A grassroots coalition on Wednesday announced its intention to refer to the 2024 ballot a measure to amend the education clause of the Arkansas Constitution.
Group members said they will file a proposed constitutional amendment and paperwork for their ballot question committee Thursday morning ahead of a noon press conference at the Arkansas Capitol.
The proposed measure is supported by For AR Kids, a coalition that includes the Arkansas Education Association, Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Citizens First Congress and Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES).
According to a press release, the measure will propose the following changes:
- Require any school receiving public funds to follow the same standards that traditional public schools are required to follow.
- Establish the minimum quality standards ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in its 2022 Lake View decision.
- Guarantee voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3 and 4-year-olds, afterschool and summer time programming, quality special education and wrap-around services for children within 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.
CAPES Executive Director Steve Grappe said the measure aims to create “a world-class education in Arkansas” by building upon the LEARNS Act, the governor’s wide-ranging education law that the Legislature approved this year.
“We’re excited to take the LEARNS Act that is now the law of the land and find a way to make it better and how to improve upon what we have as a law to reach more students,” he said.
Arkansas LEARNS Act repeal effort fails to gather enough signatures for ‘24 ballot question
CAPES previously led an effort to repeal the LEARNS Act through a ballot referendum, but fell short of collecting the required number of petition signatures in August. That experience informed the approach to the constitutional amendment effort, which Grappe said is “like playing a completely different sport.”
The coalition crafted the new measure, which has been in the works since the spring, by considering feedback from polling and focus groups. Grappe said the coalition also involved a team of attorneys from the outset, which wasn’t the case with the repeal effort.
“That’s a big lesson that was learned, like let’s make sure and get as much of the legalese and all of the language correct from the start,” he said. “We’ve looked at all of the things the attorney general told us the first time around, and I think we’ve learned from that to where we’re putting a work product on his desk that we expect him to pass and okay the first time out of the gates.”
Under Act 194 of 2023, initiative and referendum petitions must be submitted for approval to the attorney general, instead of the secretary of state. The attorney general has 10 business days to approve or reject the proposed ballot language.
Grappe said he feels confident in the new initiative and said he anticipates widespread support.
“We fully expect to have Republicans, Democrats, Independents, everybody involved to support this,” he said. “I think we’ve got a product that’s going to be good for all of Arkansas.”
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