State Board of Education Unanimously Approves Rules Despite Homeschool Concerns

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On Thursday, the State Board of Education unanimously approved new rules governing Educational Freedom Account spending on athletics despite concerns voiced by homeschoolers.

Lawmakers created the EFA program in 2023, making it possible for Arkansas students to use public funds to pay for an education at a public or private school or at home. Thousands of students have taken advantage of school choice in Arkansas under this program since then.

The newest proposed rules from the Department of Education would prohibit EFA spending on team sports that require tryouts or that limit participation based on ability. That means that a homeschool student who wants to play basketball for a local school could not pay for athletic expenses with EFA money even though public schools pay for team sports with state money.

Arkansas law clearly caps spending in these areas at 25% of a student’s total EFA funding, which means no more than one-fourth of a student’s EFA money can go toward team sports and extracurricular activities. The new rules go farther by prohibiting all spending on team sports that require tryouts.

The rules also limit EFA balances. Previously, EFA funds could roll over each year up to a maximum balance of $20,000. However, the proposed rules now set this limit at $8,500 or a lesser amount set by the Arkansas legislature in a future session.

The proposed rules also set up a new framework differentiating between “core educational expenses” versus “qualifying expenses.”

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the Department of Education received more than 200 comments from members of the public regarding the new EFA rules and quotes parents who are concerned the rules discriminate against homeschoolers.

Family Council and our homeschool division, the Education Alliance, submitted comments last week expressing our concerns that the proposed rules are more restrictive than the state laws the Arkansas Legislature has passed.

Now that the State Board has ratified the rules, they will go to members of the Arkansas Legislature for final review.

You can read Family Council’s comments on the proposed rules here.

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

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Study Shows Mental Health Problems Surge Among Adolescents Subjected to Sex-Reassignment

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Above: Supporters of Arkansas’ 2021 SAFE Act protecting children from sex-reassignment testify in the House Public Health Committee. The SAFE Act passed with strong support in the Arkansas Legislature and was upheld in federal court last year.

A recent medical study out of Finland shows adolescents subjected to sex-reassignment face much higher risk of mental illness.

Over the past 20 years, the number of children who identify as transgender has skyrocketed — especially among biological girls.

A set of studies released some years ago — sometimes called “the Dutch studies” — claimed children with gender dysphoria responded well to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and that sex-reassignment helped improve their mental health.

Because of the Dutch studies, doctors and clinics in Europe and the U.S. started giving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children who disagreed with their biological sex.

But since then, public health experts and policymakers in the U.S., the U.K., Sweden, Finland, and other nations have found that science simply does not support these “gender transitions” for kids.

A new study published in Acta Paediatrica shows the kind of sex-reassignment that pro-LGBT activists have promoted for years is actually makes adolescents’ mental health problems much worse.

The study examined nearly 2,100 individuals from 1996 to 2019. Researchers found:

  • Adolescents who underwent sex-reassignment were more likely to need psychiatric treatment in the years afterward.
  • Adolescents referred for sex-reassignment faced higher risks of mental illness.
  • Mental illness appeared to be particularly high among adolescents referred for sex-reassignment during the “recent surge in referrals.”

Unfortunately, this study’s findings are not surprising. Sex-reassignment drugs and surgeries carry serious risks — including infertility, sexual dysfunction, worse bone density, and cardiovascular problems.

Whistleblowers have come forward testifying about how they were rushed through gender transitions as children without understanding the procedures’ risks, consequences, or alternatives.

Today we know pro-LGBT activists and medical organizations have been citing each other’s work in a circular pattern, manufacturing a fake consensus about performing sex-change surgeries on kids.

In 2021, Arkansas’ lawmakers passed the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act. This good law generally prohibits doctors from performing sex-change procedures on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

A federal court upheld the SAFE Act last year — meaning it is protecting children in Arkansas at this very moment.

Arkansas was the first state in America to enact a law like the SAFE Act, but since 2021 lawmakers in more than half the country have passed similar legislation.

Medical research has shown time and again that Arkansas’ lawmakers were right to pass the SAFE Act. Arkansans can be proud that their state has done so much to protect children from these dangerous sex-change procedures.

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

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Two Measures Filed to Restrict Homeschoolers Under EFA Program

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Last week, two bad resolutions authorizing introduction of non-budget measures were filed at the Arkansas Legislature.

The General Assembly convened on Wednesday for its 2026 budget session, and lawmakers are currently reviewing appropriations for the coming fiscal year. During the budget session, legislators can file non-appropriation measures, but those measures cannot be brought up for consideration without a two-thirds vote of the Arkansas House and Senate.

Two identical non-appropriation measures — H.R. 1008 and S.R. 16 — have been filed to restrict homeschoolers participating in the Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program.

Lawmakers created the EFA program in 2023, making it possible for Arkansas students to use public funds to pay for an education at a public or private school or at home. Thousands of students have taken advantage of school choice in Arkansas under this program, and many homeschool families have benefited from it.

H.R. 1008 and S.R. 16 would significantly reduce EFA funding for homeschoolers and implement mandatory assessment scores for students participating in the EFA program.

It’s worth pointing out that lawmakers have rejected homeschool testing legislation in the past.

The State of Arkansas used to require homeschoolers to take a state-mandated test. In 2009, Arkansas’ homeschoolers performed better on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills than 61% – 80% of the students who took that test, nationwide.

According to the 2013-2014 Home School Report from the Arkansas Department of Education, in 2014 homeschoolers in grades 3 – 9 scored anywhere from the 51st percentile to the 65th percentile on that same test.

In fact, homeschoolers in Arkansas performed so well on standardized tests that the Arkansas Legislature finally ended state-mandated homeschool testing in 2015.

H.R. 1008 and S.R. 16 cannot be brought up for consideration without a two-thirds vote of the Arkansas House and Arkansas Senate, and there does not seem to be much interest in these measures among lawmakers at this time.

Family Council and its homeschool division, the Education Alliance, plan to continue monitoring this legislation at the Capitol.

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

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