On Tuesday, February 25th, pay attention to who speaks “against” or “on” SB90, allowing public comments at school board meetings. Those individuals and nonprofits will be trying to add restrictions to the bill because they do not believe in free speech when it comes to protecting our children in public education. The meeting is Tuesday, February 25th at 10am in room 138 at the Arkansas State Capital.

Hundreds of thousands of tax dollars are given to multiple private, non-profit education agencies in Arkansas for the promotion of public education, but are they really working for the best interests of students and their parents who entrust these schools to educate their children? Why are these agencies hiding in the shadows supporting administrators and school boards who continue blocking the public from voicing their concerns to elected school board members? Is it because transparency will bring the gravy train of education funds and backdoor deals by overpaid superintendents to a screeching halt? 

A very simple, no-brainer bill is being presented to the House Education Committee, after passing the Senate Education Committee more than a week ago. SB 90, authored by Jane English, will be front and center to force public schools to allow public comment during school board meetings across Arkansas. Since the Senate passed this bill out of the committee, the opposition is working overtime though back door deals to continue their attack on the First Amendment rights of parents and taxpayers  to address their elected officials on school boards. Why would any entity, who says they care about children’s education, want parents to remain silent? If kids actually mattered to these people, they would be holding town halls, monthly meetings in each school building and creating committees with parents who know their children best. Parents would be able to help schools find solutions to solve the skyrocketing illiteracy rate, decrease the suicide rates, or help figure why schools are using Alternative Learning Environments (ALE) as their own personal piggy banks. School districts receive over $4,000 extra for each child they have in an Alternate Learning Environment, yet most of these kids are placed there under false pretenses or without policies and procedures being followed. Even worse, they are being bullied by cops and staff, while not even having a certified teacher on staff to teach them. (See current lawsuit regarding these offenses here)

Transparency is what hit them

During the Senate Education Committee (watch here), Mike Hernandez, Executive Director of the private non-profit Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators (AAEA) and Dr. Duffy, Superintendent of Alma School District spoke on the bill at the Senate Education Committee. Mr. Hernandez, once an administrator, admitted why he fears public comments during his testimony. He stated that staff will be named and recalled how parents reacted after districts forced our kids to wear masks and get vaccines during Covid. He stated the districts took a big hit after those meetings… What kind of hit, you might ask? Transparency is what hit them. Parents quickly realized their opinions didn’t matter, district policies were not being followed, and parents saw schools line their pockets with free Federal ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) Covid funds, which was diverted to things like new football turf and glamorizing schools, none of which made schools safer to attend.

Mr. Hernandez also stated that people were going from school board to school board, highlighting policy issues, which makes him wish the bill was updated to restrict Arkansas Taxpayers from attending any school board meeting they choose, amending it to only allow district taxpayers, or more specifically just parents of students in that district, to be allowed comments. Dr. Duffy of Alma School district, added that there needs to be “guardrails” on what is said, specifically about kids and staff . Those guardrails, if implimented, should not restrict free speech but limit private information from being shared. While many adults realize the need to protect a minor’s name, there are no laws that prohibit naming adults in such board meetings. More importantly, if a teacher or staff member has been identified as violating a law or the public trust, it would be important that those with direct knowledge be allowed to testify for or against the allegations. Never once did they mention how important it is to hear from parents regarding their child’s education or safety. Not once.

Jared Cleveland, superintendent of Springdale, also testified stating that he worries about parents “grandstanding”. I guess he saw what happened across the nation as school boards refused to listen to parents, so they used their First Amendment Rights to share how currupt schools have become.

This was on the heels of Senator Murdock opposing SB90, who was recently exposed by Arkansas 1st News for having a no-bid contract with Forrest City School District and receiving over $1.5 million dollars, for a position that was given to him by Superintendent Tiffany Hardrick (read the article here). Murdock explained in the committee meeting, that restrictions must be placed to make sure parents are not allowed to bring up issues regarding offences and violations done by staff or issues not on the agenda. Essentially, he thinks parents should pay out of pocket to take those matters to court, not caring that schools have endless taxpayer funds to defend themselves. Mr. Murdock also stated he doesn’t want to see videos surface like he’s seen on Youtube of parents causing chaos, to which I quickly replied during my testimony that those parents wouldn’t be yelling at school board meetings if the school boards allowed public comments.

Through the political grapevine, I was told the private entity, paid by public school district funds for membership, the Arkansas School Board Association (ASBA), is going to speak “on” the bill when it hits the House Education Committee next week. I wonder what they will have to say about the bill requiring public comment at all public-school board meetings. I am sure they will demand changes to stifle free speech, contrarty to their mission of providing student focused leadership…

The 1^st amendment is clear, and the Supreme Court has ruled that school boards are not allowed to silence public comment at public meetings nor can they tell them what is allowed or not allowed to say. If you think Arkansas should start following the Constitution and give back Arkansans’ 1^st amendment rights, join me and others in supporting SB90 on Tuesday, February 25th, at 10am in room 138 at the Arkansas State Capital.

Missy Bosch

Missy is the author of “Crushed, but Not Broken”, a story detailing her daughter’s diagnosis and her family’s fight with CNS HLH. She has a passion to improve education and help children with disabilities receive the education and respect they deserve. Missy and her husband are AF veterans and have 4 children.