While challengers in a lawsuit to stall the Arkansas LEARNS school privatization bill are focused on the procedural snafus, defendants are waging a multi-prong strategy to win over judges with both legal arguments and a public relations campaign.
Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin and members of his staff filed an emergency motion with the state Supreme Court Tuesday, asking justices to reverse a temporary restraining order by Pulaski District Court Judge Herbert Wright that puts the universal voucher and charter school expansion legislation on hold. The state wants the Supreme Court to jump in and undo the temporary restraining order that’s put a big kink in the education department’s plans.
A group of public education advocates and Marvell-Elaine community members sued to put LEARNS on ice earlier this month. State lawmakers zipped the 145-page honker through the Capitol at record speed earlier this year, despite outcry from educators and others that they barely had time to read it, much less mount a solid defense.
While most agreed the teacher raise and literacy components of the bill were good, opponents noted that the universal voucher program that will send public money to private schools will almost certainly not improve student achievement, but will segregate students and ultimately defund traditional public schools.
The supermajority Republican body was big on paying well-to-do families’ private school tuitions for them regardless of any resegregation that might fall out. They had more than enough votes to do whatever they wanted. And Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders pressed hard to be able to claim as her own what she called “the most bold, comprehensive, conservative education reform package in the nation.”
The emergency clause that put LEARNS into effect immediately upon the governor’s signature rather than after the usual 90-day period was voted on improperly, and therefore is not valid, plaintiffs aiming to stall LEARNS contend. Both state legislative houses voted on the LEARNS bill and its emergency clause in one vote, despite clear wording in the Arkansas Constitution that calls for separate votes as a way to protect the people’s referendum powers. Plaintiffs also say there’s no real emergency to begin with, as is required for an emergency clause to be lawful.
Late last week, Judge Wright agreed to put Arkansas LEARNS on hold pending a June 20 hearing.
Republicans went on the offensive, calling Wright an activist judge who was using his power from the bench to craft education policy.
This argument didn’t sit well with state Sen. Clarke Tucker, a Little Rock Democrat who said he’s as guilty as other lawmakers on voting on bills with emergency clauses attached in one vote instead of two. But he said that upon reading the constitution, the meaning is clear.
“I don’t see how ‘separate’ can mean anything other than ‘separate.’ This suggestion that only an activist judge could rule this way is insulting to the integrity of the judiciary,” he said. In fact, “it would take an activist judge to rule the other way,” he said.
In Tuesday’s filing, Griffin’s team said that it doesn’t matter if one vote was taken or two; the vote(s) are recorded as separate votes in legislative records, and therefore they are separate votes, their filing says. They also argue that delaying the implementation of LEARNS will cause a logistical nightmare. Read the full filing here.
Griffin’s team also submitted an affidavit from Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, a LEARNS proponent. Read it here.
Gov. Sarah Sanders joined in blaming the political left for gumming up her signature legislation. Sanders put out an unusual video Monday in which she appears to possibly be in bed in her pajamas? The radical left is “fighting against our teachers, fighting against our families, and frankly, attacking our students’ futures,” the governor says.
The Arkansas Department of Education is also jumping on the public relations onslaught, putting out messaging that the lawsuit attempting to slow the implementation of LEARNS is an existential threat to teacher raises, maternity leave funding and the very existence of the embattled Marvell-Elaine School District. The Department of Education even posted a message on the Marvell-Elaine School District website this weekend.
As you may or may not be aware, there has been a lawsuit filed in Little Rock regarding LEARNS, the law that was passed to improve education and help keep your school district open. A judge’s ruling on Friday could have a negative impact on the progress and partnership that has been made to provide your children a better education. Keeping the school open and working with a partner to improve education is still the goal.
The following statement is from ADE Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva on Judge Wright’s ruling. Once again, people more interested in protecting the status quo are getting in the way of progress. LEARNS is supporting local control and transforming a failed education system into a thriving learning environment where students will excel in their community. It’s unfortunate adults with political motives are trying to stall progress. If you are interested in fighting to keep your school district open, please email us at ade.learns@ade.arkansas.gov
Plaintiffs, though, say there’s no need for Marvell-Elaine to be railroaded into a contract to turn their school district over to a charter management company on such a tight timeline. A change to a state law passed this session does away with the requirement for districts with fewer than 350 students to consolidate. There’s time to explore more options, they said.
The plaintiffs also note that there’s far more to this case than just whether Arkansas LEARNS is already in effect or if it goes into effect August 1. It has to do with the people’s power to repeal laws, which is granted by the state constitution.
If the emergency clause is deemed valid by the courts and LEARNS is currently properly in effect, then LEARNS will stay in effect even as CAPES, a group aiming to put a repeal of Arkansas LEARNS on the ballot, works to gather signatures and then campaign to try to convince voters that LEARNS is not right for Arkansas and should be repealed.
If the emergency clause is thrown out, however, CAPES could collect enough signatures to put a LEARNS repeal on the ballot. If that happens, the legislation would go on hold until the November 2024 election.
