State Board of Education approves new accountability system, guidelines

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

The Arkansas State Board of Education approved new accountability guidelines for private schools getting tax money on Thursday.

The 2023 LEARNS Act signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders allowed public money to be used for private schools. The money comes from a pool of funds called the “education freedom account.”

Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva have promised accountability measures for these schools since the law was passed. Stacy Smith, Deputy Commissioner of the Education Department's Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, presented the new rules at a meeting on Thursday. Students at private schools getting tax dollars will be required to take standardized testing and meet accreditation standards, but there will be a lot of flexibility for them in both categories.

State Board of Education approves new accountability system, guidelines

Antoinette Grajeda/Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas Department of Education Deputy Commissioner Stacy Smith (right) at a previous meeting of the board. On Thursday she presented testing and accreditation rules for private schools receiving public money.

Plaintiffs discuss ongoing lawsuit against Arkansas critical race theory ban

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

A group of teachers and students in Arkansas is suing the state over a law that was used to restrict an advanced placement African American studies course. They say the law is vague and creates a chilling effect because it tries to limit how race is talked about in classrooms.

Ruthie Walls, a history teacher at Central High School in Little Rock, is one of a handful of educators who teach AP African American Studies. Last August she was preparing for the school year, when she found out her class was canceled by the state.

“No one wants to get news like that,” she said. “I was taken off guard and I had to continue with the day.”

Plaintiffs discuss ongoing lawsuit against Arkansas critical race theory ban

Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate

From left front: Gisele Davis, Chandra Williams-Davis, Ruthie Walls, Sadie Belle Reynolds and Jennifer Reynolds are five of the seven plaintiffs challenging Section 16 of the Arkansas LEARNS Act in federal court.

Federal judge denies stay in Arkansas LEARNS ‘indoctrination’ lawsuit

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

A federal judge on Monday denied a motion for a stay of proceedings pending an appeal in a case challenging the constitutionality of a section of the LEARNS Act that bans “indoctrination” in public schools.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky last week granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in the lawsuit.

The state on Friday filed a notice of appeal of the order, as well as a motion for a stay pending its appeal and a stay of a May 14 deadline for filing responses, pending the court’s ruling on the motion.

Federal judge denies stay in Arkansas LEARNS ‘indoctrination’ lawsuit

Michael Hibblen/Little Rock Public Radio

The Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Courthouse in Little Rock.

Teacher pay study touts Arkansas improvements

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

A study conducted by The New Teacher Project says Arkansas has the highest teacher pay in the country, when you figure in cost-of-living factors, but the report is hesitant to draw further conclusions about the improvement of teacher recruiting and retention until more data is available on recent initiatives.

Released last week, the TNTP report titled “Moving Up: Promising Strategies to Address Teacher Shortages in Arkansas” is a follow up to a 2021 report titled “Missing Out,” which outlined some ways the state could fix its looming teacher shortage. Some of those recommendations were included in Gov. Sarah Sanders’ LEARNS Act.

The signature education bill raised minimum teacher salaries in Arkansas to $50,000 and provided one-time $2,000 raises to teachers earning more than $50,000.

Teacher pay study touts Arkansas improvements

Federal judge schedules hearing in Arkansas LEARNS lawsuit

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

A federal judge on Wednesday scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for April 30 in a case challenging the constitutionality of a portion of the LEARNS Act that bans “indoctrination” in public schools.

Little Rock Central High School parents, students and a teacher involved in an AP African American Studies pilot course that received scrutiny for potentially violating the “indoctrination” ban, filed the lawsuit in late March against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva.

In Wednesday’s order, U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky said he granted in part and denied in part the plaintiffs’ request for an “expedited briefing and consideration.” He denied part of the request because plaintiffs could have filed their complaint and preliminary injunction months ago, he wrote.

Federal judge schedules hearing in Arkansas LEARNS lawsuit

Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate

From left front: Gisele Davis, Chandra Williams-Davis, Ruthie Walls, Sadie Belle Reynolds and Jennifer Reynolds are five of the seven plaintiffs challenging Section 16 of the Arkansas LEARNS Act in federal court. Mike Laux (at podium) is one of their attorneys and filed the lawsuit Monday, March 25, 2024 before hosting a news conference at Bullock Temple CME Church, across the street from Little Rock Central High, where Gisele and Sadie Belle are students in Walls’ AP African American Studies course.

Governor says Year 2 eligibility for Education Freedom Account participants is open

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Gov. Sarah Sanders said Monday (April 1) that a new cohort of eligible students could begin the application process for Education Freedom Accounts, the voucher program constructed under her LEARNS Act education overhaul that allows public school funding to follow students to other options, including private school or homeschooling.

Year 2 eligible children include those whose parents are veterans, military reserve members, first responders, and law enforcement officers, as well as students who previously attended D-rated schools.

The department began accepting applications for the 2024-2025 school year on Monday (April 1).

Governor says Year 2 eligibility for Education Freedom Account participants is open

LEARNS, taxes, transparency split GOP candidates in some Arkansas legislative primaries

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Tax cuts, school vouchers and the state Freedom of Information Act are all hot-button issues for several Arkansas Republicans vying for seats in the state Legislature, including several incumbents who are fighting to appear on the November ballot.

A few of the challengers in the upcoming primary have run for legislative offices before, have already served in the Legislature or have family ties to former lawmakers.

“This is the people’s job,” said Timmy Reid, a cattle farmer and contractor from Marshall who is running for the House for the fourth time since 2018. “…It doesn’t matter what I want — if the people of my district decide they don’t want [something], I’m not voting for it or supporting it.”

LEARNS, taxes, transparency split GOP candidates in some Arkansas legislative primaries

Dwain Hebda/Arkansas Advocate

The Arkansas State Capitol.

State board approves waivers for Arkansas school districts moving to alternate calendars

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Arkansas education officials on Wednesday voted to allow half the state’s public school districts to add time to each school day for the rest of the year to make up for January’s snow days.

The shift from a traditional days-based calendar to an alternate hourly calendar comes as January’s severe winter weather highlighted the LEARNS Act’s practical elimination of alternative methods of instruction (AMI) days, which districts used in recent years to offer virtual instruction when schools were closed for weather, disease outbreaks or utility outages.

While the LEARNS Act did not repeal the law that created AMI days, it does require at least 178 days or 1,078 hours of “on-site, in-person instruction” to receive state funding that supports increasing the state’s minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000.

State board approves waivers for Arkansas school districts moving to alternate calendars

Arkansas schools compress salary schedules in response to LEARNS Act

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

From the Arkansas Advocate:

Nearly a third of Arkansas school districts no longer offer pay increases for experience or additional education, an immediate result of a new state law that increased the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 a year.

The LEARNS Act increased Arkansas’ minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000 and requires all teachers to receive at least a $2,000 raise for the 2023-2024 academic year.

The law also eliminated the state’s minimum salary schedule, which required pay increases for teachers with more education and experience. But districts must create a salary schedule to receive state funding that assists with the additional teacher compensation.

Arkansas schools compress salary schedules in response to LEARNS Act

Cristina Spano For NPR

Survey: A quarter would change schools with education freedom accounts

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

A quarter of registered voters in Arkansas with K-12 students living in their homes said they would change their children’s learning environment if provided state funding for non-public school options. More than 61% had favorable opinions of those education freedom accounts.

The survey measured those two key facets of the LEARNS Act, the expansive education reform law passed by Gov. Sarah Sanders and legislators earlier this year.

Eight hundred registered voters were surveyed by telephone Aug. 24 through Sept. 8. The margin of error was plus-minus 3.94%.

You can access the survey results at this link.

Survey: A quarter would change schools with education freedom accounts

Implementation of Arkansas LEARNS Act continues with literacy coach training

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

Dozens of coaches are preparing to help Arkansas students meet literacy standards outlined in the LEARNS Act, an expansive new education law backed by the governor.

During a training session Monday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders told the new literacy coaches she knows the impact a single teacher can have on a student because an educator helped improve her daughter’s literacy skills after noticing she was “missing a couple of important markers when it came to reading.”

“When we challenge students, when we push them and when we raise the bar instead of lower it, they’re going to meet it because kids are absolutely resilient and amazing and each kid is capable of learning when given access to the right tools, the right resources and, frankly, the right teacher,” Sanders said.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-08-30/implementation-of-arkansas-learns-act-continues-with-literacy-coach-training

Screengrab From Livestream

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders gave remarks at a literacy coach training event on Aug. 28, 2023.

State of the State Mid-Year 2023: In education, Arkansas is in a state of change

by Steve Brawner (BRAWNERSTEVE@MAC.COM)

Now that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ LEARNS Act has become the law in Arkansas, public and private schools are in a state of change.

The wide-ranging 145-page law, which went into effect Aug. 1, increases minimum public school teacher salaries from $36,000 to $50,000, makes it easier for schools to fire underperforming teachers, and requires third-graders to read at grade level or potentially face being retained one year. Many of the law’s provisions remain to be determined though the rules process.

Perhaps its most contentious aspect is its creation of “education freedom accounts” that give families access to public school funds for private and homeschooling expenses. For the 2023-24 school year, that amount equals roughly $6,600, and it will increase each year as state funding for schools increases.

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/

Former Republican lawmaker appointed to Arkansas Board of Education

KUAR | By Daniel Breen

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has appointed a former Republican state lawmaker to the Arkansas Board of Education.

Sanders announced Thursday that Ken Bragg will serve on the nine-member board, replacing outgoing board chair Ouida Newton. Speaking at the state Capitol, Sanders said Bragg would seek to implement her signature education legislation known as Arkansas LEARNS.

“He helped us get LEARNS across the finish line, and now he’s back to help implement it across the state. Ken’s resume makes him more than qualified to take on this role,” Sanders said.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-07-14/former-republican-lawmaker-appointed-to-arkansas-board-of-education

Daniel Breen/KUAR News

Former Republican state Rep. Ken Bragg speaks alongside Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Arkansas State Capitol on Thursday

Arkansas AG requests expedited appeal of LEARNS Act ruling

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Wednesday filed a motion to expedite his appeal of a circuit court ruling that delays the effective date of the LEARNS Act, the governor’s signature education legislation. Griffin asked that the state Supreme Court respond by 8 a.m. Friday.

Griffin filed an appeal on July 3 of an order invalidating the law’s emergency clause, which would allow it go into effect immediately instead of 91 days after the end of the legislative session.

Pulaski County Judge Herbert Wright last month ruled the law’s emergency clause is invalid because it was not passed with a separate roll-call vote garnering a two-thirds majority, as required by the Arkansas Constitution.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-07-13/arkansas-ag-requests-expedited-appeal-of-learns-act-ruling

Courts.Arkansas.Gov/Courts.Arkansas.Gov

Judge rules that LEARNS Act not effective until Aug. 1

by Talk Business & Politics staff (staff2@talkbusiness.net)

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herb Wright on Friday (June 30) ruled that the Arkansas LEARNS Act cannot go into effect until Aug. 1. The ruling, if it stands, could complicate the past few months of efforts by the Gov. Sarah Sanders’ administration to implement the law.

The case was brought by residents of the Marvell-Elaine School District and education advocates. The State Board of Education had voted to direct Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva to place the district under the management of the nonprofit Friendship Education Foundation through a transformation contract made possible by the LEARNS Act.

The plaintiffs had sued saying lawmakers had erred in voting on the bill and its emergency clause at the same time. The Arkansas Constitution says the votes on the two are to be separate. The votes were recorded separately by the House and Senate clerks.

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/06/judge-rules-that-learns-act-not-effective-until-aug-1/

Arkansas judge hears arguments on LEARNS emergency clause, expects to rule in coming days

KUAR | By Antoinette Grajeda / Arkansas Advocate

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herbert Wright said Tuesday that he’ll issue a ruling in a week or two on the effective date of the LEARNS Act, the governor’s signature education legislation.

The plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the law argue it is not yet in effect due to a defective emergency clause. An emergency clause allows legislation to take effect immediately instead of 91 days after the end of the legislative session.

They also argued the Legislature failed to establish that an emergency existed that made immediate implementation of the law necessary.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-06-21/arkansas-judge-hears-arguments-on-learns-emergency-clause-expects-to-rule-in-coming-days

Charlie Neibergall/AP

Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Herbert Wright said Tuesday that he’ll issue a ruling in a week or two on the effective date of the LEARNS Act.

Efforts to block LEARNS continue at the Arkansas Supreme Court

KUAR | By Josie Lenora

Briefs were filed Tuesday in a case challenging the constitutional legitimacy of Arkansas LEARNS. Plaintiff attorney Ali Noland is arguing the law was not passed through proper constitutional procedure.

Arkansas LEARNS is the name given to a package of omnibus education legislation passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders this year. The bill has many objectives; one is that it plans to use tax dollars to fund so-called educational freedom accounts, pools of money parents can use to enroll their children in private schools. LEARNS also allows struggling public school districts to be taken over by charter companies.

When the legislature passed the law earlier this year, lawmakers voted for both the bill and the emergency clause at the same time. Emergency clauses make legislation to go into effect immediately and not 90 days after the end of the session. Under the plain language of the Arkansas constitution, emergency clauses should be voted on separately from laws.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-06-07/efforts-to-block-learns-continue-at-the-arkansas-supreme-court

Courts.Arkansas.Gov/Courts.Arkansas.Gov

Briefs were filed Tuesday in a case challenging the constitutionality of the Arkansas LEARNS education law.

Arkansas LEARNS education overhaul put on hold temporarily

An Arkansas judge put a major education bill on hold while a procedural lawsuit goes forward.

Arkansas LEARNS is a 145-page law passed this year by the Arkansas legislature and signed into law by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Among many things, the law raises teacher starting salaries, gives parents money to enroll their children in private schools, and allows charter school companies to take over struggling school districts. The struggling Marvell-Elaine School District in east Arkansas entered into a contract with Friendship Charter shortly after the lawsuit was passed.

Attorney Ali Noland is representing Marvell-Elaine citizens who do not want the contract to go forward. Her challenge argues the law was unconstitutionally passed. When LEARNS moved through the legislature it was passed with an additional emergency clause tacked on to the bill, meaning it goes into effect immediately. Under the plain language of the constitution, emergency clauses should be voted on separately from bills. The Arkansas Legislature customarily votes on emergency clauses and bills at the same time records the votes separately.

https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/local-regional-news/2023-05-30/advocates-detractors-react-to-arkansas-learns-being-put-on-hold

Commons.Wikimedia.Org/

A Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge decided to temporarily keep LEARNS from going into effect.