LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — At the top of mind for many this week, has been the 144-page Arkansas LEARNS Senate bill that aims to overhaul education in our state.
It has passed the Senate— but still needs to pass the House.
The LEARNS Bill has been one of the biggest changes in history to education in Arkansas.
While some support it, the state's Education Association, and disability rights advocates raised red flags on Monday— and asked for the approval process to slow down.
The Arkansas Education Association hosted a press conference to share their concerns about the 144-page plan.
Education Policy Director at Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, Olivia Garner, shared at the conference,
"You know if it had been broken up into separate pieces of legislation. I think that would have made it a lot more possible for folks like us to have our input," she explained.
The Bill covers nearly every facet of education in Arkansas wrapped in one, including literacy, safety, and early childhood education.
It's something that Arkansas Secretary of Education Jacob Oliva explained is intentional in order to meet the needs of the state more quickly.
"This is the largest investment in public schools history in the state of Arkansas. This bill is about improving literacy and giving teachers support resources and training to do that," Oliva said.
Oliva added that another focus of the bill is allowing educational choice.
"It really starts with making sure students have access to high-quality learning environments that best meet their needs," he said.
No matter the intention, some educational advocacy groups have said that the result could do more harm than good.
Bill Kopsky, the Executive Director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel explained, "I think one of the worst cases by the time we realize the damage that these voucher programs and charter schools are being done, there's not a public education infrastructure left to go back and repair the damage."
However, many Bill supporters like Oliva believe this bill will help improve the quality of education in the state through things like teacher salary raises.
"Having a conversation about how literacy rates are gonna go up, graduation rates are gonna go up, having access to high-quality career and technical education programs is gonna go up, focus on the students, everybody wins," Oliva said.
Even still, some stakeholders are concerned that the bill could actually harm education in the state.
Executive Director for Disability Rights Arkansas, Tom Masseau, said at the press conference, "Our concern is that [the bill is] going to be creating a class of systems, [the bill is] going to have those who can attend the private schools and the charter schools and afford it, and those who don't have the means to do so you're going to have those. [The bill is] creating a segregated setting here."
A special order of business meeting for the House education committee is scheduled for Tuesday morning at 9:00 a.m.
The LEARNS bill is the only item scheduled on the agenda.