Tl;dr
- Arkansans have organized to petition for a referendum on the LEARNS Act
- Sarah Sanders’ communications team and allies are claiming the LEARNS Act has “already been on the ballot”
- This message from Sanders’ camp is patently false, and Arkansans deserve to know the truth
Sarah Sanders’ favorite Twitter warriors have unleashed a new spin tactic to gaslight citizens: claiming that Arkansans already voted on her education law, the LEARNS Act.
A group of citizens, known as CAPES, has organized to attempt a ballot referendum. Throughout their public work the Governor’s office has become worried. While we are awaiting the final word on the success of the efforts overall, the magnitude of collecting over 50,000 signatures deserves recognition.
Whether LEARNS is on the ballot in 2024 or not, the work of these Arkansans is evidence of what the Governor is most afraid of:
Arkansans across the state and across the political spectrum don’t want a universal voucher system.
Realizing this week how many people petitioned for her law to be on the ballot, the message of Sanders’ supporters has been “LEARNS was already on the ballot.”
This is patently false.
Their premise is that a vote for Sanders was a vote for her education reform. Her administration has continued with claims that Sanders campaigned on the specifics of LEARNS, and for that reason people knew what she would do to education.
This is also not true, and we have the timeline to prove it.
Let’s take a trip back to July 2022 when Sarah Sanders spoke publicly at the Arkansas GOP State Convention about her intention to prioritize education: “I want to make a full education reform package, and I will be happy to talk about all of the specifics of that over the coming months.”
But did Sanders share details of her education plan during her time campaigning for Governor? No, she did not.
Months came and went as Sarah dodged questions about specifics and dodged the press altogether. Instead of getting the education package solidified and announced, she made out-of-state trips for speaking engagements and appearances. It seemed as though everything but Arkansas was her priority, and explaining how she would change the state’s education system was avoided outright.
It wasn’t until October 18, 2022 that Sarah announced her “plan” for education — the acronym “LEARNS.” Each letter in the acronym had a couple of sentences of explanation, but governing requires detailed plans, and we didn’t see one attached.
The press release did come with a 30-second video that included an opening line that we’ve all come to know well: “educate, not indoctrinate.” Still, the announcement left much to be desired for the teachers, students, and parents who had the most to lose from the reckless overhaul to come.
Even if she had provided details, Sanders failed to give adequate time to campaign on her LEARNS plan. Early voting began six days after that press release.
Voters went to the ballot box with an acronym and little else.
It wasn’t until February 20, 2023, weeks into the legislative session, that the 144-page bill was filed. It would be presented only 48 hours later in its first committee before lawmakers and experts even had a chance to fully read it. Less than three weeks later, the omnibus bill was on the Governor’s desk, just as she’d ordered.
When Sanders’ people tell us we already voted on LEARNS, it is more than a lie — It’s gaslighting.
Arkansans from all over the political spectrum agree:
- The process by which LEARNS was brought into law was rushed.
- The details of LEARNS were not explained adequately, least of all before voting in 2022.
- A fair process to put LEARNS on the ballot is our constitutional right.
We the people of Arkansas deserve better than a campaign to gaslight us into fawning over politicians meant to work for us.
The fate of the LEARNS referendum effort hangs in the balance as we await the final count of signatures from the CAPES effort. Regardless, the process we are given to organize for Arkansans to vote on the laws of the land is a constitutional right. In messaging against this process and effort, the Governor is opposing the people power our Constitution guarantees.
This is another example of how the Sanders administration opposes the people by attempting to shirk direct democracy. If LEARNS were as popular as she claims, the bipartisan opposition would not be growing so rapidly.
