LITTLE ROCK - On Thursday afternoon, the Arkansas Senate passed Governor Sarah Sanders’s LEARNS bill despite bipartisan opposition. Members of both parties spoke against the bill and noted its unprecedented scope and rushed timing. The legislation was made public late Monday (a federal holiday), guaranteeing fewer than 70 hours for Arkansans to review it before the chamber voted. 

LEARNS TARGETS AT-RISK STUDENTS

“I’m pretty bitter, because even though I’m in the Senate, I don’t feel very much a part of this body, and I don’t feel like I’m heard,” said Senator Stephanie Flowers (D-Pine Bluff). “And likewise, I don’t feel like the community where I live, the streets, the schools — I don’t feel like we’re heard or cared about down here [at the Capitol]. I have seen a lot of children in my community dismissed. And y’all sit up here and write these laws, tearing up my community. You don’t give a hoot, and [LEARNS] ain’t going to work. Wait and see. It won’t just be contained in my community, it will be in yours. And may God help you.”

“What we are doing here is creating a tiered system,” said Minority Leader Greg Leding (D-Fayetteville). “Some schools will have all the tools they need to go out and compete and aren’t necessarily going to have to abide by the rule book. Other schools will not have what they need to compete and will be bound by the rules. I don’t think that is right. Our goal as policy makers should be to ensure that every kid everywhere has the same access to the same excellent education. [We should] not carve things up to create a tiered system to give some students better advantages.” 

“The reality is that Arkansas is a high-poverty state,” said Senator Clarke Tucker (D-Little Rock). “There are school districts out there fighting poverty as much as they are fighting anything else. A child cannot learn if they are hungry. A child cannot learn if they are cold. School choice does not solve poverty. I have heard a lot this week about how our status quo has failed kids. I am not here to argue that – two-thirds of our kids cannot read at the third grade level.”

LEARNS IS RUSHED, FLAWED LEGISLATION

Republican Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr. (R-Texarkana) and Democratic Senator Reginald Murdock (D-Marianna) pleaded with the bill sponsor, Senator Breanne Davis (R-Russellville), to hold the bill to correct the numerous errors and address the areas that require amendments. She refused, claiming the House would draft a singular amendment. Sen. Hickey decried, “this is not the House; this is a Senate bill – we have a responsibility. It is our job.”

Sen. Murdock objected to Sen. Davis’s blatantly false claim that LEARNS is following regular order: “There are many things in this legislation that we agree on, that are very important to us. But the process is the problem. Our phones and emails are blowing up from those who have points that we should consider. The enormity and complexity of this bill, all the questions it yields, are the problem. Many things have not been worked out. The bill hasn’t even been finished. That is not normal, Sen. Davis, that’s not normal.” 

“Each person here represents approximately 90,000 people,” said Senator Linda Chesterfield (D-Little Rock). “And we should all be treated with the dignity and respect that comes with membership in this body. That has not happened. There are members of this body that received this bill as early as Friday – I received the bill at 5pm [on Monday]. I rushed to try to read this bill.”

“Not all of us were afforded the same opportunity to go and talk to the people back home [in our districts] that are going to be affected by this,” said Leader Leding. “There is bipartisan agreement that [LEARNS] needs amending before it goes down to the House.”

LEARNS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE

Sen. Murdock raised concerns about the funding of an unlimited voucher program. Under provisions in LEARNS, beginning in the 2026-27 school year the state will take money from general revenue for use in private schools and homeschooling. Joint Budget Committee Chair Senator Jonathan Dismang (R-Searcy) admitted that he does not know how much the program will cost, saying “that’s a number that we don’t know, there’s not enough information out there to know exactly what the acceptance is going to be.” 

LEARNS IS BAD FOR EDUCATORS

“There is no salary schedule. There is no recognition that toiling in the field makes a difference,” explained Sen. Chesterfield. “This bill does away with the Teacher Fair Dismissal protection. When we give public dollars to private schools there is a problem. We don’t have the same ability to monitor those schools, and we were not reassured they will be held to the same standard [as public schools].”

“We had teachers yesterday show up to argue against the bill. These public servants, who are heroes in my eyes, showed up to argue against their own raises because they think that’s what is in the best interest of their students,” Sen. Tucker reminded the Senate Chamber. “They’re in it for their kids, they’re not in it to get rich, and I’m glad they’re getting paid more, and thank God for the work that they do.”

The bill is expected to be heard in the House Education Committee on Tuesday.