Public education advocates For AR Kids submit revised ballot measure to attorney general

Published in the Arkansas Times on Jan. 18, 2024

A group hoping to put its “Educational Rights Amendment of 2024” on the Nov. 5 general election ballot submitted a second proposal to Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin on Thursday, just over a week after Griffin rejected their first try.

Bill Kopsky, the executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said the coalition behind the proposal is confident of a better reception at the attorney general’s office this time around. The ballot measure would require private schools accepting public funding in the form of vouchers to meet the same academic standards public schools must meet, among other changes. Arkansas LEARNS, the sweeping K-12 education law passed last spring, created a voucher program that will eventually be open to all students in the state.

Attorneys working with For AR Kids, the group behind the proposed amendment, “invested the last three days during this winter storm event to take that feedback given us [and] to draft what we believe is an even better proposed ballot measure to enshrine into our constitution common sense best practices that will greatly improve our state’s public education system,” Kopsky said.

The group requested a meeting with the Attorney General’s Opinion Department next week “so that we can make sure that we are all on the same page,” he added.

In a Jan. 18 letter to Griffin, Kopsky said that the group had “called, and emailed” his office over the last couple of weeks to request a meeting to discuss the issues that Griffin’s office “found to be defective with our first attempt.” But the meeting never happened.

Jeff LeMaster, Griffin’s communication director, verified that the second proposal had been received.

“It will undergo the same review and all that entails,” LeMaster said. “Our deadline for a response for that — barring unforeseen circumstances — is Thursday, Feb. 1.”

Griffin nixed the group’s first attempt because he said it would violate parochial schools’ First Amendment right to freedom of religion if they were required to meet state standards when accepting vouchers. The attorney general also took issue with a lack of specificity in language used throughout the proposed amendment.

Kopsky said the majority of the changes are “technical.”

“There’s not a whole lot of substantive difference,” he said. “On the First Amendment issue, we didn’t really feel like there was a First Amendment issue to begin with.”

Kopsky said they went through Griffin’s argument point by point.

“We’re pretty confident. We’re optimistic,” Kopsky said. “But we’ll just wait to see what the process does. Our legal team feels that as long as the AG’s office is operating in good faith that we’re comfortable with the process.”

The Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 would do three things:

1. Require any school receiving any amount of public funds to follow the same standards that traditional public schools are required to follow;

2. Establish the minimum quality standards ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2002 in its landmark Lakeview decision, which required the state to make improvements to public schools and led to an overhaul of school funding;

3. Guarantee voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3-4 year olds, afterschool & summertime programming, quality special education, and wrap-around services for children within 200% of the federal poverty line.

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.

A proposed amendment aims to provide universal Pre-K, hold private schools to equal standards

Listen or read the full interview at www.kuaf.com.

A proposed constitutional amendment has been rejected that aims to change elements of the governor’s major education law. The Educational Rights Amendment of 2024 proposes that all schools that receive local or state funding will be required to meet “identical State academic standards and identical State standards of accreditation.” Bill Kopsky serves as the director of the Arkansas Public Policy, and he says leading up to the proposed ballot measure, they conducted research on a group of Arkansans.

Bill Kopsky: The polling shows this is completely a nonpartisan issue, which is the way education always has been until the past few years. It's becoming more and more hyper partisan, sadly because of the legislature, but in the public we have overwhelming support across all partisan identities. This is not a partisan issue in any way, shape, or form.

Matthew Moore: What sort of experience do you have personally with the ballot initiative process?

BK: I've worked at the Panel for quite a few years and we've worked on a number of ballot measures over the years, and so we've worked on a whole range of issues around several minimum wage efforts. We've raised the minimum wage in Arkansas through ballot measures several times. Ethics and campaign finance reform. We've opposed a few ballot measures over the years. Most recently, last cycle, there was a measure that the legislature proposed that would have raised the threshold to 60% of the vote, which allowed just a 40% minority to block passage of a ballot measure. We oppose that and defeated it was 60% of the vote, which felt particularly gratifying.

MM: As someone who has done this before you've kind of been through this process before. What kind of get into this and a little bit but just kind of on its surface. What is this process been like for you going through with this ballot measure and this specific Attorney General compared to previous experiences? 

BK: It depends. We have a really strong committee of lawyers and volunteers and educators that have been helping us build the campaign and build the measure. So that part's been really gratifying. We have a really amazing team. And so that part's been fantastic.

You know, the Attorney General's Office has traditionally played this role, actually. So this is not terribly new. In the past the Attorney General's Office, have a little bit more of … what's the right word … they're more helpful in really trying to help citizen groups. I mean, I think the whole reason why they were put into the middle of the process to begin with was to help citizens prepare a good law. And in the past, the Attorney General's office staff would actually call people that were working on ballot measures, talk to them about what their real goals were and help them find the best language the right way to accomplish their goals, whether they agree with it or not. They were there just to basically make good public policy.

And this attorney general seems to be taking a little bit different approach towards that and a little bit more adversarial. But at the end of the day, as long as they're operating in good faith, you know, it's still good work out. We expect it to be rejected on the first time. We're already planning to submit a new version in the coming days and we'll see how the process goes.

For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee Faces Setback as Attorney General Denies Approval for Education Initiative

LITTLE ROCK – Today the Attorney General has denied approval for the Education Ballot Initiative submitted by the For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee. This decision was fully expected as the Attorney General has rejected every ballot measure submitted to him for initial review. Our legal team is reviewing the opinion and we will resubmit a revised proposal in the coming days.

Bill Kopsky, spokesperson for the For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee and Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said, "This is exactly how we expected the process to work, it doesn't diminish our commitment to enhancing education for all Arkansans. We are not giving up on truly transforming educational opportunities for ALL Arkansas students .Our legal team will assess the Attorney General’s concerns and file a revision in the coming days."

Barry Jefferson, President of the Arkansas State Chapter of the NAACP and President of the For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee, echoed this sentiment, saying, "Although we face a temporary setback, our belief in the potential of this initiative remains steadfast. We will explore alternative avenues to ensure equal opportunities for every Arkansan.”

How We Can Overcome:

Despite this obstacle, the For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee remains resilient and invites individuals from all walks of life to stay engaged. Visit our website, forarkids.org, for ongoing updates and to learn how you can contribute to our mission.

About For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee:

The For AR Kids Ballot Question Committee is a coalition comprising the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, the Arkansas Education Association, the Citizens First Congress, and CAPES. Our dedication to improving education standards and opportunities for every Arkansan persists, despite the temporary setback.

Our ballot initiative on the 2024 ballot that will still work to amend the education article of the Arkansas Constitution to:

1. Require any school receiving any amount of public funds to follow the same standards that traditional public schools are required to follow;

2. Establish the minimum quality standards ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2002 in its Lakeview decision; and

3. Guarantee voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3-4 year olds, afterschool & summertime programming, quality special education, and wrap-around services for children within 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.

OPINION | BILL KOPSKY: Improve schools

Invest in proven strategies

August 24, 2023 at 3:05 a.m.

by BILL KOPSKY Special to the Democrat-Gazette

One thing we can all agree on is that we want our children to succeed. We need all children to have an opportunity to succeed to build the strong communities we want.

Despite our common values, most Arkansans know that we can do better for our kids. Our schools are stuck near the bottom of national rankings. There are a lot of opinions on how to help our students learn better, and a lot of political and ideological noise around what schools should do.

The good news is there is astonishing consensus around reforms we know will improve outcomes for every child in Arkansas. Backed by a multitude of peer-reviewed studies and case examples, the path to improving our schools is remarkably clear:

• High-quality early childhood education

• Extra help for low-income children

• After-school and summer programs

• Improving special education

• Improving teacher quality

• Strengthening student/parent/educator and community collaboration

• High-quality curriculum and standards

Over the past decade, a slew of education advocates have released reports summarizing the best evidence on how to improve public education in Arkansas, reaching similar conclusions. In 2017, several of those organizations released a joint statement highlighting the consensus on how to help students achieve more success in Arkansas. Those recommendations still ring true.

The bad news is education reforms haven't been widely implemented in Arkansas. Why? Because the reforms we need are either expensive or hard, and often both. Instead of investing in what's proven to help, lawmakers and special interests have drowned out facts and data with ideology.

The biggest thing that undermines student success is poverty. Look at struggling schools in Arkansas: They track nearly identically with high-poverty areas. It should be shocking, but unsurprising, to know that Arkansas also ranks near last for child well-being as a result of so many children being in poverty.

State takeovers of low-income under-performing schools, like Little Rock, Pine Bluff and now Marvell-Elaine, have failed to make improvements because the state has not invested in the proven reforms we know help overcome poverty and boost learning.

It sets our state backwards when lawmakers take counter-productive diversions like weakening standards and investing in voucher and charter-school schemes instead of investing in our most powerful solutions. After-school and summer programs receive no regular state funding. High-quality pre-K has been flat-funded for 15 years. Special education is massively underfunded by the state's own admission.

Lawmakers recently increased minimum teacher salaries--a badly needed investment--but they undermined this by eliminating a state salary schedule that rewards advanced training and experience and by gutting the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act (TFDA).

I don't want ineffective teachers in the classroom, but the minimal procedural protections of the TFDA are not why it's hard for some districts to replace them. We have a massive teacher shortage, especially from diverse backgrounds. We have massive pay inequities between wealthy and rural low-income school districts that lawmakers just made worse. And we don't do enough to support and retain the many excellent educators we have.

Our schools should make every student feel welcome, safe and supported, but lawmakers are engaged in culture wars that make students, families and educators feel attacked.

Educators are afraid to teach Black history or engage a class in the challenging books that develop critical thinking and respect for diversity. Our teachers are highly skilled professionals who need the freedom to do their jobs without fear of the governor and state lawmakers micromanaging their every move.

We know how to do this. Arkansas had the fastest improving education system in the country for the decade after the Lakeview ruling in 2002. Lawmakers developed a bipartisan consensus to invest in the most proven education reforms. We boosted standards, dramatically expanded quality pre-K, raised pay for all educators, and raised standards. But we've been regressing for several years as investments have failed to keep up and policy has been consumed by shrill ideology.

Arkansas needs to reset our education priorities. We know what is proven to help kids succeed. We should tell lawmakers and local school officials we want them focused on early childhood education, after-school and summer programs, improving special education, providing extra support to low-income kids, improving teacher quality, and state standards that are clear, consistent and strong.

There are other things we can do, but any reform that's not based in these most effective strategies is likely to fail. Let's invest in what's most proven first.

– Bill Kopsky is executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel.

Arkansas Grassroot Coalition Announces Education Consitutional Ballot Measure

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TUESDAY, Dec. 19, 2023

Contact: Bill Kopsky, Arkansas Public Policy Panel Executive Director | 501-658-8816 (text or call) | bill@arpanel.org

Arkansas Grassroot Coalition Announces Education Consitutional Ballot Measure 

LITTLE ROCK – The grassroots coalition For AR Kids will announce a ballot measure to amend the Education clause of the Arkansas Constitution. 

A coalition of now half a dozen organizations – Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Arkansas Education Association (AEA), Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, the Arkansas Public Policy Panel,  Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES), and Citizens First Congress (CFC) – will meet at noon (12 p.m.) on Thursday, Dec 21st in the Old Supreme Court Room on the second floor of the Arkansas Capitol.

The newly-formed Ballot Question Committee (BQC) named "For AR Kids" will announce its plans to place a ballot initiative on the 2024 ballot that will amend the education article of the Arkansas Constitution to:

1. Require any school receiving any amount of public funds to follow the same standards that traditional public schools are required to follow;

2. Establish the minimum quality standards ordered by the Arkansas Supreme Court in 2002 in its Lakeview decision; and

3. Guarantee voluntary universal access to pre-K for 3-4 year olds, afterschool & summertime programming, quality special education, and wrap around services for children within 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.

The coalition includes:

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families:

The mission of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families is to ensure that all children and their families have the resources and opportunities to lead healthy and productive lives and to realize their full potential. It serves as a voice for children at the Arkansas State Capitol and in Washington, D.C., gathers and analyzes data to support public policy that serves all children and families, and organizes coalitions of diverse groups to drive change.

Arkansas Education Association:
The Arkansas Education Association is a professional organization for teachers, education support professionals, students and advocates. Its fundamental objective is to work for quality and equitable public education for all Arkansas students, the betterment of the Arkansas state education system and quality working conditions for educators.

Arkansas Conference of the NAACP: The mission of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination. The vision of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race.

Arkansas Public Policy Panel:  

The Arkansas Public Policy Panel is a 501c3 that advances social and economic justice through respect for human dignity, diversity, empowerment and an inclusive, fair and transparent political process. The Panel organizes groups all over the state, helping them become effective agents of change in their communities and supports the Citizens First Congress, whose 68 member organizations represent over 32,000 Arkansans at the Capitol.

Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES): Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES) is a broad, nonpartisan movement of public school advocates. Over the past decade, teachers have borne the brunt of budget cuts, a pandemic, and the politicization of their classrooms. Instead of elevating teachers that need our help, the Arkansas legislature has chosen to defund them. This cannot stand. 

Citizens First Congress:

Citizens First Congress is a multi-issue, non-partisan, grassroots coalition of organizations who work together for progressive changes in state policy. Coalition members come from all corners of the state and work on many different issues. At the Arkansas Legislature, the coalition members lobby together on a common agenda. They also watchdog the legislature, and lobby against threats to progressive policy.