On Thursday the Arkansas House of Representatives passed the LEARNS Act, S.B. 294.
The LEARNS Act is an omnibus education measure that Gov. Sanders and members of the General Assembly filed last week.
The bill already has passed in the Arkansas Senate.
Among other things, the bill:
- Creates a framework that the State Board of Education will use to implement school choice in Arkansas between now and 2025.
- Overhauls Arkansas law concerning hiring, paying, and dismissing teachers at public schools.
- Requires the Arkansas Secretary of Education to review all policies to be sure that indoctrination — including critical race theory — is prohibited and that no public school employee or public school student is required to attend training or orientation that is based on critical race theory or other prohibited indoctrination.
- Requires child sex abuse and human trafficking curriculum to be incorporated into the Department of Education’s standards for Health and Safety and Physical Education standards.
- Prohibits sexual material in classroom instruction before fifth grade.
- Extensively delegates authority to the State Board of Education.
The LEARNS Act would give families the option of using state dollars to educate their children at a public or private school or at home, and it would address inappropriate material in public schools.
Family Council and our homeschool division the Education Alliance support the LEARNS Act.
We have always supported school choice, and this is what the act provides.
The LEARNS Act provides another choice for homeschool families.
Some will choose to remain as they are with no funding and no additional regulation. Others may choose to accept the funding and, with it, whatever requirements are established under the LEARNS Act.
It should be a matter for each family to determine which form of education is best for their child.
We are pleased that Governor Sanders has provided another choice for home school families and that she is seeking to improve education in numerous ways.
