Pulling plank on pre-K could hurt GOP slate

Recently, the Republican Party of Arkansas, meeting in what normally is a post-convention Presidential Pep Rally, turned into a meeting of mundane housekeeping items such as fine tuning a party platform for the upcoming election cycle.

That party platform is a laundry-list, if you will, of what the typical GOP candidate and Republican voter believe and support.

One of those mundane issues — removed from the Party platform the funding of pre-Kindergarten programs in Arkansas — has now, it seems, created a firestorm of public criticism and confusion.

On Monday, following the Saturday meeting, Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued the following statement: “Last Saturday, delegates of the state party voted to remove a provision in the platform which was confusing and unclear on its intent on preK funding. This action does not affect the historical bi-partisan support of pre-K funding.

“Prior to last year, pre-K funding in the state had not seen an increase in funding since the program’s inception in 2003. My first year in office, we appropriated $3 million in new funds for pre-K and additional funding was secured from federal sources. Arkansas currently ranks 12th in the nation in terms of percent of 4-year-old children in statefunded pre-K.”

House Minority Leader John Michael Gray, D-Augusta, told one Arkansas media outlet of his disapproval of the move.

“I am hopeful that as the governor continues to look at the data, he’ll see that this is about the future of Arkansas, and that we make a long-term commitment to the future of the children and not just one-time money,” Gray said.

“I’m encouraged by conversations I’ve had with him.

“However, we went down to the last day of the fiscal session trying for any kind of pre-K increase in conversations with the governor’s office and none of it materialized.”

Gray had earlier tried to get $10 million in additional funding for pre-K in the last legislative session.

Local state House member Charlene Fite of District 80 (parts of Washington and Crawford counties) and a retired public school educator, responded to my questions about the pre-K plank being pulled.

“I wasn’t at Saturday’s meeting, but have talked to many who were,” wrote Fite, a Republican from Van Buren. “There was a confusing amendment to the educational plank of the party platform. Many delegates interpreted the language as supporting mandatory preschool for all Arkansas children, with the accompanying mandatory funding.

“The delegates were concerned about making preschool mandatory and removing parental choice.

“They were also troubled by what this mandate would do to the rest of the state education budget. Therefore, this language was removed from the party platform.” She stressed this item. “This in no way means the Republican Party doesn’t support preschool education. The governor and the legislature increased preschool funding in the last legislative session and have already announced plans to do so in the next.

“Republicans have been in charge of the governorship and state legislature for one session. I find it fascinating that if Democrats were so committed to fully funding preschool education, they didn’t do so during their many years in power. I believe this action at the state party convention has been seized upon to use as a political wedge.”

State Rep. Greg Leding of Fayetteville, a Democrat serving House District 86, said: “Education is everything, and the sooner you start, the more successful our children can be. It doesn’t say much about Republicans’ regard for our kids, education, or working families when they go and strike all support for pre-K.”

State Rep. Robin Lundstrum, a Republican serving House District 87 (which includes parts of western Springdale and Siloam Springs) said the key word was “mandatory.”

“We don’t want to have mandates and unfunded mandates on the taxpayers. Pre-K programs are already in place. There is much ado about this wording and not enough about how to pay for it.”

So now office holders on both political sides will have to speak up on their pre-K priorities.

Some will say, well, it’s about time.

— Maylon Rice is a former journalist who worked for several northwest Arkansas publications. He can be reached via email at maylontrice@yahoo. com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.

— Gov. Asa Hutchinson