ROGERS -- All mention of prekindergarten education was struck from the state Republican Party platform on Saturday.
Support for wider access to pre-K could lead later to making such early education mandatory, said opponents to a paragraph supporting such access in a draft party platform.
"Kindergarten used to be voluntary, and now it's mandatory," said Vickey Boozman of Cave Springs, the delegate who first spoke against the paragraph. The paragraph was the only one removed or changed from the 10-page draft platform, except for grammatical corrections. The party's platform committee presented the document to the 275 delegates at the convention, which was held in the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.
Before the change, the platform said parents who want pre-K education for their children should have access to it and the state should make sure those parents have the necessary resources enter their child in such a program.
"If we remove this, what will our response be to people in poverty?" said the only delegate to speak for retaining the paragraph. That delegate left after the convention adopted the platform and adjourned, but was identified as Jacquelin Brownell of Benton County by party officials. Both Boozman, who is the widow of former state Health Department director Fay Boozman, and delegate Lucas Roebuck of Siloam Springs spoke in favor of removing the paragraph. Delegates approved the change in a voice vote.
The Arkansas Legislature approved state-supported prekindergarten programs at public schools on a trial basis in 2003, after the state Supreme Court imposed a Jan. 1, 2004, deadline for reform after a 2001 court ruling found that education spending was unconstitutionally inadequate. The state program only covers children within 200 percent of federal poverty level income, and existing budget levels cover less than half of those.
According to information given in state budget debates at the Legislature, more than 45,000 children would qualify for assistance at that income level. About 17,500 get the assistance. Another 9,000 have access to prekindergarten though federal or nonprofit programs. The $114 million state program reached that level after a $3 million increase last year, its first since the program was created in 2003. The state never provided enough money for pre-K throughout the state because the court ruling's constitutional mandate only applied to grades kindergarten through 12.
Proponents of pre-K say it is the best "bang for the buck" in public education because it brings students up to a more-equal level as they begin schooling, and it is more cost-efficient than trying to make up deficiencies later.
Concerns prekindergarten could grow into a requirement is a false fear, said Tyler Clark, chairman of the Washington County Democratic Party and state Democratic Party treasurer. State law allowing home schooling means no child even has to attend a public school at any age, he said. "This is just another excuse to discriminate against the poor," Clark said.
Rep. Joyce Elliot, D-Little Rock, a longtime advocate of pre-K programs, said she was surprised by the news because she had heard consistent support for the principle of pre-K education in the majority-Republican Legislature. The only opposition to expanding it was from cost, she said. There is broad consensus among Republicans and Democrats early education saves money because it lower the cost "of trying to fix these problems on the back end," she said.
NW News on 08/07/2016