Judge puts a freeze on the governor’s signature LEARNS Act pending June 20 hearing

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herbert Wright granted a temporary restraining order Friday that means Gov. Sarah Sanders‘ signature school vouchers and privatization bill is not currently in effect.

Arkansas LEARNS is now on the back burner, at least until a June 20 hearing on whether votes on the bill were taken lawfully.

Attorney Ali Noland secured the restraining order on behalf of her clients, a group of public education advocates and community members from the Marvell-Elaine School District.

The state took over the small and struggling Marvell-Elaine School District in April and promptly handed it over to Friendship Education Foundation, a charter school management group. “Transformation contracts” that allow charter management groups to manage public schools are allowed under the LEARNS Act, which passed during Arkansas’s 2023 legislative session.

Lawmakers in both the House and Senate lumped in an emergency clause while voting on the bill, despite a requirement in the Arkansas Constitution that emergency clauses must be voted on separately. LEARNS supporters and Attorney General Tim Griffin have argued the emergency clause was adopted legally.

Noland said that because lawmakers failed to follow the constitution, the Arkansas LEARNS Act is not yet in effect and won’t be until after the 90-day waiting period to which all new laws are subject. In his opinion on Friday, Judge Wright seemed to agree she might be on to something.

“The courts have made clear that the governor and the Legislature are not above the law,” Noland said. “They have to follow the constitution, too.”

Noland also took issue with what she said were inappropriate attacks on the public education advocates working on behalf of their community schools.

“Judge Wright’s order vindicates my clients, who have been disparaged in the press and have been the target of misinformation by the state. As is clear from today’s ruling, these MESD parents, educators, and residents are simply trying to protect the district and do what is best for their children.”

Jesselia Maples, one of the plaintiffs and a member of Concerned Citizens of the Marvell Area, said the community should have a chance to weigh in on what’s happening to them.

“The group feels that with this win, we will have more time with either Friendship or the state or [Arkansas Education Secretary] Oliva to talk about the terms of the contract. We were uneasy with the original contract, that this was the only way that we can exist? This is not the only way to go,” Maples said.

The community is looking to partner with someone who will help them rebuild so the community can regain control of their local schools, Maples said. She and other members of her group have worried the contract signed by Oliva and Friendship in April may not deliver. “We want to do our best to make sure everyone knows this is not the only way to go. We should have a say in this. We should not have to adhere to whatever they dish out to us.”

A failure to take separate votes on the emergency clause component isn’t the only reason Wright granted plaintiffs’ request for a restraining order to keep LEARNS off the books for now. In his decision granting the temporary restraining order, Wright wrote:

Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits, given that the emergency clause in the Arkansas LEARNS Act was not passed with the necessary separate roll-call vote that is required in Article 5, Section 1 of the Constitution of the State of Arkansas. Additionally, the Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on their argument that the language in section 73(a), which is the only part of the emergency clause that purports to authorize emergency enactment of the “transformation contract” provisions in the bill, cites only facts that fail to establish an emergency under Arkansas law. Finally, the emergency clause in the bill unconstitutionally attempts to create numerous differing effective dates for various provisions of the bill, and the Plaintiffs have demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits of their argument that the Arkansas Constitution does not permit such a scheme.

That decision means the contract non-renewal notices that went out to the entire Marvell-Elaine School District staff in April are not valid. Neither is the contract Education Secretary Jacob Oliva signed with the Friendship Education Foundation charter management group that would pay Friendship $650,000 to assume control of the school district for three years.

While a filing from the state attorney general’s office said the transformation contract was the only thing keeping the Marvell-Elaine School District intact, Judge Wright gave the district temporary protections.

“Defendants are enjoined from implementing or enforcing any aspect of the Arkansas LEARNS Act, Act 237 of 2023, until such date that it becomes law. Defendant are enjoined from consolidating, dividing, or dissolving the Marvell-Elaine School District.”

Gov. Sanders issued this statement:

“As I’ve said this is an absurd lawsuit with zero merit and we will file an appeal immediately. It is sad that the radical left is playing political games with children’s futures. We are focused on making sure that every kid in Arkansas has access to a quality education, teachers have the pay raises they deserve, and parents are empowered. We expect to be vindicated at the Supreme Court and I’m confident that the AG will be able to vigorously defend it.”

Griffin provided a comment on Twitter late this afternoon: