在阿肯色州新州长的一次重大立法胜利中，莎拉·哈克比·桑德斯周三签署了学习行为成为法律，使该州成为最新一个采用她所谓的改变系统的普及教育券计划的州，批评者警告说，这可能会摧毁公立学校系统。
桑德斯在小石城州议会大厦的签名是在144页的法案提出16天后。
“我对维持失败的现状不感兴趣。我发誓要成为我们人民的变革者，”她说发微博在签字之前。“今天，我正在兑现这一承诺，并将签署我的转型教育计划，为所有人开启一个自由、机遇和繁荣的新时代。”
阿肯色州州长萨拉·哈克比·桑德斯于2023年3月8日在阿肯色州小石城的州议会大厦签署了一项教育改革法案。这项立法创造了一个新的教育券项目，将使用公共资金来帮助支付私人和家庭教育。它还提高了教师工资，并对性别认同和性取向的课堂教学施加了新的限制。
安德鲁·德米罗/美联社
在州立法机构共和党绝对多数的支持下，桑德斯教育议程的综合法案基石在州参议院以26-8的投票结果，在众议院以78-21的投票结果。
“我知道它不受欢迎，我知道它违背了共和党的政纲，但正确就是正确，错误就是错误，”说州众议员吉姆·伍登，前公立学校教师，质疑他的同事们的支持。“我会说，其中50%的人试图接近州长，另外50%的人害怕她。”
旨在改革从幼儿班到12年级教育的《学习法》,在其短暂的生命周期中，既有赞扬也有抗议。
这项立法要求提高教师的最低工资，推行普及学前教育，禁止在五年级之前教授“性别认同、性取向和性生殖”的课程——这促使人们与佛罗里达州的类似立法进行比较——并禁止“向学生灌输批判性种族理论等意识形态”的课程。
这也使阿肯色州成为继亚利桑那州、爱荷华州、犹他州和西弗吉尼亚州之后第五个为所谓的学校选择制定普遍计划的州，因为更多共和党领导的立法机构优先考虑采取凭单政策。
“阿肯色州是过去两年中倒下的第五张公立学校垄断多米诺骨牌。一场择校革命已经点燃，教师工会对此无能为力，”美国儿童联合会(American Federation for Children)高级研究员科里·迪安杰利斯(Corey DeAngelis)周三在推特上说。
学校选择的支持者表示，根据桑德斯的说法，这些凭证或“教育自由账户”允许纳税人支持“学生而不是系统”将公共资金转移到私立学校。
“这不是美国对他们，红对蓝，教师对立法机构，”提出该法案的州参议员布雷恩·戴维斯说。“这是我们所有人一起努力，为我们孩子的成功加油。”
每个学生的“教育自由账户”支付私立学校和家庭学校的费用必须相当于公立学校学生人均经费的90%,目前为7413美元美联社。
但批评人士说，代金券计划本质上是一种税收津贴，用于那些有能力让孩子进入私立或特许机构或家庭教育的家庭，以及其他一些问题，如长期资助该计划。
“说到底，这只是少数人的事，”阿肯色大学小石城分校的历史老师吉姆·罗斯说，他说这个项目可以起到“重新隔离”阿肯色学校的作用。"没人会诚实地承认这一点，这很令人厌恶."
那些投票反对该法案的人也表示希望将其全面改革分开。
民主党参议员雷金纳德·默多克(Reginald Murdock)周二表示，“我们从未将如此多的重要议题纳入一项立法，并以一票之差进行表决。”。
“教育总监”
在她身上就职演说桑德斯是特朗普前白宫发言人，他的父亲迈克·哈克比曾担任阿肯色州州长，她说她希望被称为“教育州长”。随后，她在上个月的共和党国情咨文中详细阐述了自己的日程。
但她在立法机构获得的压倒性支持并没有得到公众普遍的积极回应。
桑德斯的母校小石城中心高中的1000多名学生周五走出教室，抗议学习。
据小石城中心高中毕业生格里芬·梅(Gryffyn May)说，周一，当10名学生试图在州议会大厦谈论该法案时，州参议员简·英格丽史要求学生只就其程序修正案发言，让他们感到“沉默”和“被轻视”。
梅在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时说:“不得不在参议院面前发言已经很有压力了，但接着又不得不在没有准备好的情况下发言，同时不断被打断，这更糟糕。”。“我真的流下了沮丧的眼泪，但这也是尴尬的眼泪...我想我突然意识到，无论如何，这项法案都将在他们的任期内获得通过。”
小石城中心小学三年级学生Addison McCuien告诉立法者，“我在这里开始我的演讲，我想感谢你们给我机会发言。不过，我收回那句话。你不给我们说话的机会。”
McCuien和May是计划于周三下午在州议会大厦举行抗议活动的学生和教育工作者之一。虽然该法案已经签署，但梅表示，这将使学生有机会表达他们在会议期间无法表达的关切。
“当人们对它进行投票时，我们完全关闭了，但我们不会放弃并离开，”梅说。“我们仍然会在这里大声说出什么是坏主意。”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs sweeping education bill, to praise and protests
In a major legislative victory for Arkansas' new governor,Sarah Huckabee Sanderson Wednesday signed theLEARNS Actinto law, making the state the latest to adopt what she calls a system-changing universal school voucher program, which critics warn could decimate the public school system.
Sanders' signature at the state Capitol in Little Rock comes 16 days after the 144-page bill was introduced.
"I am not interested in being a caretaker of the failed status quo. I vowed to be a changemaker for our people," shetweetedahead of the signing. "Today, I am delivering on that promise, and will sign into law my transformational education plan, unleashing a new era of freedom, opportunity and prosperity for all."
Backed by a Republican supermajority in the state Legislature, the omnibus bill cornerstone to Sanders' education agenda saw a 26-8 vote in the State Senate and 78-21 in the House.
"I know it is not popular, I know it went against the Republican Party platform, but right is right and wrong is wrong,"saidState Rep. Jim Wooten, a former public school teacher, questioning his colleagues' support. "I would say that 50% of them are trying to get close to the governor, and the other 50% are afraid of her."
In its short lifespan, the LEARNS Act, intended to revamp education from early childhood classes through the 12th grade, has seen both praise and protests.
The legislation calls for raising minimum teacher salaries, introducing universal pre-K, banning teaching on "gender identity, sexual orientation, and sexual reproduction" before fifth grade -- prompting comparisons to similar legislation in Florida -- and banning curriculum that would "indoctrinate students with ideologies, such as Critical Race Theory."
It also makes Arkansas the fifth state -- following Arizona, Iowa, Utah and West Virginia -- to enact a universal program for so-called school choice, as more Republican-led legislatures prioritize taking up voucher policies.
"Arkansas is the 5th government school monopoly domino to fall in the past 2 years. A school choice revolution has ignited and there's nothing the teachers unions can do about it," Corey DeAngelis, a prominent advocate for such programs and senior fellow at the American Federation for Children, tweeted on Wednesday.
Supporters of school choice say the vouchers, or "Education Freedom Accounts," as they'll be called under Sanders, allow taxpayers to support "students not systems" in the redirection of public funds to private schools.
"This isn't an us vs. them, red vs. blue, teachers vs. the legislature," said State Sen. Breanne Davis, who introduced the bill. "This is all of us working together and rooting for the success of our children."
The cost of each student's "Education Freedom Account" to pay for private and home-schooling must be equal to 90% of the state's per-student funding for public schools, which is currently $7,413, according tothe Associated Press.
But critics say the voucher program essentially functions as a tax stipend for families with the means to enroll their child into private or charter institutions or home-schooling, among other concerns like funding the program long-term.
"At the end of the day, this is only going to be for a few people," said Jim Ross, a history teacher at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, who said the program could serve to "re-segregate" Arkansas schools. "And it's gross that no one will be honest about that."
Those voting against the bill also expressed wanting separation of its sweeping reforms.
"We've never put this many important topics into one piece of legislation and voted on it with one vote," state Sen. Reginald Murdock, a Democrat, said on Tuesday.
'The education governor'
In herinaugural address, Sanders -- a former Trump White House spokesperson whose father, Mike Huckabee, previously served as Arkansas' governor -- said she hopes to be known as "the education governor." She then laid out details of her agenda in the Republican State of the Union response last month.
But the overwhelming support she's seen since in the legislature hasn't been matched by a universally positive public response.
More than 1,000 students at Little Rock Central High School, Sanders' alma mater, walked out of classes on Friday to protest LEARNS.
On Monday, when a group of 10 students tried to speak about the bill at the state Capitol, State Sen. Jane English required the students only speak on its procedural amendment, leaving them feeling "silenced" and "belittled," according to Little Rock Central senior Gryffyn May.
"It was already stressful to have to speak in front of a Senate but then to have to speak without a prepared speech, while you're constantly getting interrupted, was much worse," May told ABC News in a phone interview. "I absolutely had frustrated tears, but they were also tears of embarrassment ... I think it just hit me that this bill was going to be passed on their time, no matter what."
Little Rock Central Junior Addison McCuien told the lawmakers, "I started off my speech here by saying that I wanted to thank y'all for the opportunity to speak. However, I take that back. You're not allowing us the opportunity to speak."
McCuien and May are among the students and educators planning to hold a protest on Wednesday afternoon at the state Capitol. Although the bill will have already been signed, May said it will give students the chance to voice concerns they weren't able to during the session.
"We were completely shut down when people were voting on it, but we're not going to give up and walk away," May said. "We're still going to be out here calling out what's a bad idea."
