Lawmakers Approve EFA Rules Despite Homeschoolers’ Concerns

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Above: The Administrative Rules Subcommittee approved the new EFA restrictions despite concerns homeschoolers voiced about unintended consequences from the rules.

On Monday, a legislative subcommittee approved a new slate of Educational Freedom Account (EFA) rules despite strong concerns voiced by homeschoolers in the EFA program. The new rules are slated to take effect July 1.

Arkansas created the EFA program in 2023, making it possible for students to use public funds to pay for an education at a public or private school or at home. Thousands of homeschool students have taken advantage of this great program and test scores show they are excelling.

But earlier this spring the Arkansas Department of Education approved new administrative rules restricting how homeschoolers spend EFA funds on extracurricular activities and establishing complicated preapproval and reimbursement requirements for homeschoolers.

We have written repeatedly about how the wording in these rules carries unintended consequences for homeschoolers in the EFA program and won’t help save the State money.

On Monday, the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Administrative Rules Subcommittee approved the new EFA rules despite written comments from some 200 or more homeschoolers expressing concerns about unintended consequences from the rules and despite several homeschoolers travelling to the Capitol to voice their concerns in-person at the committee meeting.

During the meeting, some lawmakers indicated they believe homeschoolers should be more regulated and that the EFA program does not have to be fair to homeschoolers.

The EFA program is voluntary, and whether a family participates in it or not is up to them. But if a family chooses to homeschool under the EFA program, the rules ought to be fair for everyone.

In the past the Arkansas Department of Education has utilized workgroups that relied on input from parents in the EFA program to ensure EFA rules worked properly and did not carry unintended consequences. In this case, policymakers approved the rules despite concerns from stakeholders in the program.

Family Council and the Education Alliance deeply appreciate the homeschoolers who were willing to comment and testify on the unintended consequences from these rules, and we plan to work with homeschoolers to make sure they are treated as fairly as possible under the EFA program.

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

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Support for Sex-Change Procedures, Polygamy Falls Among Democrats: Gallup

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Last week pollsters at Gallup released a survey showing support for sex-change procedures and polygamy has fallen significantly among Democrats over the past year.

After the 2015 Obergefell ruling that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, polygamist and transgender activists both began using the same arguments as same-sex marriage’s supporters, and for a long time it seemed like that strategy was reshaping public opinion in the U.S. However, new data from Gallup shows attitudes may be shifting — especially among Democrats.

Gallup’s annual “Moral Acceptability” survey measures Americans’ acceptance of various behaviors. The 2026 survey results show that among Democrats, support for changing a person’s gender is down 11 points and support for polygamy is down 10 points since last year.

Among Republicans, only 5% support sex-change procedures, and 7% say polygamy is morally acceptable.

Gallup has found for years that most Americans do not believe it is morally acceptable for a person to change genders, and recent survey data shows support for same-sex marriage and other LGBT issues is actually declining. These latest survey findings seem to be part of a larger shift in public opinion.

In recent years, corporate support for LGBT Pride has fizzled and Fortune 500 companies have abandoned the pro-LGBT Equality Index. Major companies from Walmart to Target and John Deere to Lowe’s have rolled back pro-LGBT and DEI policies in response to consumer backlash. And entertainment giants like Pixar and Disney have removed pro-LGBT elements from their storylines in response to moviegoers.

At the same time, we now know pro-LGBT activists and medical organizations spent years citing each other’s work in a circular pattern to manufacture a fake consensus about performing sex-change procedures on kids.

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

Gallup’s latest survey data may indicate that all of this is causing people to rethink their positions on same-sex marriage, sex-change procedures, and similar issues.

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

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