Voucher advocates are justly frightened of state referenda. They claim that “polls show” that vouchers have public support. They don’t. The voucher forces know that every state referendum about sending public money to private schools has failed. In state after state, vouchers have been turned down by voters, typically by large margins.

I wrote a few days ago that concerned citizens in Arkansas were trying to collect enough signatures to get a referendum on the ballot for voucher school accountability. They were outmatched by big money. More than $1 million in spending defeated $8,217.

Supporters of public schools in Arkansas wanted the state to hold voucher schools to the same accountability standards as public schools. Why not? The voucher lobby has boasted for years about the superiority of private and religious schools. But the lobby goes to great lengths to shield those wonderful private schools from taking the same tests as public schools! The evidence is in: when poor kids use vouchers, they fall behind their peers in public schools. In Arkansas right now, almost all the voucher money is going to kids who never attended public schools.

Despite the efforts of some 1,200 volunteers in Arkansas, they collected only about 70,000 of the 90,704 signatures needed to put the referendum on the ballot this November. They promise to try again in 2026.

The anti-voucher group is called For AR Kids, which includes the Arkansas Conference of the NAACP, Arkansas Education Association, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Citizens First Congress, Arkansas Retired Teachers Association and Stand Up Arkansas.

Opposition to the referendum was funded by the multibillionaire Walton family and the multibillionaire Jeff Yass from Philadelphia.

The Arkansas Advocate reported:

The measure faced opposition from Arkansans for Students and Educators and Stronger Arkansas, two ballot question committees with close ties to the governor. Additionally, the measure was opposed by Family Council Action Committee 2024, which like Stronger Arkansas also opposes the proposed abortion and medical marijuana amendments.

Arkansans for Students and Educators and Stronger Arkansas have received a total of $986,000 and $375,000, respectively, in campaign contributions, according to June financial disclosure documents. Meanwhile, For AR Kids received a total of $8,217 from donors.

Bottom line: the billionaires spent about $1.3 million to protect voucher schools free of any accountability.

The anti-voucher group had $8,217 to spend in hopes of getting the same standards for voucher schools and public schools.

Unfair. Unethical. Shameful.