Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Remove Legislative Oversight From Arkansas’ Public Education

Education

A proposed constitutional amendment would make it more difficult for the Arkansas Legislature and the governor to oversee public education or hold educators accountable.

Arkansans For World Class Education is working to place the “Public Schools Amendment of 2022” on the ballot this November.

Among other things, the proposed amendment would remove the provision in the Arkansas Constitution that gives the state’s General Assembly the ability to make laws concerning the State Board of Education.

Currently, the Arkansas Constitution says,

The supervision of public schools, and the execution of the laws regulating the same, shall be vested in and confided to, such officers as may be provided for by the General Assembly.

Under this provision, the General Assembly gets to establish offices that oversee public education — such as a Department of Education, Secretary of Education, and State Board of Education. The governor appoints people to fill those positions.

The Public Schools Amendment of 2022 would strike this provision from the constitution, and replace it with new language that puts an unelected board in charge of public education in Arkansas. The amendment says that anyone who has served on the State Board of Education in the past 10 years would be ineligible to serve on this new board, and that the governor and the Arkansas Legislature would not have the power to review or approve new rules or policies the board makes concerning public education in Arkansas.

If the legislature and the governor cannot govern the State Board of Education and the rules that it writes, then just how much oversight would public education have in Arkansas under this amendment? The answer, it seems, is very little.

Read The Proposed Amendment Here.

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Measure Would Provide $1M to Help Women in Arkansas Choose Options Besides Abortion

Abortion, , ,

On Tuesday, Arkansas Senator Jimmy Hickey (R – Texarkana) filed S.B. 102 appropriating $1 million in state grant funding for pregnancy resource centers.

Under Sen. Hickey’s proposal, state-funded grants would be available for crisis pregnancy centers, maternity homes, adoption agencies, and social services agencies that provide material support to women with unplanned pregnancies. The Department of Finance and Administration would be responsible for structuring and awarding the grants.

S.B. 102 also contains language clarifying that grant funding cannot go to abortion providers.

One way we can help end abortion is by eliminating the demand for abortion.

Pregnancy resource centers and similar organizations give women real options besides abortion. That’s why a growing number of states provide these organizations with state funding.

Many of these centers provide everything from ultrasounds and pregnancy tests to maternity clothes and adoption referrals — typically free of charge. They often operate on very tight budgets and rely heavily on volunteers and donations.

S.B. 102 would help equip these pregnancy resource centers with the tools they need to serve women and families in communities across Arkansas.

You Can Read S.B. 102 Here.

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Arkansas Lawmakers Approve Sports Betting on Smart Phones

Casinos,

On Tuesday the Arkansas Legislature’s Joint Budget Committee approved a state rule change that permits sports betting online via mobile devices.

The new rule is slated to take effect in a few days.

Under this new rule, gamblers will be able to bet on sporting events online via a computer, smart phone, or other mobile device from anywhere in Arkansas.

As we have said for weeks, when voters passed Amendment 100 in 2018, they authorized casino gambling at certain locations in Arkansas — not from anywhere in the state over the Internet.

This rule change permits sports betting anywhere in Arkansas. That isn’t what voters had in mind back in 2018.

It’s impossible to monitor Internet gambling to be sure state and federal laws are enforced.

No matter how many safeguards and security features are in place, there’s no way to guarantee that children won’t gamble via these smart phone apps.

People who gamble online face a serious risk of developing a gambling addiction, and some research indicates that people who engage in sports betting are twice as likely to suffer from gambling problems.

Arkansas already has enough problems from gambling. These new rules only make those problems worse.

Bottom line: Online sports betting is a bad bet for Arkansas.

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