Arkansas
4 file suit seeking to halt school voucher program, calling LEARNS provision unconstitutional | Arkansas Democrat Gazette
A group of Arkansas citizens has asked a Pulaski County circuit judge to stop what they say is the state’s unconstitutional Educational Freedom Account that provides taxpayer funding for tuition and other private and home school costs.
The four plaintiffs — Gwen Faulkenberry, Special Renee Sanders, Anika Whitfield and Kimberly Crutchfield, who are represented by Richard H. Mays — filed suit late Friday against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas Department of Education, the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, Education Secretary Jacob Oliva, secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration Jim Hudson and eight of the nine-member state Board of Education. One board position is vacant.
The plaintiffs argued to Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Morgan Welch that the voucher program is unconstitutional and void. The plaintiffs seek an injunction from the court to prohibit state defendants from further implementing the voucher program and a declaration from the court that state officials have acted beyond their constitutional authority.
If the court finds that the funding and payment provisions of the LEARNS Act relative to the voucher program are unconstitutional, the plaintiffs in the 37-page lawsuit ask to “be allowed to add all recipients of the Voucher Program funds as Defendants for purposes of recovery all such funds illegally expended.”
The lawsuit notes that the Arkansas Revenue Stabilization Act allocates $97,487,318 for the voucher program for the coming 2024-25 school year, a 300% increase of the allocation for the past year.
State education leaders anticipate that more than 14,000 students will participate in the Educational Freedom Account program this coming year.
An effort to reach Kimberly Mundell, spokesperson for the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education, by text message about the lawsuit late Monday afternoon was not successful.
The plaintiffs in the case are three educators/parents of school-age children and a guardian of a school-age child.
Faulkenberry, who lives in the Ozark School District, is a university teacher and has been a Sunday columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Sanders, who resides in Drew County, is a public school teacher. Crutchfield is a Little Rock School District teacher. Whitfield, of Pulaski County, is a legal guardian and longtime community activist.
The lawsuit over the vouchers is the latest in a series of lawsuits challenging different aspects of the LEARNS Act. The most recent case is pending in federal court and centers on prohibitions in the law against indoctrination of students. An earlier case challenged the validity of the emergency clause that was attached last year to the LEARNS Act.
The Educational Freedom Account program was enacted last year by lawmakers as one component of the 145-page Arkansas LEARNS Act, or Act 237, that was initiated and championed by the governor to overhaul education in the state. The Educational Freedom Account program greatly expanded a smaller Succeed Scholarship voucher program that had been for students with special education needs.
The taxpayer-funded Educational Freedom Account program that started this just-ended school year based on emergency rules provided at least $6,672 for about 5,000 students who met eligibility requirements to use the taxpayer-funded accounts at some 94 private schools.
The accounts will provide at least $6,856 per student for this coming school year. The dollar amount is 90% of the minimum state and local funding per public school student. As of last month, 106 private schools had been approved for receiving the state funding with 13 more awaiting approval.
To qualify for the taxpayer-funded accounts in the first year, students had to be kindergartners, recipients of the previous Succeed Scholarships, attend an F-graded public school, be the child of an active military service member or experience foster care or homelessness.
In this coming school year, the eligibility requirements have expanded to include students who attended a D- or F-graded public school or be the child of military veterans or emergency responders.
While there are student eligibility requirements in place for the first two years of the vouchers, all Arkansas students will be eligible to access Educational Freedom Accounts for tuition and other private and home school costs beginning with the 2025-26 school year, according to the LEARNS Act.
Mays, the plaintiffs’ attorney, argued in the lawsuit that Article 14 of the Arkansas Constitution directs that no money or property belonging to the public school fund or to the state for the benefit of schools and universities “shall ever be used for any other respective purpose to which it belongs.”
Article 14 further reserves certain property taxes to local school districts and Article 16 states that no money arising from a tax levied for any purpose shall be used for any other purpose.
“The LEARNS Act violates these constitutional principles,” Mays wrote. “The LEARNS Act transfers from taxes belonging to the state for the use and benefit of public schools the amount of money calculated by the State as the cost of that student’s education to the private school, home school or other private provider.”
The lawsuit also states that the Arkansas Supreme Court “has consistently upheld the constitutional requirement that public school funds may not be used for non-public school purposes.”
The LEARNS Act is not the state’s first attempt at funding of private schools, according to the lawsuit. Mays cites unsuccessful efforts by the state to provide public money to private schools in response to the court-ordered racial desegregation of Little Rock schools in 1958.
“The LEARNS Act represents a radical and unconstitutional departure from a public school system that endured since the establishment of the state of Arkansas,” the suit also states.
“If implemented, the LEARNS Act will drain valuable and necessary resources from the public school system and create a separate and unequal dual school system that discriminates between children based on economic, racial and physical characteristics and capabilities,” the suit continues.
Mays, the attorney, noted that no tax or other revenue source was created by lawmakers to support the Educational Freedom Accounts.
He called the voucher program “a shell game.”
“The funding mechanisms and incentives for vouchers reduce the number of students in traditional public schools, and effectively fund the state vouchers in part with funds which formerly were distributed to traditional public schools,” he wrote in the lawsuit.
“This scheme results in the local school tax funds generated by the 25-mill uniform rate of taxation being shuffled to the state, and then used to fund school vouchers,” he said.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – No. 22 Arkansas (30-16, 11-10 SEC) and No. 17 Ole Miss (31-15, 11-10 SEC) clash in a pivotal SEC series this weekend at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch in the opener between the Razorbacks and Rebels is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, May 1, on SEC Network+ with Brett Dolan (play-by-play) and Troy Eklund (analyst) on the call.
Game two of the weekend series gets underway at 2 p.m. Saturday, May 2, on SEC Network+ with Dolan and Eklund in the broadcast booth. Arkansas and Ole Miss conclude the weekend with a 2 p.m. first pitch in the series finale Sunday, May 3, on SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Chris Burke (analyst) on the call from Baum-Walker Stadium.
The Razorbacks have won five consecutive weekend series against the Rebels (2021-25), including each of the last two weekend series played inside the friendly confines of Baum-Walker Stadium in 2022 and 2024. Arkansas and Ole Miss, both 11-10 in league play, are tied for sixth in the SEC standings with nine conference games remaining in the campaign.
Schedule
Friday, May 1
#17 Ole Miss vs. #22 Arkansas – 6 p.m. – SEC Network+ – Listen – Live Stats
Saturday, May 2
#17 Ole Miss vs. #22 Arkansas – 2 p.m. – SEC Network+ – Listen – Live Stats
Sunday, May 3
#17 Ole Miss vs. #22 Arkansas – 2 p.m. – SEC Network – Listen – Live Stats
On the Mound
Friday, May 1
Ole Miss – LHP Hunter Elliott (4-1, 4.82 ERA)
Arkansas – LHP Hunter Dietz (5-2, 3.62 ERA)
Saturday, May 2
Ole Miss – RHP Cade Townsend (4-1, 2.33 ERA)
Arkansas – LHP Cole Gibler (4-1, 2.91 ERA)
Sunday, May 3
Ole Miss – RHP Taylor Rabe (3-3, 4.24 ERA)
Arkansas – TBA
Tune In
Friday and Saturday’s games between No. 22 Arkansas and No. 17 Ole Miss will stream on SEC Network+ with Brett Dolan (play-by-play) and Troy Eklund (analyst) on the call. Sunday’s series finale, meanwhile, will televise nationally on SEC Network with Tom Hart (play-by-play) and Chris Burke (analyst) in the broadcast booth at Baum-Walker Stadium.
The entire weekend series between the Razorbacks and Rebels can also be heard on the Razorback Sports Network from Learfield, including locally in Fayetteville on 92.1 FM or through the Razorback app, with Phil Elson (play-by-play) and Bubba Carpenter (analyst) on the call from Baum-Walker Stadium. A full list of radio affiliates is available here.
History Lesson
Arkansas is 64-55 overall against Ole Miss since 1982, including a 29-23 record in games played in Fayetteville, Ark. In the Dave Van Horn era (2003-pres.), the Razorbacks are 39-45 overall and 17-19 at home against the Rebels.
The Hogs, 7-3 in their last 10 games and 13-7 in their last 20 games against Ole Miss, have not lost a home weekend series to the Rebels since 2019. In the last series between the two teams at Baum-Walker Stadium in 2024, Arkansas collected its first weekend series sweep of Ole Miss since 2002 and first sweep of the Rebels in Fayetteville since 1997.
Here’s The SEC Situation
With the second half of SEC play underway, Arkansas, currently 11-10 through 21 league games, must post a 7-2 record over its final nine games of the year to reach the 18-win mark in conference play for the ninth consecutive season.
Entering the 2026 campaign, the Razorbacks have won 18 or more SEC games in eight consecutive seasons (2017-25) and are one of only two teams in conference history to accomplish the aforementioned feat. LSU is the only other SEC program to record at least eight consecutive seasons of 18 or more SEC victories (10 from 1996-2005).
Dazzlin’ Dietz
Plagued by injuries during the first two years of his collegiate career, Arkansas’ Hunter Dietz is now fully healthy and quickly proving why he is one of the top left-handers in college baseball. Through 11 starts on the mound this season, the Trinity, Fla., native owns a 5-2 record with a 3.62 ERA and an SEC-leading 92 strikeouts in 59.2 innings of work.
After beginning the season as the Razorbacks’ game two starter, Dietz will make his fourth consecutive series-opening start Friday night against the Rebels. The left-hander has turned in a team-leading six quality starts this year, the most by a Razorback pitcher in a season since LHP Zach Root logged a team-high seven quality starts during the 2025 campaign.
1. UT Arlington (Feb. 28) – 7.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
2. Stetson (March 7) – 6.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 12 SO
3. South Carolina (March 21) – 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 12 SO
4. #18 Auburn (April 3) – 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 11 SO
5. #8 Alabama (April 10) – 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO
6. Missouri (April 23) – 7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO
Dietz has also recorded three double-digit strikeout efforts, tied for eighth most in a season by a Razorback pitcher:
1. Stetson (March 7) – 12 SO
2. South Carolina (March 21) – 12 SO
3. #18 Auburn (April 3) – 11 SO
With his next double-digit strikeout game, Dietz will move into a tie for seventh most in a season by a Razorback pitcher:
1. 11 – Hagen Smith, 2024
T2. 8 – Nick Schmidt, 2006
T2. 8 – David Walling, 1999
T4. 6 – Trevor Stephan, 2017
T4. 6 – David Walling, 1998
6. 5 – Jess Todd, 2007
7. 4 – Isaiah Campbell, 2019
T8. 3 – Hunter Dietz, 2026
T8. 3 – Zach Root, 2025
T8. 3 – Mason Molina, 2024
T8. 3 – Blaine Knight, 2017
For complete coverage of Arkansas baseball, follow the Hogs on Twitter (@RazorbackBSB), Instagram (@RazorbackBSB) and Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Baseball).
Arkansas lawmakers have wrapped up their 2026 fiscal session, locking in how billions of dollars will be spent across the state in the year ahead.
The session, which began April 8, focused primarily on setting the state’s budget. It came to a close after Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed the Revenue Stabilization Act, finalizing a $6.7 billion spending plan for Fiscal Year 2027. The budget represents about a 3% increase from last year and will take effect July 1.
From the start of the session to its conclusion, lawmakers spent weeks negotiating how taxpayer dollars would be allocated across agencies, programs, and priorities.
“Because of their work, not only were we able to accomplish some of our top priorities this year, but they’ve set us up for what I think will be a great week next week,” Sanders said.
A significant portion of the budget is dedicated to education. That includes more than $300 million for the state’s Education Freedom Account program, also known as school vouchers, which allows families to use public funds for private education expenses. Lawmakers also set aside additional funding that could expand the program in the future.
Economic development was another major focus. The budget reserves up to $300 million for a potential large-scale project in West Memphis, aimed at bringing jobs and investment to the region.
Lawmakers also approved an increase in the state’s homestead property tax credit, raising it from $600 to $675.
Still, not every proposal made it through. Efforts to limit eligibility for the Education Freedom Account program failed during the session.
“This session sets the financial foundation for the year ahead, but there are more policy debates just around the corner,” Sanders said.
Those debates are expected to begin soon. Lawmakers are planning to return to the Capitol for a special session focused on tax cuts. The governor has proposed reducing the state income tax rate by 0.2 percent, a move that could return more than $180 million to Arkansans.
“We want it to be pretty singularly focused on providing relief to Arkansans, letting them keep more of their hard-earned money,” Sanders said.
If approved, the tax cuts would mark another step in the state’s ongoing effort to lower income taxes, with more decisions expected in the coming days.
Only a very low risk of storms continues in southern Arkansas on Wednesday evening, then shower chances are possible Wednesday evening and overnight in central and southern Arkansas.
A stray shower is possible on Thursday, but most will be dry with mostly cloudy skies and cooler-than-normal temperatures. Highs will reach the upper 60s in central Arkansas on Thursday.
More rain chances move in Friday, but chances are highest for southern Arkansas. A few stray storms are also possible in southern Arkansas on Friday into pre-dawn Saturday.
Conditions are dry this weekend, with temperatures warming throughout the weekend. More rain chances return next week, and the 80s are back by Sunday into Monday.
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