Omnibus within an Omnibus

By Ben Pollock
Vice President
UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — Local 965 was represented Saturday with three key members attending the “NWA Rally Uniting with Teachers against the LEARNS Act Scam and for the RAISE Act” on the grounds of Washington County Courthouse. Also, I spoke.

Also attending the rally were Local 965 at-large board member Chris Goering and retired at-large board member Ted Swedenburg.

The late afternoon rally Feb. 25 was to discuss and protest the LEARNS bill (Senate Bill 294), an acronym for Literacy, Empowerment, Accountability, Readiness, Networking and Safety, proposed by the new governor, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders. LEARNS is an omnibus package to dramatically change primary and secondary education in Arkansas by incorporating recent GOP principles and talking points.

Filed late Monday the 20th, the Senate passed it by Thursday the 23rd with no amendments. It is expected to move through the House at only a slightly slower pace. The Democrats’ counterproposal, the RAISE Act, was filed Jan. 26 and is stalled.

Hours earlier while painting placards, Billy Cook, vice president of the Washington County Democrats, asked me to be a speaker. Cook had quickly organized this rally and another for Sunday at the courthouse in Bentonville. Waiting even another week obviously could be too late.

I declined because UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965, by serving higher ed employees is not directly affected by Sanders’ proposals. Cook asked me to reconsider, saying, “We’re in Fayetteville. The only person from Fayetteville speaking is Greg Leding.”

The District 30 Democratic senator was to be the keynote. I then relented because the Republican measures on reflection have a strong but indirect impact on postsecondary education. Learning my spot was to be third of some six speakers, I jotted key points on a card.

Leding explained to the crowd that Sanders’ omnibus bill has good points like dramatic teacher salary increases and support for improved learning standards, sore spots like vouchers of public money for charter or private schools or homeschooling, and near zilch on funding it all. He admitted its momentum was strong and asked the crowd of some three dozen to tell friends to contact their legislators.

The second speaker was Corrie Tucker, president of the Springdale Education Association of K-12 public school teachers and support staff. The first-grade teacher detailed key elements of the bill from the points of view of educators, parents and schoolchildren.

Local 965 Vice President Ben Pollock (red shirt) holds a placard at a rally Feb. 26, 2023, opposing a Republican overall reform of Arkansas education policy. Retired 965 board member Ted Swedenburg takes photos of the crowd.

My Remarks — Reconstructed from Notes

“I am Ben Pollock, vice president of UA-Fayetteville Education Association / Local 965. Our union has been here since 1962, yes some 60 years serving the community. Representing higher ed, though, we don’t quite have a dog in this race. The other speakers are addressing elements of the bill. We do have something to say, though, because we live here, pay taxes here, and many of us working at the University of Arkansas are parents.

“Governor Sanders presented an omnibus bill, a collection of related bills. That’s why its 144 pages gets the criticism that there’s too much to carefully consider before committee and floor votes held within a week.

“From both a post-secondary education and community point of view, I see this as an omnibus bill that lies within an omnibus Regular Session. The LEARNS proposal collects many separate measures. Likewise, with strong Republican majorities in both houses, many bills outside of education have a similar interconnection. That is taking us down a risky and even dangerous road.

“First, higher education is logically next on the GOP fix-it list. Once the LEARNS Act passes, it is likely the General Assembly will follow the course of legislatures of other Southern and Midwestern states to focus on restrictions of universities and colleges. States like Florida and Iowa are looking at changing up faculty hiring as well as limits on topics that can be taught to young adults.

“A second aspect is the future of many of these young children whose education will be constricted by the LEARNS Act. Their overall achievement levels, especially in rural areas, stand to be lowered. They are the future students of the various campuses of the University of Arkansas System. Will these eventual graduates of newly created private schools and well-intentioned but lacking homeschools be able to master college-level coursework?

“This omnibus regular session has interconnected bills. That may not be immediately obvious but here is an example. One bill introduced in the House the same day as Senate Bill 294 — that’s the LEARNS Act — is House Bill 1410. It is 2 pages not 144, but it packs a wallop.

“HB 1410 has the title “Youth Hiring Act of 2023,” and it would deliver exactly what it states, an encouragement of youth under age 16 to long and unsafe working hours by repealing the state’s key Child Labor law. In HB1410, youth would no longer need a state work permit, would not need to prove parental consent, and companies would not need to verify the child’s age. These two bills can be seen as connected. Children with now poorer educations might as well work in their middle school years, as their families can see that they won’t be able to make it in college.

“Maybe these measures just happen to all be flowing through these super-majority GOP legislatures. Or maybe the Republicans have a grand plan. But we here today, including UA faculty and support staff, should consider these measures an interconnected whole, because one way or another that is how these new laws with untried ideas will impact all of us.

“It is conceivable that Sanders and the GOP are trying to set the state up as a grand experiment for America, an incubator for the radical right. I think we must keep Arkansas from turning into a socio-economic Petri dish to test these extremes for the nation.”

Arkansas state Sen. Greg Leding, D-District 30, speaks Feb. 25, 2023, in front of the Washington County Courthouse, at a rally opposing a major GOP reform of state education policy. Local 965 Vice President Ben Pollock, kneeling far right, revises notes before his remarks. — Arkansas state Sen. Greg Leding, D-District 30, speaks Feb. 25, 2023, in front of the Washington County Courthouse, at a rally opposing a major GOP reform of state education policy. Local 965 board member Chris Goering (red sweatshirt) listens. Vice President Ben Pollock, kneeling far right, revises notes before his remarks.

Essentially all local news media covered the rally. Well, the reporters did their interviews before the program and began packing up after Leding’s speech. Fortunately, they didn’t see me fumbling with the microphone. Here are their reports:

“Education Bill Almost Certain to Pass, Opposing Senator Tells Protesters,” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Feb. 26, 2023
“Rally Held in Opposition to LEARNS Act,” KFSM-TV, Feb. 25, 2023
“Northwest Arkansas Teachers Respond to Arkansas LEARNS Bill,” KNWA-TV / KFTA-TV, Feb. 26, 2023
“Teachers Protest Arkansas Education Bill in Fayetteville,” KHBS-TV / KHOG-TV, Feb. 26, 2023 (text only, station removed video)

Child Labor

“U.S. Fines Firm Used by Tyson, George’s: Violations of Child Labor Laws Found,” Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Feb. 21, 2023
“Alone and Exploited, Migrant Children Work Brutal Jobs Across the U.S.: Arriving in record numbers, they’re ending up in dangerous jobs that violate child labor laws — including in factories that make products for well-known brands like Cheetos and Fruit of the Loom,” The New York Times, Feb. 25-26, 2023