蜜桃影视

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for 蜜桃影视 Newsletter

The public education group that spent the summer petitioning for a ballot measure to repeal the LEARNS Act failed to gather enough signatures and submit the proper paperwork, Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston determined Friday.

Thurston鈥檚 rejection means the referendum will not appear on the 2024 ballot, barring some sort of legal challenge.

Thurston鈥檚 staff found that Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students fell short of the 54,422 signatures required to place a referendum on the ballot both in the group鈥檚 own estimate and in an actual count of signatures.

CAPES submitted a document claiming it collected 53,675 signatures of registered voters just before Monday鈥檚 deadline to submit referendum petitions.

鈥淲hile the Secretary of State is not required to conduct a raw count of signatures when a sponsor represents that the submission is legally insufficient, we nevertheless 鈥� as a courtesy to you 鈥� proceeded with a raw count,鈥� Thurston wrote in a Friday letter to Steve Grappe, CAPES鈥� executive director. 鈥淭hat count determined that you submitted no more than 53,444 signatures 鈥� at least 978 signatures short of the number legally required.鈥�

CAPES officials the signature effort had fallen short by under 1,000 signatures, but a day later, they reversed, saying they thought volunteers might have gathered enough to put the LEARNS repeal to voters next year.

In addition to the signature shortfall, Thurston鈥檚 office also said CAPES didn鈥檛 submit the required affidavit indicating the number of signatures and petitions being filed.

Further, CAPES failed to meet new requirements set forth in , which requires signatures to be gathered from 3% of voters in each of 50 counties. The requirement was met in 48 counties, according to the secretary of state.

Previously, signatures only needed to be collected from 15 counties. The new law has been challenged in .

鈥淲e certainly appreciate the efforts and impartiality of the Secretary of State鈥檚 office to expedite this process as quickly and as accurately as possible,鈥� Grappe said in a statement. 鈥淲e are very disappointed they did not show we met the minimum totals. We are confident that if we had the time the Constitution allows, we would have far exceeded the minimum.鈥�

Arkansas鈥� Constitution allows citizens to, by petition, order the referendum against an act passed by the General Assembly.

CAPES launched its in April. The group鈥檚 proposed ballot title was rejected twice before Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin .

The nonpartisan group then had about 55 days to collect signatures from 6% percent of the total votes cast for governor of the preceding general election.

The group has been critical of Griffin鈥檚 ballot title denials and the manner in which the LEARNS Act was enacted by the state Legislature and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

鈥淭he Executive Branch, under the leadership of Governor Sanders, used the Legislative Branch and Attorney General鈥檚 office to actively bypass the Constitutional rights of the Citizens of the State of Arkansas to actively participate in direct democracy,鈥� CAPES said in a news release. 鈥淐APES will pursue this issue to the fullest extent as allowed by law.鈥�

The LEARNS Act, which took effect Tuesday, makes sweeping changes to the state鈥檚 education system, including increasing the minimum teacher salary to $50,000, creating a school voucher program and repealing the Teacher Fair Dismissal Act.

Sanders has attacked efforts to stop the LEARNS Act as coming from the 鈥渞adical Left.鈥�

鈥淚 ran for Governor & Arkansans elected me on the bold promise to overhaul Arkansas鈥� education system and break the failed status quo. Arkansas LEARNS is the plan our state needs and voted for overwhelmingly,鈥� Sanders said in a statement. 鈥淪elf-serving partisan extremists tried to play political games to undermine LEARNS, overturn the will of the voters, and hold our kids back. Today it鈥檚 official: they failed, Arkansas鈥� students won, & my administration will continue to raise teacher pay, invest in literacy, & empower parents & students through LEARNS.鈥�

It is rare for a referendum to make it to the ballot. The last time was in 1994 when voters affirmed the state鈥檚 soft drink tax with 55% voting for and nearly 45% voting against, according to .

A referendum would鈥檝e raised complicated questions for state education officials because the Constitution requires laws that have been challenged through the referendum process to be put on hold until a vote is held.

Information for this article was contributed by Antoinette Grajeda.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: [email protected]. Follow Arkansas Advocate on and .

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.