An effort to stop the Arkansas LEARNS Act from going into effect has been dismissed.
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a June 30 ruling by the Pulaski County Circuit Court, which had declared the LEARNS Act invalid because of the way its emergency clause was passed. The full act took effect August 1.
At issue was whether the state legislature had properly voted to pass the LEARNS Act emergency clause, which allows new laws to go into effect immediately after being signed by the governor.
The appellees, which include organizers from Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students, also known as CAPES, alleged the emergency clause was not voted on in a roll-call vote separate to the passing of the entire LEARNS Act. They alleged one vote was taken to pass the LEARNS Act and the emergency clause at the same time.
This was contrary to the House and Senate journals submitted by the Department of Education, which indicated separate roll-call votes had, in fact, occurred. The Pulaski County Circuit Court ruled in favor of the CAPES organizers on June 30, writing they were allowed to look beyond the journals to determine proper voting procedures had not taken place, therefore invalidating the emergency clause of LEARNS.
In the leading opinion, Justice Barbara Webb wrote the legislative journals are all that are needed to count the votes as valid. She cited a century-old ruling that states journal entries are the sole evidence of legislative proceedings. Justices Karen Baker, Rhonda Wood, and Shawn Womack supported the decision to reverse and dismiss the appeal.
Wood wrote that the lawsuit presented a political question to the court, and to make any decision besides dismissing the case altogether would be a violation of separation of powers. Chief Justice John Dan Kemp dissented, arguing because the LEARNS Act took full effect on August 1, the current appeal is now irrelevant.
This ruling did not impact the current adoption of LEARNS, a wide-sweeping education overhaul which is already in effect in the State of Arkansas.
