Good Bill Filed Affirming Religious Liberty at School

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Legislation filed Wednesday would affirm religious liberty for Arkansas’ public school students and teachers.

Public schools are not religion-free zones. Our constitution and our laws protect everyone’s freedom to practice their faith — including at school. Students and teachers do not surrender their First Amendment rights when they walk through the doors of a school building.

S.B. 223, the Religious Rights at Public Schools Act of 2025, by Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) affirms public school students’ and teachers’ religious liberties.

The bill identifies and upholds religious freedoms that are already protected by state and federal law — such as the right to pray, discuss religion, or read the Bible during free time at school.

The bill also helps make sure that religious expression is treated equally to other types of speech at school.

This will help prevent schools from squelching anyone’s religious liberties.

When it comes to religious liberty, public schools have been a battleground for more than 60 years. It’s important that we stand up for religious freedom at school. S.B. 223 is a good bill that helps do exactly that.

You Can Read S.B. 223 Here.

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

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Arkansas Senate Passes Measures to Strengthen Ballot Initiative Laws, Address Petition Fraud

Legislation,

On Wednesday the Arkansas Senate passed several good bills by Sen. Kim Hammer (R — Benton) strengthening Arkansas’ ballot initiative laws and addressing petition fraud:

  • S.B. 207 requiring petition canvassers to inform people that petition fraud is a crime before obtaining their signatures on a petition.
  • S.B. 208 requiring canvassers to verify a person’s identity via photo ID before obtaining the person’s signature on a petition. This helps prevent people from fraudulently signing someone else’s name on a petition.
  • S.B. 209 clarifying that the signatures a canvasser collects will not count if the Secretary of State finds the canvasser has violated Arkansas’ laws concerning canvassing, perjury, forgery, or fraud in the process of gathering signatures.
  • S.B. 210 requiring people to read the ballot title of the measure before signing a petition. The ballot title includes a summary of the ballot measure. Reading the ballot title helps ensure people understand the measure before they sign a petition to place the measure on the ballot.
  • S.B. 211 requiring petition canvassers to file an affidavit with the Secretary of State verifying that the canvasser complied with the Arkansas Constitution and all Arkansas laws concerning canvassing, perjury, forgery, and fraud in the process of gathering signatures.

The Arkansas Constitution lets canvassers circulate petitions to place measures on a general election ballot. However, in recent years Arkansas’ ballot initiative process has become the opposite of what it was intended to be. Its original intent was to provide citizens a means of functioning as a “legislative body.” Instead, powerful special interests have used our own ballot initiative process against us. It’s simply too easy for powerful special interests to buy their way to the ballot by hiring aggressive petition canvassers or spending millions of dollars on deceptive advertising for misleading measures.

Pro-life leaders gave committee testimony this week alleging that canvassers for the 2024 Arkansas Abortion Amendment violated state law and were paid $500 bonuses for “altercations” with pro-lifers who opposed the abortion amendment.

If the Arkansas Legislature does not enact good laws that bring accountability and transparency to the ballot initiation process, these problems will simply continue to get worse.

The bills now go to the Arkansas House of Representatives for consideration.

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

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Trump Executive Order Is a Win for Women and Girls

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Our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom recently released a video celebrating President Trump’s executive order protecting fairness in women’s sports.

The order, called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” clarifies that Title IX protects women and girls from being forced to compete against men. It also protects women’s right to privacy in locker rooms, showers, changing areas, and similar facilities, and it directs federal officials to withdraw funding from educational programs that “deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

You can watch ADF’s video below.

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