinks it qualified.

“It’s a wait and see but we expect the number to be above the needed initial count,” said CAPES Executive Director Steve Grappe.

After an all-out push, the all-volunteer group believed it was still 500 signatures short of the 54,422 it needed to qualify for the ballot when it submitted its signatures to the secretary of state’s office Monday (July 31).

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/08/anti-learns-group-capes-believes-it-has-enough-signatures-after-all/

Anti-LEARNS group CAPES believes it has enough signatures after all

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

A day after saying it had failed to collect enough signatures to qualify its referendum for the ballot, the anti-LEARNS Act group Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) now says it thinks it qualified.

“It’s a wait and see but we expect the number to be above the needed initial count,” said CAPES Executive Director Steve Grappe.

After an all-out push, the all-volunteer group believed it was still 500 signatures short of the 54,422 it needed to qualify for the ballot when it submitted its signatures to the secretary of state’s office Monday (July 31).

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/08/anti-learns-group-capes-believes-it-has-enough-signatures-after-all/

Group seeking to overturn Arkansas LEARNS gathers at Capitol

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

Amidst a heavy rainstorm, protesters gathered on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol building Thursday to speak against a Republican-led education overhaul as attempts to overturn it are ongoing.

The legislature last month approved the Arkansas LEARNS Act, a dense, wide-sweeping education package expanding school voucher programs in the state. An organization called CAPES, or Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students, is attempting to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the 2024 ballot to repeal the law.

The repeal efforts hit their first roadblock earlier this week, after Attorney General Tim Griffin said the proposed amendment's ballot title was misleading. Veronica McClane, a volunteer with CAPES, said the organization has resubmitted a new title.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-04-28/group-seeking-to-overturn-arkansas-learns-gathers-at-capitol

John Sykes/Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs her Arkansas LEARNS legislation into law on March 8, 2023 inside the state Capitol.

AG rejects first try of anti-LEARNS referendum

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has rejected a proposed ballot referendum by a group hoping to overturn the LEARNS Act that was passed by legislators and signed by Gov. Sarah Sanders earlier this year.

The group, Citizens for Public Education and Students, or CAPES, says it will resubmit the referendum and that it will work with a sister organization to push a constitutional amendment next year that would replace the LEARNS Act.

The LEARNS Act is Sanders’ signature education legislation that, among many other provisions, creates “education freedom accounts” giving families access to about $7,000 for non-public school options that otherwise would have gone to the public schools where their children would have attended. It also increases the minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000 and provides every teacher a $2,000 raise.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/04/ag-rejects-first-try-of-anti-learns-referendum/

Attorney General Tim Griffin