The group behind a referendum to repeal the LEARNS Act raised $2,670 in April, according to a financial statement released Tuesday.
Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students raised funds through small donations ranging from $50 to $480, averaging $140 a donation, and has $2,544 in cash on hand, according to the financial statement. The statement was the first report on the organization's finances since CAPES launched its repeal effort April 10.
CAPES aims to repeal the LEARNS Act through a referendum that would give the final say to voters on whether Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' education law should stand. Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin has twice rejected proposed ballot language for the referendum, leaving the repeal effort in limbo. Under Arkansas law, the attorney general has to sign off on the referendum's ballot title and popular name before the group can gather the signatures needed to get the question on the November 2024 ballot.
CAPES tweeted Tuesday they had met with Griffin and other officials from his office and that they will make a third attempt later this week to get the referendum's ballot language approved.
To get the referendum on the ballot, CAPES would need to collect more than 54,000 signatures from registered voters by July 31.
Article 5, Section 1 of the Arkansas Constitution gives citizens the right to refer newly enacted laws to the voters. If CAPES is successful in getting the referendum on the ballot, it will be the first time Arkansans will have a chance to weigh in on an act newly passed by the Legislature since 1994, when voters upheld a soft drink tax law.
Signed into law by Sanders in early March, the LEARNS Act establishes a new program for students to use state dollars to cover the costs to attend a private or home school, raises the minimum teacher salary by $14,000 and establishes higher literacy standards for elementary students.
Steve Grappe, CAPES chair, said the group formed in response to growing dissatisfaction with the new 145-page education overhaul, saying it would divert needed funds from public schools to a voucher program. Grappe, president of the Democratic Party of Arkansas Rural Caucus, said opposition to the law is growing.
Grappe and Veronica McClane, CAPES' treasurer, along with three other Arkansans are also suing the Arkansas Department of Education over the LEARNS Act, claiming the law is unconstitutionally being enforced because it is not yet in effect. While lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favor of the LEARNS Act, they erred when voting on a procedure, known as an emergency clause, to have the legislation take effect immediately, according to the lawsuit.
Instead, lawmakers needed to hold a separate vote to approve an emergency clause for the LEARNS Act, the lawsuit argues.
"With regard to the LEARNS Act the House handled it consistent with its long-standing constitutional practice, which years of Republican and Democratic members have followed and participated in," House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, said in a May 8 statement.
The lawsuit was filed in response to a nonprofit charter school group's taking control over the Marvell-Elaine School District. The state Board of Education approved the move earlier this month, using a provision of the LEARNS Act that allows struggling school districts to avoid state sanctions by agreeing to a contract to allow a charter school to run the district.