A sign seen outside the hearing on Arkansas LEARNS.

If parents are free to do what they like with these new “Education Freedom Accounts,” private school parents can choose to send their voucher money back to their public school districts. Right?

That’s the thinking behind a bill filed this week during the 94th General Assembly’s spring break hiatus. Lawmakers haven’t been at the Capitol en masse, but many of them have still been busy filing new bills to take up when they return next week.

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Among them is Senate Bill 471 by Little Rock Democrats Sen. Clarke Tucker and Rep. Ashley Hudson. Their bill would amend the “Education Freedom Account” program to allow parents of a participating student to redirect the funds back to the resident public school to which that student is assigned.

Arkansas LEARNS, Gov. Sarah Sanders‘ charter expansion and “school choice” bill signed into law earlier this month, will supply taxpayer-funded vouchers to any families who want them by 2026. Sanders and her supporters emphasized the parental choice component of vouchers, saying parents can decide what’s best for their own kids.

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Opponents point out that this parental choice will lead to worse outcomes for kids in general. Similar programs in other states have resegregated schools by race and socioeconomic levels. Voucher amounts won’t cover the full cost of tuition for many private schools, meaning parents who can’t pay the difference don’t really have the same options. Families who rely on free lunches, bus services, special education and other perks of public school education are unlikely to find what they need in most private schools.

The gradual defunding of traditional public schools as more white and well-to-do families pull their kids out tops voucher opponents’ list of concerns. SB471 could help by allowing families who send their children to private schools that don’t accept vouchers to turn over their voucher cash to their assigned public schools. Even parents who send their children to private schools that do accept vouchers, or who home school, would be able to simply decline to use vouchers for themselves and send the money back to their traditional public school system instead.

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So for instance, the governor, who sends her children to private school, could continue paying those tuitions in full and turn her family’s voucher funds back to the Little Rock School District instead.

The bill is listed on the Senate Education Committee agenda for Monday, although it’s unlikely to be heard then. Committee agendas list all bills pending before them, even though lawmakers can only get to a few at a time. And bills are rarely considered in the order they appear on the agendas. This system makes it a challenge for citizens who want to come testify at the Capitol, but can’t ever quite figure out when the bill they’re interested in will come up for debate.

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