A Chance For Education Compromise In Arkansas?

It is a common lament that American politicians no longer compromise. Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill used to sit down and work through issues, Chris Matthews used to talk-shout at us. Those days are gone.

The great and the good generally blame this on the “asymmetric polarization” of Republicans, who have gone from MAGA to ultra-MAGA to assumedly ne plus ultra MAGA in the near future. Republicans simply refuse to compromise. That is why we can’t get anything done any more. In fact, they should be better known as the “Grand Obstructionist Party.”

I have no desire at all to defend Republicans, ultra-MAGA or otherwise. Nor do I wish to weigh in on whether or not compromise is more or less common now and whether or not that is a good thing.

I want to do something much more modest, that is, point out that one Republican seems to be trying to compromise right now and is getting pilloried for it.

Recently, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders put forward the LEARNS Act, a comprehensive education reform bill. It includes a massive raise for Arkansas teachers. According to University of Arkansas data guru Josh Magee, almost half of teachers in the state and more than 90% of teachers in some of the poorest areas would be due for a raise under the new legislation. Adjusted for cost of living, Arkansas teachers would be some of the highest paid in the nation. The bill includes paid maternity leave for teachers and funds to support early reading interventions, expanded broadband, and Pre-K.

The LEARNS Act also has several school choice provisions, including the creation of an Education Savings Account for any Arkansas student who wants to particpate. The state would fund those accounts to the tune of around $7,000 per student per year. Families could spend those funds on qualifying education expenditures, including but not limited to things like private school tuition.

For those familiar with the contours of the education policy debate in America today, that seems like a compromise, right? Those on the side that look for more investment in the traditional public schooling system and particularly its teachers are getting what they want and those on the side who like to see families have more choices are getting what they want as well.

But activists in Arkansas don’t appear to want to compromise. Already, a rally has been held against the bill. The local news coverage of the event is worth noting: “Many opposed to the proposed bill say they like aspects of it, such as increased teacher pay and increased access to broadband and Pre-K education for Arkansas students—but they cannot reconcile the perceived positives with what they see as steps backward.”

This aligns with a quote in the Arkansas Times from Senator Greg Leding (a Democrat from Fayetteville), who said, “I like 60-70% of the bill but a cheeseburger that’s 30% poison is still a bad cheeseburger.”

So even after getting 60-70% of what they want, they still oppose the bill. What’s that about asymmetric polarization again? And compromise? I guess not.

Advocates have every right to exhaust whatever means they have to shape pieces of legislation in their favor, rallies and overheated rhetoric and all. It helps to come out hot to give yourself space to fall back to. That’s politics. There is also baseball to be played here and we will see if folks eventually come around.

But if opponents don’t come around, I don’t want to hear them bellyache about extremism or see crocodile tears over the lack of compromise in politics today. A compromise, one that opponents even admit is tilted in their favor, is on the table. It would be quite disheartening to discover that opponents were willing to throw raises for thousands of Arkansas teachers under the bus for their ideological dogmatism.

(And those with agita could look to the overwhelming body of research showing the positive benefits of school choice to calm their anxieties. Perhaps upon inspection the choice provisions are less like poison and more like a flavor of ketchup they don’t like.)

If the LEARNS Act ends up failing, there would be extremism on display there, but not from the governor’s office or those who support school choice.

Compromise involves give and take. One side of this debate appears willing to do both, the jury is out on the other side.