For AR Kids takes another shot on Educational Rights Amendment

A group hoping to put its Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 on the Nov. 5 ballot sent a new draft to state Attorney General Tim Griffin Thursday. 

This was the fourth submission for the group For AR Kids. 

“Our legal team addressed the concerns raised by the attorney general in the previous rejection, and met once again with the Attorney General’s staff to discuss their concerns and our goal,” Public Policy Panel Executive Director Bill Kopsky said.

The changes made to the measure were narrowly tailored to the specific concerns that have been raised, Kopsky said. 

The initiative aims to amend the state constitution to require any private schools that accept public funding in the form of vouchers to meet the same standards required of traditional public schools. It would also establish minimum quality standards for schools and would guarantee free access to pre-K, after-school and summer programs; quality special education; and wrap-around services for children within 200% of the federal poverty line. 

The group’s first attempt was rejected. Griffin said the amendment’s language lacked specificity. Griffin also said it would violate parochial schools’ First Amendment right to freedom of religion if they were required to meet state standards when accepting vouchers.

Arkansas LEARNS, the K-12 education law passed last spring, created a voucher program that will eventually be open to all students in the state.

On Thursday, the group asked for an expedited review to ensure their volunteers have enough time to collect the more than 90,000 signatures required to put their proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot.  

“We met with the staff of the attorney general’s office to understand their concerns and to seek their input on how to achieve our goal of providing every Arkansas student with an excellent opportunity to learn and excel,”  April Reisma, president of Arkansas Education Association, said. “We look forward to putting this measure before voters.”

Steve Grappe, executive director of CAPES, said the group had more than 450 volunteers ready to collect signatures. 

“We are just starting our outreach efforts to train people on how to collect signatures and share details about how the Arkansas Educational Rights Amendment will improve the educational opportunities of ALL Arkansas students,” Grappe said. “We are just getting going to build toward our goal of over 2,500 people helping collect signatures for the measure.”

The For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee is a coalition that includes the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, the Arkansas Education Association, the Citizens First Congress, and CAPES.