The Republican Party of Arkansas has long supported school choice as an important plank in the state platform.
Every opportunity for every family to enroll each child in the school of its choice should be secured by government and offered to Arkansas families. Parents must have the ability to make informed choices regarding the education of their children and should not be restricted by lines on a map or the cost of tuition.
Thirty-five Republican members of the Arkansas House of Representatives voted the opposite of their own party platform by helping Democrats defeat HB1371 which is a school choice bill. The bill only needed seven more votes to pass. So, if just a few more had stood with the Republican Party the bill would have passed and would be on its way to the Governor for signature.
The bill would have created a scholarship and grant program to enable students to take advantage of school choice.
Do these Representatives stand for something different from the Republican Party they claim to embody or are they weak-kneed, fearing the opposition of school administrators and teachers in their next election?
School choice is important because it would give parents and their children an opportunity for better education. School administrators don’t like it because if parents have options the administrators will have to be more responsive to parents.
School choice seems all the more important after the news that some schoolteachers around the country have been using their positions to indoctrinate children to a liberal viewpoint instead of providing a balanced education. Hopefully, that is not happening here. But, if it happens where there is school choice, parents can veto the indoctrination (or just incompetence) by moving their child to another school.
School choice benefits parents and children of all races, backgrounds, and income levels.
The on again off again school shutdowns and everchanging pandemic policies in school over the last year has shown even more reason for parents to want school choice and find stability.
Here is the list of the 35 Republicans who joined with Democrats to defeat the bill by voting “No,” did not vote, or voted “present.”
Nays: S. Berry, M. Berry, Cavenaugh, Christiansen, Coleman, Dalby, Deffenbaugh, L. Fite, Fortner, M. Gray, Hillman, Holcomb, Hollowell, Jean, Jett, L. Johnson, Maddox, McCullough, M. McElroy, McNair, Milligan, Rye, Slape, Speaks, Tollett, Tosh, Vaught, Wardlaw, Warren, Watson, Wooten, Non Voting: Cozart, Speaker Matthew Shepherd,* Present: Gazaway, McGrew
* Although it is common for the Speaker of the House to not vote on many bills, the Speaker can vote on any bill and Speaker Shepherd does vote on bills when he wants to. Therefore, he is included in the list of those who helped kill the bill.
If you are a Republican and their voting the opposite to the Republican platform upsets you, you are not the first. In 2019 the Craighead County Republican Committee was upset because some locally elected Republicans were voting with the Democrats and against Republican principles. The Craighead County committee passed a resolution affirming the principles in the Republican Party platform and requested their Senators and state House members “to do everything within their delegated authority to uphold these principles.”
If you are a Republican, what do you think about Republican State Representatives voting the opposite way from the Republican Platform?
Again the Republican platform in Arkansas says:
Every opportunity for every family to enroll each child in the school of its choice should be secured by government and offered to Arkansas families. Parents must have the ability to make informed choices regarding the education of their children and should not be restricted by lines on a map or the cost of tuition.
