A coalition of grassroots organizations came together at the headquarters of the Arkansas Education Association in Little Rock to discuss the progress of two ballot measure campaigns.
April Reisma is the president of the Arkansas Education Association. She says they are launching their statewide push to collect the nearly 91,000 signatures needed to get their measures on the ballot this November.
“One amendment focuses on protecting Arkansans' constitutional right to place issues on the ballot without political interference or unnecessary government obstacles. The second amendment focuses on public education and ensuring Arkansas students, families and communities have a stronger voice in decisions that affect their schools.
Bill Kopsky is the director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and is involved in both of the potential amendments. He says he's filled with gratitude as he travels the state and hears from supporters.
"Last night I was in Fayetteville speaking at a bar on the ballot measures in the rain, and there was a huge crowd of our supporters and volunteers who were there, and our Washington County volunteers turned in a thousand signatures for each of the measures last night. And that's what these campaigns are — they're grandmas and moms and dads and granddads out collecting signatures at farmers markets."
Those nearly 91,000 signatures are due July 3, which gives these groups about five weeks to finish their work. Kopsky says he feels they are on pace with where they need to be, but they need a big June.
"We're asking for all of those folks out there that think they're frustrated with our political system, frustrated with our politicians — we totally get that, share a lot of that. If you want to do something, if you want to feel like you can make a difference, these next five weeks are a critical time to make your voice heard so we can collect 91,000 signatures to place both these measures on the ballot. So Arkansas voters have some choices in November about the direction of the state."
Gennie Diaz is the executive director of For AR People, one of the organizations involved with the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment. She says the goal of this measure is to end the extreme government overreach of the state legislature.
"At its core, this amendment is about protecting the constitutional right to direct democracy. As we have seen over the last few years, politicians have been messing with this process. They have been changing the rules. They have been making it incredibly difficult for regular people to place issues on the ballot. They have created hurdles that petitioners have to jump over. They have created traps — legal traps, political traps. These include traps for petitioners, but also for volunteers. At every turn, they have created more opportunities to be able to throw out signatures of Arkansas voters. We feel that this is evidence that they do not respect the will of the voters, are not listening to Arkansas voters."
The Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment aims to protect the rights of Arkansans to propose ballot measures, collect petition signatures and to sign petitions. The organizers point to more than a dozen laws passed in the legislature recently that have made the signature-gathering process more complicated, both for citizens and grassroots organizations. Diaz says these next five weeks are crunch time for the groups.
"Please do not wait to sign. A lot of these signatures come in the next few weeks in the month of June. That puts an incredible burden on our canvassers, on our volunteers. If you have the ability to sign today or to sign this weekend, we would ask that you do. Please do not wait. We also ask that you would join — if you can volunteer, you can collect signatures, if you can host events, that's fantastic. Tell your friends and your family. This is such an abstract concept for people. The most important thing to know is that if this right is taken away from us, we're not likely to get it back. And that is really important information to know."
April Reisma with the Arkansas Education Association says the Education Rights Amendment is one she is passionate about.
"I'm not going to stand here and say that public education is perfect because it's not. It needs help. The one thing that we have not done is to go with the experts in the room, the experts in our schools, the ones that know what can be done about education here in Arkansas and quite frankly, across the nation."
The Education Rights Amendment plans to provide oversight and transparency for how taxpayer money is spent in regard to the state's school voucher program. If passed, organizers say the amendment would improve special education, provide high-quality early education, and would require identical academic standards and testing for students who are using state money to help pay for their private education.
Reisma says both measures rely on the idea of accountability.
"Which is something the state severely lacks. And once we get accountability in place, that's when we turn things around."
There was an op-ed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in March by Gary Newton, the CEO of Arkansas Learns. He opposes the amendment, saying, "There are no cost estimates or spending caps in the amendment. That means the Arkansas Legislature must issue a blank check, no matter the cost to the Arkansas taxpayer." Reisma pushes back against that idea.
"We already have that in place with the voucher system, my friends. It keeps going up year after year with millions of dollars invested in private schools, in people making money off the backs of our children. It's time to invest correctly in our children so that they can truly grow and learn and be the best that they can be."
In addition to volunteers across the state, the coalition plans to hire around 60 to 100 paid canvassers to help collect signatures.
Three amendments referred by the legislature will be on the November ballot: one that would provide that only U.S. citizens may vote in state or local elections — Arkansas law already requires U.S. citizenship to vote; another would provide that the right to keep and bear arms is "a natural, fundamental and individual right that shall not be infringed"; and a third would allow the legislature to create programs, including economic development districts, and make loans and grants of public money to develop the state's economy.
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