Supporters of education amendment say signature gathering strong, cost estimates forthcoming

For AR Kids, a ballot question committee supporting changes to Arkansas education policy, says their kick-off for signature gathering is off to a great start.

Appearing on this week’s Capitol View and Talk Business & Politics TV program, leaders of the group said they are confident they will meet the threshold of more than 90,000 signatures to get the “Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment of 2024” on the November ballot.

“We had our kickoff last week at the [state] Capitol and even though it’s early on – it’s only been two weeks – we are blaring. I mean, it is crazy how many signatures we have,” said April Reisma, President of the Arkansas Education Association and Vice-president of the For AR Kids coalition.

The proposed amendment would require private schools that receive local and state funds to comply with state academic and accreditation standards, including student and school assessments. Failure to do so would result in a loss of state funds.

“The reason why it’s important is Arkansas has really three tiers of publicly funded schools. So the highest standards are in our traditional K-12 public schools. But then we’ve created a second tier of schools that have lower standards and those are charter schools. They don’t have to meet all the same standards,” said Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and Treasurer of For AR Kids.

“What we’ve seen unfortunately is that public schools have gotten a lot of waivers from those high standards because they say they have to compete with those charter schools. And now, we have a third tier of schools in Arkansas, which are the private schools that accept taxpayer-funded vouchers and they have even lower standards. All we’re saying is let’s create a level playing field. Any school that receives taxpayer public funding has to follow the same high standards as a traditional public school,” he added.

The amendment also says the state will provide:

• Universal access to early childhood education from age 3 until a student qualifies for kindergarten;
• Universal access to afterschool and summer programs;
• Assistance to children within 200% of the federal poverty line to achieve an adequate education and overcome poverty’s negative impact on education; and
• Supports and services meeting the individual needs of students with disabilities.

Kopsky and Reisma say a potential cost for these investments has not been determined, but funding these mandates will be a major concern for lawmakers who have begun working on next year’s budget.

“Currently, our constitutional obligation for education doesn’t say how to fund it. It’s up to the legislature to figure out how to fund it. We’re working on a cost estimate of the proposal now and expect it to come out sometime probably late spring, early summer,” said Kopsky. “But important to note is not only are there costs to implementing things like universal pre-K, but there are benefits to them as well.”

“How much is too much to invest in our children here in the state of Arkansas?” Reisma added.

You can watch the full interview in the video below.