Stopping education bill unlikely, senator tells Fayetteville rally

FAYETTEVILLE — Stopping the governor’s education reform package from passing is unlikely and even slowing it down to make changes will be difficult, state Sen. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, told a group of the bill’s opponents at a protest rally Saturday.

“The best chance to stop it or get more time is in the House Education Committee,” which meets on Tuesday, Leding told the crowd of at least 40 protesters in front of the Washington County Courthouse. Opponents of the governor’s LEARNS Act hope to have large crowds gather at the Capitol that day. The protest at Fayetteville began at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

The governor unveiled the LEARNS Act proposal Monday. The measure passed the Senate on Thursday and is pending in the House. The bill would increase the minimum starting salary for teachers to $50,000 a year and create Educational Freedom Accounts that will allocate 90% of state per-student taxpayer funds for students to attend a private or home school. The bill would also repeal the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act, which would

make it easier for school districts to fire teachers for poor performance.

The speed at which the 144- page bill is moving through the Legislature has become an issue in itself, Leding said. Too little public discussion and too little detailed study of the measure is taking place, he said.

Even if the bill cannot be stopped or substantially amended, the legislators who vote for it can be bluntly told the objections of its opponents, be warned of the dire effects on public education the opponents claim and be held accountable in the next election, Leding said.

“We can make people aware of what will happen, why it happened and who to blame,” Leding said.

Senate president Sen. Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said in a telephone interview he and other supporters of the bill are fully ready to be held accountable for it, even glad to do so. The measure passed 25-7 in the 35-member Senate.

“I would say we look forward to the first election after we raised teacher pay to a minimum of $50,000, and made the largest investment in education in Arkansas history,” Hester said.

“Raising the pay to $ 50,000 may not seem as important in Fayetteville and Bentonville where starting pay is near that already, but for some of these rural districts that will be a 30% increase for some,” Hester said. “I think a legislator who voted against that would be the one facing a real challenge in the next election.”

The bill in question is Senate Bill 294 by Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville. Supporters of the bill filed a six-page amendment on Friday that defines and clarifies terms in the bill, in particular the due process still available to teachers being dismissed after repeal of the Fair Dismissal Act. Therefore, the full House could vote on the amended bill as early as Wednesday but, if so, the bill would have to go back to the Senate next week to concur with the amended version.