LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After the release of Senate Bill 294— also known as the Arkansas LEARNS Act, on Tuesday, we heard from the person spearheading this push for change for the first time.
Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
"The most transformational education legislation that not only our state has ever seen, but frankly, that our country has even seen," the Governor said, as she spoke to hundreds at a home-school event held at the Capitol.
"I think it's great, but it's less about how I feel, and more about the impact that I think that this is gonna have for Arkansas students," she continued.
The education bill spans 144 pages and has changes to a wide range of topics, such as school choice, teacher pay, school safety, and more.
"This is historic," Arkansas Education Secretary Jacob Oliva said. "It starts all the way from early learning to post-secondary, and it's exciting."
Oliva said that they're not in a rush to push this bill through and that he doesn't expect there to be any opposition.
"I don't anticipate any pushback, we take feedback from anybody, and we're open to additional ideas and thoughts and we wanna work to get it right," he added.
However, there are some who have already spoken out against this bill.
The Arkansas Democrats released a statement on Tuesday afternoon, which said in part, "There is absolutely no reason this bill should not be presented, debated, considered, and voted on after a week or more of public review. To ram through a monster, 144-page bill with an incredibly controversial voucher scheme at its core is just unconscionable."
That bill which was released on Monday just before 5:00 p.m. is expected to be in the Senate Education Committee early on Wednesday morning at 9:00 a.m.
"I don't understand why there would be any hesitancy to allow people to read it, to vet it, to respond, especially with the magnitude of this bill," State Representative Vivian Flowers, (D-Pine Bluff), said.
Flowers sits on the House Education Committee, and she explained that there are flaws that stand out to her, especially the quick turnaround from filing to the committee.
"Almost 150 pages and people need time to read it, to digest it, to ask and answer questions," Flowers added.
Concerns or not, the Governor is looking ahead to that bill moving through the Senate and House— and potentially ending up on her desk.
"I have every confidence that we are going to get this bill passed in the House and Senate, and I look forward to signing it into legislation," Governor Sanders said.