LEARNS Act applications triple this year

By STEVE BRAWNER

The number of Arkansas families applying for LEARNS Act state funding for private or homeschooling expenses has more than tripled – so far.

As of Thursday morning, families had submitted 44,573 applications for this upcoming school year – the first when enrollment has been open to anyone. The deadline for submitting the applications is this Sunday, June 22.

The LEARNS Act is Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ education reform law passed by lawmakers in 2023. Among its creations was the educational freedom accounts families can use for public school alternatives.

Last year, there were 14,297 applications when the law capped enrollment at 3% of the state’s student population and limited it to certain groups. Those included children in F-rated schools, children in foster care, children of active military personnel, and others.

Families generally will be eligible for $6,864 per student for education expenses, although some can get more. That’s more than $20,000 if they have three children in school.

A legislative subcommittee on Tuesday approved spending an additional $90 million from the state’s Restricted Reserve Fund to pay for the cost, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. Lawmakers had set aside that amount under Act 1017 in this year’s legislative session. 

The money comes atop $187.4 million in state general revenue dollars lawmakers previously approved.

That means the state will be spending $277.4 million on the accounts. Act 920, which lawmakers also passed this year, amended the LEARNS Act by creating a priority list in case funds run out. The sponsors were also the LEARNS Act’s primary sponsors – Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, and Rep. Keith Brooks, R-Little Rock.

Public school advocates say LEARNS will take money from public schools. The $6,864 is 90% of the per pupil foundation funding the state would have sent to the student’s public school if the student had attended it. While the $90 million doesn’t subtract from that pot, the $187.4 million from general revenues does. 

True, public schools don’t have the expense of educating the student who chooses another option. On the other hand, it’s really not $6,864 cheaper to educate one less student in a public school classroom. Schools still must pay the teachers’ salaries and the building expenses regardless.

Families aren’t just getting a big check, by the way. The money pays for expenses like tuitions at 128 approved private schools or for homeschooling costs approved by the Department of Education. There was a little bit of a controversy last year when it came out that horse-riding lessons was one of those approved expenses. It seemed a bit nonacademic to some people.

In fact, Davis told her fellow senators this year that 56% of homeschooling families’ expenses were not directly related to academics, as reported by the Arkansas Times. As a result, the aforementioned Act 920 also limited to 25% the money that could be spent for extracurricular and physical education activities and educational field trips, and another 25% that could be used for transportation. The rest is supposed to go strictly to academics.

Limits do seem necessary and overdue. My wife and I homeschooled our oldest two daughters through school and have started doing so with our five-year-old. Our yearly expenses per child have been nowhere near $6,864. In fact, the direct academic expenses for books and curricula often have been somewhere in the middle hundreds of dollars per child.

We don’t intend to take the government’s money to help us educate our youngest daughter. We’re fine. Government funds tend eventually to be accompanied by government control. 

Three things seem likely to happen in the coming years. 

One is that each year, many families indeed will accept the roughly $7,000 available per student through the educational freedom accounts.

The second is that with all this available money, we’ll see the arrival of a variety of private school providers and microschools. Those are small, personalized learning environments. Some of these options will be creative and effective, and some won’t be. Of course, some public schools are more creative and effective than others.

The third is that public schools will continue to be the primary education provider in most of Arkansas. They educated roughly 475,000 K-12 students last school year. They are the hub of community life in most places, although they may have to perform that role with fewer state dollars if students choose other options.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 19 outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.