Arkansas Learns

Voice of Business for excellent education options - including industry-relevant career pathways - for all students, no matter culture, economic status, ZIP Code

[Arkansas Learns @ArkansasLearns]

The NEA, parent of the Arkansas Education Association is virtually identical. And the NEA is the $1.33M funder of the proposed and pending For AR Rights amendment, making it even easier to change Arkansas’s constitution.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

We're exposing Randi Weingarten's agenda tomorrow from the PragerU studio.

Buckle up.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

President of the California teachers union says "we need to be in the streets" to "fight back against this fascist regime."

His shirt says "Solidarity is the Lesson Plan" with "May Day" showing in the book.

Randi Weingarten’s teachers union convention is a political rally.

[Arkansas Learns @ArkansasLearns]

Get to know the National Education Association (NEA; aka the teachers union), the $1 million funder behind the so-called “Educational Rights Amendment of 2026” and the amendment making it even easier to amend Arkansas’s Constitution.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

I just got a hold of the National Education Association's new business items. Buckle up.

[Opportunity Arkansas @OppArkansas]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Arkansas Voters Once Again Reject Attack on Education Freedom, Families, and Taxpayers

Radical education amendment again fails to qualify for ballot

CONWAY, AR — The For AR Families coalition today applauded the people of Arkansas for rejecting the so-called "Educational Rights Amendment” (ERA), marking yet another decisive victory for Arkansas families, students, and taxpayers.

For the second election cycle in a row, organizers fell short of the needed signatures to qualify for the November ballot, failing to even submit signatures by today’s deadline.

The recycled ERA proposal, previously rejected in 2024, would have permanently cemented billions of dollars worth of unfunded, massive welfare programs into the Arkansas Constitution, threatened religious liberty, and ended education freedom.

Today’s ERA failure commemorates the sixth failed attempt by far-Left opponents to derail the state’s nation-leading education freedom program which was passed as part of the landmark LEARNS Act of 2023 and now serves nearly 50,000 Arkansas children. Education freedom opponents have also previously failed to derail the program through a referendum, multiple court challenges, and now a second failed initiative attempt, in addition to legislative assaults on the program.

Earlier this year, the For AR Families coalition—comprised of Opportunity Arkansas, The Arkansas Reform Alliance, and Arkansas Learns—launched a comprehensive statewide education and messaging campaign to ensure Arkansans understood the true cost and consequences of the proposed amendment.

Coalition leaders offered the following statements on today’s victory:

"At the start of this campaign, we pledged to ensure Arkansans knew the truth about this radical attack on our way of life—and that’s exactly what this coalition delivered. Through dozens of media engagements, thousands of miles traveled, over a million direct voter contacts, and more, we armed the people of Arkansas with the facts and they have spoken loudly.

"On the eve of our great country’s 250th birthday, Arkansans have said 'yes' to our core American values: yes to education freedom, yes to religious freedom, yes to economic freedom, yes to protecting our sacred constitution, and yes to personal responsibility. The ERA blank check has been VOIDED!

"We hope the Left-wing agitators behind this amendment will listen to the people and relent in their attacks on our way of life and values. But the people of Arkansas should also know that we will be here standing in the gap every single day, fighting for them and their families, just like we have from Day One. Let freedom ring!” – Nic Horton, Founder and CEO, Opportunity Arkansas

"This outcome is a victory for every Arkansas family that has benefited from the freedom to choose an education that truly meets their child's needs. Parents across this state spoke loudly and clearly. They will not allow their parental rights to be stripped away and written out of our Constitution. Education freedom is here to stay in Arkansas, and today's result ensures that the doors of opportunity we've worked so hard to open remain that way for generations to come." – Laurie Lee, Chairman, The Arkansas Reform Alliance

"The people of Arkansas have once again affirmed the fundamental truth that the government does not grant rights; it can only take them away. This Orwellian-named amendment would have imposed sameness on all education, buried vague and costly welfare programs in our Constitution, and forced the legislature to fund those and other mandates regardless of the cost. Arkansans rejected that vision, and in doing so, protected genuine choice, genuine rights, and genuine freedom in education for every family across the Land of Opportunity." – Gary Newton, CEO, Arkansas Learns

[Nic Horton @nhhorton]

Apparently the Arkansas teachers union @ArkEducation is so committed to tearing down the LEARNS Act, they don’t bother to read data sets before commenting on them.

Case in point: this week, the union president was quoted in @ArkansasOnline on new teacher satisfaction data that was released by the Bureau of Legislative Research (BLR). According to the union, THIS is the real data, more accurate than another recent teacher survey released by @ua_edreform.

“Here we see a number a bit closer to the truth,” the union president claimed.

(Conveniently, the reported BLR results were also a lot closer to the union’s preferred narrative that “LEARNS = bad and teachers are MAD!”)

Just one big problem: the two surveys (BLR and U of A) actually found identical results, both showing teacher satisfaction at 89%.

This means the numbers the union and paper cited as fact, just a 50% satisfaction rate, were off by nearly…half.

Apparently, the survey results were incorrectly summarized by BLR staff which led to confusion at a recent hearing. But rather than bothering to actually read the real results, the union swung for the fence out of an eagerness to once again declare failure.

(Dr. Josh McGee, one of the U of A survey authors, offers an explanation below of how the data was misreported, and the real numbers.)

Politics is fast-paced and policy debates are full of complex data. We all make mistakes and speak imprecisely at times. But it’s a lot easier to make mistakes when you’re a hammer looking for a nail, armed with a predetermined narrative to deploy whenever possible. This is what happens—you’re so anxious to take another shot at LEARNS that you don’t bother to even read the data before unloading.

(These are the people, by the way, who insist they have all the answers for our kids and they alone can prepare them for life…)

I hope the union and the Democrat-Gazette will issue a correction ASAP, and bring us all “a bit closer to the truth.”

[Sarah Huckabee Sanders @SarahHuckabee]

The Arkansas Legislature just funded another year of universal education freedom.

That means Higher test scores. More learning pathways. Students reading at and above grade level.

The freedom to choose whatever school best fits your kid.

[J. Robertson @JRobertsonAR]

HAPPENING NOW: The Arkansas House Rules Committee is considering a resolution to pave the way for a bill that would take a sledgehammer to Education Freedom Accounts in Arkansas. The resolution from Rep. Wooten is being presented by Sen. Bryan King. #arleg #arpx @OppArkansas

[Arkansas Learns @ArkansasLearns]

Reading readiness is the canary in the education coal mine. Know your school district's, open-enrollment public charter school's reading performance, growth (or lack thereof) with these user-friendly maps. Can't read to learn if you don't learn to read. https://t.co/GHI0iMfvQe

[Dale Chu @Dale_Chu]

Mississippi has leapfrogged nearly 40 states in 4th grade reading.

[Arkansas Learns @ArkansasLearns]

Wouldn’t it be great if other states thought of Arkansas this way? After nearly eight years of RISE (Reading Initiative for Student Excellence) and consistently declining NAEP scores, we can and must do so much better.

[Dale Chu @Dale_Chu]

A billboard just roasted Minnesota… with NAEP data.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

"American Virtual Academy is a private preparatory online school for grades K-12, dedicated to re-establishing core American values"

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

These states already allow families to use school choice scholarships at American Virtual Academy:

• Alabama
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• New Hampshire
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• West Virginia
• Wyoming

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

Parents can enroll their children here:
https://t.co/cQ5kTd8Zni

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

Parents from all 50 states can now enroll their children in American Virtual Academy.

The online private school is "dedicated to re-establishing core American values" and has "a curriculum rooted in this nation’s founding principles."

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

The nation's largest teachers union adopted a business item to "not use, endorse, or publicize any materials from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)," an organization founded to fight antisemitism.

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

The nation's largest teachers union passed a business item supporting "the mass democratic movement against Trump's authoritarianism and violations of human rights."

[Corey A. DeAngelis, school choice evangelist @DeAngelisCorey]

The nation's largest teachers union adopted a business item to support "affiliates in states where legislative bodies have taken or are taking actions that silence educators"

They list Arkansas and South Carolina as states with "extreme need."