This Week: EFA Spending, Chick-fil-A, and More

Current Events,

Here’s a quick recap of the week’s top stories from Family Council and our friends:

From Family Council

EFA Spending Tops $120.5M: Family Council estimates the State of Arkansas spent nearly $9.4 million on LEARNS Act Educational Freedom Accounts (EFAs) last month, based on data from the state’s transparency website. Keep Reading.

Homeschool Surge Continues: New data shows growth rates nearly triple what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Keep Reading.

Rules Would Prohibit EFA Spending on Team Sports: Several home schoolers have expressed concerns about new prohibitions on EFA funding for team sports in these rules. Keep Reading.

Chick-fil-A’s Waffling on Wokeness Has Ruffled Feathers: A Utah Chick-fil-A franchise recently posted photos celebrating a same-sex marriage, sparking backlash from customers. Keep Reading.

Congressman Hill Highlights Debanking Problems: Last week House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill of Arkansas released a report detailing how the Biden Administration systematically cut off digital asset businesses from banking services. Keep Reading.

Fighting Words: A recent survey reveals nearly half of American college students believe “words can be violence.” Keep Reading.

From Our Friends

South Dakota Governor is Stopping Out of State Ads for Abortion Pills. From LifeNews.

America Reads the Bible 2026: A Historic Call to Return to God’s Word. From Pennsylvania Family Council.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE

Home School Numbers Hit Record Highs Across America

Home School

Home schooling continues to surge across the United States. New data shows growth rates nearly triple what they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Johns Hopkins University research, home school enrollment grew 5.4% in the 2024-2025 school year—compared to just 2% growth before COVID-19. States like South Carolina saw 21.5% growth, while New Hampshire and Vermont rebounded with double-digit increases after temporary declines.

Homeschooling in Arkansas has surged since 2020. In 2019 there were a little less than 22,000 homeschoolers in Arkansas. In early 2020, those numbers climbed to 22,249. During the 2020-2021 school year, home schooling spiked to 30,267 students. By 2024, homeschooling surged again, to 32,767 students.

Arkansas has become a leader in educational freedom. The 2023 LEARNS Act lets public dollars follow students, giving families real opportunities to choose the best education for their children — whether that’s at a public school private school, or home school.

Family Council has always believed families deserve options when it comes to education. That’s one reason we support home schooling.

Research shows parental involvement generally is tied to better educational outcomes for children. That’s true no matter how families choose to educate their children — but home schooling is particularly good for many families, because it lets them choose the education that’s best for them.

Home schooling offers more than an education. It gives parents the freedom to pass their values and convictions to their children. Families can customize curriculum, set their own schedules, and ensure their children receive one-on-one attention that large public school classrooms cannot always provide.

It’s good to see families taking advantage of everything homeschooling has to offer.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE

Nearly Half of College Students Agree That Words Are Violence: New Survey

Worldview

A recent survey reveals nearly half of American college students believe “words can be violence.”

After Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression commissioned a survey that found 48% of students either “completely” or “mostly” agree with the statement “words can be violence.” The survey also found 29% agreed that “silence is violence.”

As John Stonestreet at the Colson Center often says, “ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims.” That is what makes these survey findings so deeply troubling.

It’s one thing to say, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer is often quoted, that “silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” It’s another thing to say that “silence is violence.”

And how is there supposed to be civil discourse if “words can be violence“? If young adults view disagreement as violence, it shuts down legitimate speech and — as we have seen — it can lead to actual violence.

These are serious problems, but it’s worth pausing to remember that the news isn’t all bad when it comes to young adults.

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that right now young adults seem particularly interested in scripture. Those findings track with a study Barna released in September showing young adults “are driving a resurgence in church attendance.”

According to Barna, Millenial and Gen Z churchgoers attend services approximately twice a month, on average, and teens are “very motivated to learn about Jesus.“ This year, experts have also tracked a “quiet revival” happening among young adults in the U.K.

Gen Z and Millennials generally do not support abortion on demand. And fewer young people are identifying as transgender.

All of that is good news. Still it’s troubling that so many young adults would agree that words can be violence. It’s a “bad idea” with serious consequences.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

READ MORE