A Review of the LEARNS Act

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1 A Review of the LEARNS Act A Review of the LEARNS Act Shanin A. Moore, J.D. College of Education and Human Performance, Southern Arkansas University MAT 5103, Classroom Culture Dr. Lynze Greathouse January 28, 2024

2 A Review of the LEARNS Act Public education received unprecedented federal financial commitment and oversight during the second half of the 20 th century ( Frenkiewich & Onosko, 2020). The ultimate result was decreased segregation and increased socioeconomic opportunity. However, with rising education budgets for public schooling, legislators at the state and federal level have turned to school privatization as the answer ( Frenkiewich & Onosko, 2020). Hence, Arkansas has implemented the LEARNS Act which makes sweeping changes to the state’s education system, including teacher pay, per-student funding in the form of a voucher system, graduation requirements, and annual student testing. While school vouchers may seem to be a new topic of political debate, it reaches back to the economist Milton Friedman and his writing in the 1950s wherein he proposed school vouchers as a method of reducing government involvement and allowing a free market to govern social organizations (Friedman, 1955; Frenkiewich & Onosko, 2020). Under LEARNS a voucher covers up to 90% of the amount public school districts received the prior year in per- student state foundation funding. Consequently, a voucher for the ’23-’24 school year would be roughly $6,672 (Ramsey, 2023). A review of the tuition charged by the schools who have enrolled in the voucher program indicates that the vast majority have tuition rates greater than the amount of the voucher (Grejada, 2023). This creates the concern that the voucher program creates an unfair advantage to those children who reside in higher socioeconomic status homes as parents in these homes can afford the additional sums not covered by the voucher. Consequently, the law could be construed as being discriminatory towards minorities who tend to be disproportionately represented in lower socioeconomic areas. Another area of concern is the undue burden it places on local education agencies (LEAs) to provide services to children with disabilites placed in private schools. The Child Find requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for locating, identifying, and evaluating children are fully applicable to children enrolled by their parents in private schools who participate in a State-funded voucher or scholarship program (Individuals with

3 A Review of the LEARNS Act Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.; 34 C.F.R. § 300.131). The LEA must consult with private schools in their district to create a plan for servicing the needs of children with disabilities who are enrolled (34 C.F.R. § 300.134). Even though the LEA is required to locate, identify, and evaluate children with disabilities and consult with the private schools, private schools and parents of children enrolled in them are not required by any law to comply with or engage with the services offered unless the private school accepts federal funds. See Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools, 2022 for additional guidance. Under the current state and federal legislation, this creates a double burden on the LEAs as their funding is decreased by the school voucher program and they are required to continue services to private school students. There are several other provisions in the act that made changes to teachers’ salaries, retention, and testing standards. There are concerns that raising the starting salaries of teachers will result in a compression of salary ranges, especially in small or poorly funded districts. LEARNS also repealed Teacher Fair Dismissal Act and Public School Employee Fair Hearing Act but continues to require notice of recommendation of termination and a hearing before the school board which were the key components of those Acts and the basic requirements of Due Process under the Constitution of the United States. There are also loan forgiveness provisions and bonuses for educators. While there are changes in testing standards for public schools and a requirement for the private schools that participate in the voucher program to engage in standardized testing, it does not put parameters on which tests the private schools can utilize which could make any evaluation of the data useless and/or biased depending on how comparable the private school testing is to that required by the public schools. Of all the changes, it is likely that the voucher program and the changes to testing standards will likely remain the greatest topic of debate going forward.

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4 A Review of the LEARNS Act References Frenkiewich, J. & Onosko, J. (2020). Public Schools At-Risk: Examining a Century of U.S. Media Coverage of "Unsatisfactory Student Performance" and the Rise of School Privatization. Democracy and Education , 28 (2), https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol28/iss2/2 Friedman, M. (1955). The role of government in education. la.utexas.edu › 350kPEEFriedmanRoleOfGovttable Grajeda, A. (2023) Nearly 5,000 Arkansas students, dozens of schools apply for new education voucher program. https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/08/10/nearly-5000-arkansas- students-dozens-of-schools-apply-for-new-education-voucher-program Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq.; https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statute-chapter-33 LEARNS Act, Arkansas Act 237 of 2023, https://learns.ade.arkansas.gov/ Questions and Answers on Serving Children with Disabilities Placed by Their Parents in Private Schools (2022). https://sites.ed.gov/idea/idea-files/questions-and-answers-on-serving- children-with-disabilities-placed-by-their-parents-in-private-schools/ Ramsey, D. (2023). How does the Arkansas LEARNS voucher program work? We have answers. https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2023/08/19/how-does-the-arkansas-learns- voucher-program-work-we-have-answers 34 C.F.R. § 300.131. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-III/part-300/subpart-B/subject- group-ECFR3556f7ac2fe0a92/section-300.131 34 C.F.R. § 300.134 https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-34/subtitle-B/chapter-III/part-300/subpart-B/subject- group-ECFR3556f7ac2fe0a92/section-300.134

A Review of the LEARNS Act

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