Steve Grappe says Arkansans are trying to take back political power through “direct democracy.”

Grappe, who lives in Rosebud Arkansas on Forevermost Farms, is the former head of the Rural Caucus, former head of the Citizens for Arkansas Public Education and Students (CAPES), and is the new head of Stand Up Arkansas.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Grappe describes how he and others throughout the state are working to re-engage Arkansans in civic and political life. Far too many Arkansans, he says, say that their vote and their views don’t count and because of civic disengagement, far too few are even registered to vote and many local elections—including school board—go uncontested.

But right now, several petition drives are underway that, if they gain 90,000 signatures by July 1, would put on the November ballot measures that have been popular elsewhere in the country and would wrest power from what he says is an unrepresentative legislature. The process of organizing communities and collecting signatures, he says, is engaging citizens all over the state.

One petition would guarantee the right to an abortion up through the 18^th week of a pregnancy; one would require that legislative and executive decisions be made in a transparent way; and one, which he talks about at length in this podcast episode, would write into the Arkansas constitution several provisions related to education.

Building on a major 2004 case in which the Arkansas  Supreme Court found that Arkansas’s system of funding public schools was unconstitutional, the education petition calls for a constitutional amendment that would explicitly require Arkansas schools to fund students—including, specifically, students with disabilities—sufficiently to prepare them to function and compete both academically and in the job market and to  fully participate in civic life (known as the Rose Standards). In addition, it would:

·      Require that any school that takes public money be subject to the same accountability requirements of public schools;

·      Require that all public schools provide schooling for all 3- and 4-year-olds;

·      Require that any community within 200 percent of the federal poverty line have wrap around community services.

·      All schools must offer summer and after-school programs.

All four of those items have the support of vast majorities of Arkansans according to polls done by the Arkansas Policy Institute, Grappe says—including people who identify themselves as conservatives and Republicans.

The education petition is being supported by the NAACP, the Arkansas Education Association, the National Education Association, the Arkansas Retired Teachers Association, and Citizens First Congress.

“What we’re trying to do is bring collectively together these large social groups and get them involved, even at the school board level.”

And, Grappe says, that will all lead to more people running for school board and end the far too common phenomenon of school board elections going uncontested.

To join Democracy and Education, fill out the form on the connect page of www.democracy-education.org. We welcome all who support public schools and democracy.