Little Rock–Despite the many roadblocks put in place to prevent the citizens’ constitutional right to redress a law passed by the legislature, the momentum of CAPES’ movement has been incredible. The average weekly growth of signatures has been 94%! The hundreds of bipartisan volunteers have disregarded the disdainful insults coming from the governor, the education commissioner, and those who will financially profit from the law. They have gathered over half of the signatures needed to put the LEARNS Act on the 2024 ballot for the People to have their voices recognized and heard, unlike what was afforded them during the unprecedented process by which the legislature passed the law. 

Keep in mind over half of the needed signatures have been acquired, but because of the roadblocks to make the citizens’ movement fail, those signatures had to be gathered in half of the time allowed by the constitution, which is an amazing feat and says a lot about the dedication of the CAPES volunteers to protecting the students and communities of our state from profiteers. “Delaying our starting date and the legislature having increased the number of required counties from 15 to 50, any ballot initiative would have started behind the gate instead of at it, but this group of volunteers remains focused on the goal. We just need more people. The synergy of these volunteers who are gathering signatures has been a beautiful thing to watch develop,” said Steve Grappe, CAPES’ Executive Director. “We have every reason to believe they will carry this movement forward and we walk into the Secretary of State’s office with all of 54,000 plus signatures needed.”

CAPES now needs the help of more of their fellow citizens. If you feel the LEARNS Act should be put on the ballot for the People to decide whether it is the right education law for Arkansas, please go to www.saynotolearns.org and sign up to help push this across the line for a win! “With the plan we have in place, attaining the number of signatures required is 100% doable,” stated Veronica McClane, CAPES’ Chair, “but we must have the right number of people to sign up to help.”