A bill establishing a universal school choice program cleared the Arkansas state legislature Tuesday and now heads to the desk of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR).
In a 26-8 vote, the state Senate approved the Arkansas LEARNS Act, which will make the state the third this year to enact a universal school choice program. The bill previously passed the state House 78-21 as the Republican-controlled legislature rapidly approved the bill less than a month after it was introduced on Feb. 8.
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Sanders, a Republican who took office in January, championed the legislation as one of her first signature proposals and celebrated the bill’s passage in a statement and said that she would sign it into law on Wednesday.
“My education plan just passed with overwhelming support: 78-21 in the House and 26-8 in the Senate,” Sanders tweeted. “A historic win for parents, teachers, and students that will set the education model for the nation, I’m ready to sign it into law tomorrow and end the failed status quo. Every kid will soon have access to a quality education and path to a good paying job and better life, right here in Arkansas.”
🚨 My education plan just PASSED WITH OVERWHELMING SUPPORT: 78-21 in the House and 26-8 in the Senate.
A HISTORIC WIN for parents, teachers, and students that will set the education model for the nation, I’m ready to sign it into law tomorrow and end the failed status quo.… https://t.co/6ZQc97vfF6
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) March 7, 2023
School choice proponents were quick to celebrate the news of the bill’s passage, which will see Arkansas join Iowa, Arizona, Utah, and West Virginia on the list of states with universal school choice programs.
“America’s new divide is increasingly between states where students have few options besides geographically assigned district schools—unless parents can afford to send their children to private schools or homeschool—and states that trust parents to make the best decisions for their children’s education,” Jason Bedrick, a education policy research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, told the Washington Examiner. “If states want to be competitive, they should give parents as many options as possible in choosing the school or learning environment that aligns with their values and best suits their children’s learning needs. Gov. Huckabee Sanders has given other state policymakers a roadmap to follow.”
The bill had been opposed by the Arkansas Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, which criticized the legislature for quickly passing the bill quickly “without meaningful discussions.”
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“The voices of hundreds of educators, parents, disability advocates and others have been ignored by those who represent us,” union President Carol Fleming said after the bill passed the state House. “Despite pleas to our legislators to slow down and answer questions about the negative impact this bill could have on our children, it continues its sprint through the capital.”
Fleming continued, “The best decisions for our students are made with teachers and parents at the table. Educators have spent countless hours combing through the bill’s 144 pages and each time we come away with more questions than answers. At every turn, our requests to meet with the governor or the bill’s authors have been ignored or deflected. If supporters of the bill are so confident about it, why are they trying to push it through so quickly without meaningful discussions? What are they afraid of and what’s in there that they don’t want us to know?”
