Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday called a lawsuit aimed at delaying implementation of the LEARNS Act “absolutely absurd.”
During a ceremonial bill signing at the Little Rock Air Force Base University Center, the Republican governor responded to a question about the lawsuit that was filed Monday in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
The lawsuit, filed by three Phillips County residents and two public education activists, aims to stop the LEARNS Act from taking effect, specifically to prevent a charter school group from taking over the Marvell-Elaine School District in Phillips County. The lawsuit claims Sanders’ education overhaul has not yet taken effect due to parliamentarian error.
“First, I think it is an absolutely absurd lawsuit. It has zero merit,” Sanders said Tuesday. “The sad thing is, this is a political game that people are playing with children’s futures.”
The state Board of Education approved an agreement Friday to allow Friendship Education Foundation Arkansas, a charter school nonprofit, to manage the struggling Phillips County school district. The board approved the measure using a provision in the LEARNS Act that allows third parties to oversee public schools through a “transformation contract.”
Phillips County residents Jesselia Maples, Doris Ivy Jackson and Laverne Sims and Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students are the plaintiffs in the lawsuit and are represented by Ali Noland against the Department of Education, the state Board of Education, the Friendship Education Foundation and the Marvell-Elaine School District.
Filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, the complaint centers on whether lawmakers needed to approve a separate vote for an emergency clause when they passed the LEARNS Act in March. Under the Arkansas Constitution, laws passed by the General Assembly do not take effect until 90 days after the Legislature formally adjourns.
However, with a two-thirds vote, lawmakers can approve an “emergency clause” when voting on a bill that allows legislation to take effect immediately. In the complaint, the plaintiffs argued that since lawmakers did not take a separate vote on an emergency clause for the LEARNS Act the law is not yet in effect.
“Therefore, the Emergency Clause in the Arkansas LEARNS Act is invalid and ineffective, meaning that the law is not yet operable in Arkansas, and it cannot provide the Board or Secretary any legal authority to enter into a “transformation contract” regarding the Marvell-Elaine School District,” according to the complaint.
The LEARNS Act easily passed both chambers of the state Legislature in March, with the House voting 78-21 and the Senate voting 26-8. During the votes, House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, and Republican Lt. Gov. Leslie Rutledge, who presides over the Senate, told lawmakers in their respective chambers they were voting on both the LEARNS Act and the emergency clause for the LEARNS Act.
The procedure used to vote on the LEARNS Act and its emergency clause was typical for how lawmakers voted on bills during the legislative session, with Rutledge and Shepherd often telling lawmakers their vote on any given piece of legislation was for both the bill and the emergency clause.