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A federal judge on Tuesday granted in part and denied in part plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a section of the LEARNS Act that bans “indoctrination” in public schools.
Little Rock Central High School parents, students and teachers who filed the lawsuit against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva claim the “indoctrination” ban in Section 16 of the LEARNS Act violates the First and Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantee a right to freedom of speech and due process.
Championed by Sanders, the LEARNS Act made sweeping changes to Arkansas’ education system, including increasing the state’s minimum teacher salary to $50,000 and creating a school voucher program.
In Tuesday’s order , U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky wrote that the teacher plaintiffs claim Section 16 of the LEARNS Act is so vague it violates due process.
The teachers are self-censoring what and how they teach because they don’t want to suffer the consequences of accidentally running afoul of the law, while the student plaintiffs contend the self-censorship is depriving them of being taught things they would have learned otherwise if Section 16 weren’t in existence, he wrote.