LEARNS “dissuades prospective AP AAS students from registering because of perceived diminishment of the class and natural concerns about its uncertain future,” the complaint says.
Arkansas Learns
Posted inArkansas Blog
Austerity Sarah: Governor’s budget is generous to private school families, stingy for everyone else
Unlike her father, Sanders appears to be a doctrinaire right-winger when it comes to spending — except on vouchers. The cost of LEARNS vouchers is roughly tripling, from $31.7 million in fiscal year 2024 to $97.5 million in fiscal year 2025.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Student First Technologies to replace ClassWallet as Arkansas LEARNS voucher vendor
Student First Technologies, based in Bloomington, Indiana, won the contract to handle the finance side of school vouchers in the second year of Arkansas LEARNS.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Sanders dispatches henchmen to kneecap citizen-led ballot initiatives
While it’s not unheard of for a governor to speak out against a proposed amendment, the multi-pronged efforts from Sanders’ staff and advisors to protect her signature Arkansas LEARNS Act are worth noting.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Federal judge in LEARNS lawsuit plans to apply for LEARNS vouchers, won’t recuse
Judge Lee Rudofsky, a Trump appointee and member of the conservative Federalist Society, hopes to take advantage of Arkansas’s new school voucher program.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Little Rock school board approves first list of employee renewals, as per new LEARNS mandate
The LRSD board took important actions on topics including rehiring employees for the 2024-25 school year and how library media specialists are assigned under the district’s staffing formula.
Posted inArkansas Blog
LEARNS lawsuit over ‘indoctrination’ reassigned to Judge Rudofsky
A judge in a federal lawsuit challenging a section of the Arkansas LEARNS Act that prohibits “indoctrination” in the classroom has recused herself from the case and asked for it to be reassigned.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Second-year LEARNS voucher applicants to be notified of approvals in June
The rules surrounding some provisions in the Arkansas LEARNS Act remain up in the air, stalling the approval process, an ADE representative said.
Posted inArkansas Blog
Central High plaintiffs sue Sanders, Oliva over targeting of AP African American Studies
“The LEARNS Act’s Section 16 is nothing more than a brazen, political attempt to silence speech and expression with which Gov. Sanders and Secretary Oliva simply disagree,” attorney Mike Laux said.
Posted inArkansas Blog
State panel eyes new charter school application as required by LEARNS
A new application for would-be charter schools in Arkansas should “streamline” the work of the state panel responsible for overseeing charters, according to a Department of Education official.