Remember the Lake View decision establishing that all children in Arkansas have a constitutional right to an equal and adequate education?
The primary message from Lake View is that the state of Arkansas is responsible for providing that constitutional right to every child in our state. The state of Arkansas may delegate the work to others, like local school districts, but the state may not avoid its constitutional obligation by doing so. The state is both responsible, and accountable, for providing quality education to children in Arkansas.
Parents cannot deprive their children of that right. A parent may not choose to take away the right of a child to an equal and adequate education. All this talk of “parental choice” started after the charterizers gave up on the original false premise, which was that charter schools would provide competition and thereby improve education for everyone. That did not come to pass.
This failure caused legislators and governors to trumpet “parental choice” as a fundamental right. There is no such right in our constitution, although under our LEARNS Act there will be a proliferation of unregulated educational environments, many of which will not meet the state curriculum standards, will not have qualified teachers, and will not admit children on a non-discriminatory basis.
Depriving a child of an adequate education is one of the worse kinds of abuse, and one which should not be tolerated.
Why are we heading down this path? Pure politics. LEARNS was never about education. It has some “sweeteners” that are designed to negate the bitter and unfair primary voucher subsidy for private schools, but LEARNS will not advance the overall educational achievement of our Arkansas children. It will take us backwards.
That is why we need to sign the petitions and put the Educational Rights Amendment on the ballot. Its primary goals are to require all state-funded schools to meet the same standards, and to provide for universal pre-kindergarten education for all children in Arkansas.
If the Legislature will not stand up for all children, then the people must do so.
The analysis is plain: If public schools must provide a general, suitable and equitable education, then why exempt everyone else? If the state is going to spend its money funding private school educations, then why not require every recipient of state money to abide by the same rules that apply to classic public schools? It just makes sense.
The Amendment holds people accountable.
It takes some of the politics out of education.
It gives our state’s professional educators at the State Department of Education their jobs back. Right now they are political pawns hoping to hang on until retirement or another regime comes in and stops the madness.
And it makes it harder to discriminate against kids who don’t have the advantages that some possess.
Level the playing field. If the Legislature won’t do it, we have to do it.
And what is wrong with universal pre-K education? It is the single most vital driver of early success for children with greatest need, yet our Legislature, with all of its surpluses, would rather cut taxes than give needy kids a chance.
My next column will give Arkansans some insight on why our state policies are causing us to fall further and further behind our peers when it comes to education, health care, economic growth and quality of life in general.
Let’s sign the petitions, and let’s start to get our state back on track.
Find out where and when you can sign here.
Public school advocate Baker Kurrus is a former superintendent for the Little Rock School District.
