LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The deadline for the group working against the Arkansas LEARNS act is officially here.
The Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students or CAPES has been working to get enough signatures to get the education reform plan to a statewide vote before their deadline of 5 p.m. today.
Earlier today, CAPES shared that they turned in over 50,000 signatures to be validated. That’s still under the number they need to put the LEARNS Act on the ballot in 2024.
No matter the end result of the signature validation, the group emphasized that they're not giving up.
“We stayed up all night counting. I still have signatures coming from Northwest Arkansas in Texarkana and in Ouachita County,” said CAPES Executive Director Steve Grappe.
It’s been all hands on deck for CAPES as they work to get voters' signatures that are rejecting the LEARNS Act.
“We've done 21,000 signatures in 7 days,” said Grappe.
A total of 55,000 signatures is needed from 50 Arkansas counties. To reach that goal, Grappe said they need extra votes from larger cities.
“Little Rock and Fayetteville and Jonesboro really come through with not 3% not 6% but 10% and 12% and Pulaski County has come through,” said Grappe.
Monday morning the group met outside the state capitol, which is where supporters from across the state joined to help in the final push.
“There's a whole bunch of us that haven't even been asleep for about 48 hours,” said Grappe.
Mae Lee Callahan is a notary and made the long drive Sunday from Hope to help finalize CAPES paperwork.
“I get emotional because I have three grandchildren growing up in this state,” said Callahan. “I want them to have the best education possible and I don't believe that the LEARNS Act is going to provide that.”
CAPES members said that the signatures speak for themselves and they're not giving up.
“We're going to fight everything that's unjust for our public-school systems,” said Grappe.
All signatures will need to be validated, so we don't know a final tally just yet.
Following the submission of the signatures, CAPES released the following statement:
"We turned in our signatures. At the time of turning them in we were 621 short. Due to possibilities in miscounting, and the margin of error the Secretary of State will be counting our signatures," the group said.
As the LEARNS Act is set to go into effect August 1, this push from CAPES is to give voters a choice in November of 2024.
THV11 reached out to Gov. Sarah Sanders' office for comment on the LEARNS opposition.
In a statement, her communications director said: "What concerns the governor is the radical left playing politics with our kids' futures."
Attorney General Tim Griffin said that he "enthusiastically" supports LEARNS and is "excited about the opportunities this historic and much-needed education reform law will provide Arkansas parents and children."