Education Committee- House
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Bills discussed (5)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
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HB1231
· 4 mentions in chapter, agenda, transcript
Matched: “HB1231 Lowery TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS TO TEACH…”
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TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS TO TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM; AND … | Lowery | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
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HR1008
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HR1008 Evans TO CONGRATULATE THE CABOT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE SCH…”
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TO CONGRATULATE THE CABOT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE SCHOOLS WITHIN THE DISTRICT ON BEING NAMED … | Evans | READ AND ADOPTED. |
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SB66
Act 133
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…D TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM. SB66 J. English TO ALLOW THE TUITION-FREE BENEFIT FOR SOLDIERS A…”
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TO ALLOW THE TUITION-FREE BENEFIT FOR SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN OF THE ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD TO … | J. English | Notification that SB66 is now Act 133 |
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SB72
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…OF STUDY IN WHICH THE COURSES ARE TAKEN EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE. SB72 J. Sturch TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNI…”
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TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SCHOOL PERSONNEL. | J. Sturch | Sine Die adjournment |
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SB77
Act 134
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SAS CODE CONCERNING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SCHOOL PERSONNEL. SB77 L. Eads TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING…”
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TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING EDUCATION RENEWAL ZONES. | L. Eads | Notification that SB77 is now Act 134 |
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Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
0:00
We're going to take things a little out of order this morning, so we're going to hear a resolution, and we're going to move House Bill 1231 to the bottom of the agenda because we know that's going
to have a lot of discussion. The other, we only have two other ones. They should fly right through, so that way we're not tying up people to sit in here
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
0:25
and wait to be heard. So at this time, Representative Evans, if you want to present your resolution,
if you will take the end of the table, we will hear that. There again, for all you members, if you have a bill that needs to be run on this committee, please get a hold of me and let's get it on the agenda. We've got a lot stacking up and nobody's got them ready to run yet. So Representative Evans, you are recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
1:03
Committee members, it's with great joy that I bring to you today for consideration and hopefully advancement to the House floor, House Resolution 1008. Established in 1998, the Military Child Education Coalition's mission was to support all military-connected children by educating, advocating, and collaborating to meet the educational challenges that it comes and associated with military lifestyle. In later years, the coalition partnered with Columbia University
to establish the Purple Star Program to help states' K-12 programs reach goals of the group. Components for designation were established and scored by the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University. Four states have met the criteria and were acknowledged. Those states are Ohio, Virginia, North Carolina, and Arkansas. For Arkansas, the Cabot School District was the first to be designated as a Purple Star School.
All 17 campuses of the district are recognized for their achievement in supporting approximately 1,000 military-connected students in the district and their continued commitment to serve them both emotionally and academically. Members, I would appreciate your support with an affirmative vote to congratulate the Cabot School District for their commitment to military-connected children and their achievement of designation as the first Purple Star School in the state of Arkansas. With that, I'll take any
Julian Locke
Unverified
2:33
questions. Are there any questions, committee?
Seeing none, anyone in the audience want to speak against the resolution, for the resolution? Would you like closed for your resolution? Closed for the resolution. Motion do pass. I have a motion to do pass. Any discussion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. Any opposed, no. Congratulations, you passed your resolution. Thank you, committee. We're going to skip over 1231 at this time.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:58
We'll come right back to it. Representative Fite, are you ready to do SB 66? And then I believe you'll have 77 also. Is
that correct? You can just stay at the end of the table and present both of those.
if there's anyone in the room is here to testify on 1231 I would please ask that you move to the room behind to free up some space if you're here to just listen to the other stuff you're you're good as long as we don't get too overcrowded if the capital police will let us know if we're overcrowded and if there is he will let me know we'll have to move some people out. Are we good? All right, thank you. Representative Feitz, you're ready. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
3:43
I have two witnesses here today to help me with this bill. May I bring them to the end of the table?
You may. Melissa Rust from the U of A system and
Colonel Wood. You might have to do one at a time. Do we have two chairs down there? Probably. Just do one at a time. Thank you.
Melissa, if you'll go ahead and state your name and who you're with, then you'll
Melissa Rust
Unverified
4:14
be recognized to speak when it's time. Sure, Mr. Chairman. My name is Melissa Rust. I'm
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
4:22
with the University of Arkansas System. Thank you. You may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. What this bill does is allow the tuition-free benefit for soldiers and airmen of the Arkansas National Guard to apply to programs of study in which the courses are taken exclusively online. As you will remember, in the past, we have passed bills that help our airmen and soldiers be able to take courses,
but due to an oversight, they were not allowed to take them online. This will clarify that they are allowed to do that. And with that, I will ask Ms. Rose to give a little bit more information from the University
Speaker 17
5:01
of Arkansas' perspective. Mr. Chairman, the only comment that I would make, we certainly support the bill. We asked Senator English when the bill was down on the Senate end if she would consider amending it
so that it would allow a fully online university that's associated with a state-supported institution of higher education to be able to offer this benefit to the National Guard members. We have a fully online university, Eversity, with the UA system, and currently fully online programs are not allowed to participate in the reimbursement for this particular program to National Guard members, and we simply wanted Eversity students to be able to participate.
Senator English was gracious enough to make that amendment that is reflected at the bottom of page two. Representative Love, you're
recognized for a question. No, we're
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
5:57
not ready for that yet. All right. Any other questions from the committee? Okay. Do you have other testimony you'd like to break
Speaker 21
6:12
forth? Colonel Jeff Wood, Arkansas National Guard.
We would just like to state that we are supportive of the bill, and it gives us a little flexibility in implementing this program. be happy to
answer any questions. All right. Any questions from membership? Seeing none. All right. No questions from membership. Is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak against this bill, for this bill? Would you like to close for your bill? I am closed
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
6:40
for the bill, and as a committee member, I make a motion do pass.
We have a motion of do pass. Any debate on this bill? Seeing no debate, all in favor say aye. Aye. All no's? No no's? I didn't figure it would be. Congratulations, you've passed your bill. You're recognized to present SB
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
6:58
77. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. And I have someone here from the Department of Education to help me with this bill.
All right, you can bring them up. this bill has to do with educational renewal zones known as erzs
and if you will recall from our past work in this area the erzs identify and implement education and management strategies designed specifically to improve public school performance and student academic achievement throughout the state of Arkansas. What this particular bill will do is align ERZ practices with the mission and vision of the Division of Elementary and Secondary to serve and support schools and school districts in providing school-focused learning.
This bill will clarify the purpose of ERZs and provides a structure that avoids inefficient and costly overlap in supports and services provided to our schools and school districts. The main benefit of this bill is that school districts will no longer have to apply to receive services from ERZs. ERZ services will be offered statewide. This will allow districts to access a wider array of professional development opportunities to address student needs
instead of relying solely upon the availability of professional
development offerings within their zone. And I would ask you to offer to introduce yourself
Speaker 31
8:34
and tell us more about it. Ivy Pfeffer, Department
Speaker 33
8:40
of Education. And I think the representative did a great job in introducing what this bill does. The Education Renewal Zones have been a tremendous partner this year
with the Department of Education in terms of helping with things like a statewide strategy for student engagement helping school districts working with their local cooperatives to really identify the needs of students within in schools we feel like that this legislation updates parts of the legislation that were developed years ago and we we just feel
like this is a much better approach to avoid any type of inefficiencies and duplication of services but it still protects the partnerships between school districts higher ed institutions
Speaker 31
9:35
local cooperatives and also engages communities and we'll be happy to answer questions Repson Meeks, you recognize.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
9:46
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So my question is sort of to the, on what these opportunity zones are.
So is this a cooperative agreement between those various entities? Is
this an outside entity that's providing these services? Is the co-ops
Speaker 33
10:06
providing these services? So there currently are six education renewal zones that have been established. and those have been in place for some time they are associated with a university and then they partner with educational co-ops in the region and typically school districts have had to apply to work with the ERZs now going forward they won't have to apply to work with a particular ERZ
it may be that the ERZs are supporting districts statewide it may also be that a particular ERZ in the future might focus on a particular type of support that any district around the state could benefit from that support that they would provide. Okay, so the ERZ itself is the cooperative agreement
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
10:46
between the university and the co-ops to provide those services to the schools in that area? Yes, and also with the Department of Education. Okay, all right. Thank
Speaker 33
10:54
you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ripset of God for you. Thank
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
10:58
you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Dr. Pepper. I have a couple
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
11:04
of questions. First of all, it looks like that this bill is saying that DESE will be the ones who designate who is required to participate in an ERZ. Is that
Speaker 33
11:18
correct? So there could be situations where if a district is in need of a certain level of support, then that may become part of the district support plan or even the overall support that DESE would partner the
Speaker 44
11:35
district to work with that institution or that ERC. And it talks
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
11:39
about how those schools will be prioritized depending on funding. Can you talk a little bit about the funding mechanism and
Speaker 33
11:49
how much is available at this point? So the overall state amount, I don't know that I can say it. It's around a million dollars that is appropriated for the ERZ statewide. Each ERZ is funded through a grant with the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education. Part of the grant is related to the
types of professional development support that the ERZ will offer. And so then if, for example, let's say we have ERZs that are continuing with a student engagement strategy next year, we would look at districts that show a need for that continued really strong direct support maybe they still have high numbers of students who haven't come back and they're missing and the district needs help finding them so that would be the type of thought process that would
go in into establishing those priorities but it
Speaker 44
12:41
would start with the overall grant awards at the very beginning in terms of what the ercs will focus on
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
12:48
thank you one more mr chair um i just wanted to move on to to the
local advisory group because you hadn't mentioned that as part of the the ERZ agreement and I think it's so important that we have community stakeholder buy-in. Can you talk about the change from requiring parents to sit on that advisory board to allowing that to be a parent or a community member especially if these are struggling schools. I just think
the importance of parent engagement and buy-in is so critical. I wonder why
Speaker 33
13:18
you made that change. so i think it's just the recognition that it would be um the strongest support is going to come when parents and the community are are all engaged um this year in um the ready for learning committees for example in schools we were very intentional to make sure that school districts were considering all of the um available supports that would be needed and so while excuse me
While parent support obviously is very important in bringing the knowledge of the needs, without the community engagement and those additional wraparound services, that could be provided. So I think that the inclusion of communities there in no way diminishes the importance of parent involvement. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Chair
Unverified
14:03
Representative Beck, you're recognized. Thank you,
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
14:09
Mr. Chair. Early on you said that there's a university that's involved with this.
Is there a single university or is
Speaker 33
14:18
it multiple universities? No, there are multiple universities, Arkansas State, UA Fort Smith, UA
Speaker 31
14:24
Monticello, SAU, UA Fayetteville, and ASU at Henderson State. Thank you. Representative, I
Speaker 58
14:33
can't get it out, McKenzie. Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I
Speaker 59
14:40
noticed there's a lot of strike-through language here, but not a lot of new language added.
Representative Gayla H. McKenzie
Unverified
14:46
So a couple of things. If you could update us a little bit on why so much strike-through. And with regard to the schools, I saw some of the strike-through as far as I think there were 10 schools that were assigned, no more than 10 schools assigned to an ERC prior to this. So my question is, were they all schools participating in this before and now or was it optional they had to apply and if it's no longer optional are they all being funneled into one and so just speak to if you could a little bit more on the strike through
with the 10 requirement and what happens to each school now if they
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
15:23
weren't part of it before i'll take the first part of that we'll
tag team here uh what happened is that as part of the transformation of state government the division of elementary and secondary education became a division of the Arkansas Department of Education. So to avoid confusion, this bill will rename the Division of Education Renewal Zones to Office of
Education Renewal Zones. So that accounts for many of
Speaker 33
15:51
the strikethroughs. It's just the renaming. Yes, that is exactly right. And that helps clarify
the more operational things. With regards to before, so a lot of these were established when ESA flexibility or prior accountability systems were put in place within the state, and so at that time you had certain requirements for school improvement providers if a school was deemed as in need of school improvement we now have moved forward with the mindset that all schools
need to improve every you know every school is going to have a plan every year focusing on what the school needs to do to get better so in the past a school districts did have to work within their own zones and apply for support now support will be made available for any district that wishes to participate there may be instances where it is identified for example we have districts that have to meet have to have district support plans if they have more than 40 percent of
their students in need of support in reading so it may be that there would be a district that as we look at their data look at their information it may be necessary for them to participate with an ERZ to get that support around the science of reading and making sure all of their teachers are trained. So that's an example of what that might look like, but the broader
Speaker 31
17:24
approach would be that any district could participate with an ERZ in any type of support that's needed.
Alright, any other questions? Seeing none, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak against this bill? For this bill? I have no one signed up to speak for or against. Would you like to close for your bill? I am closed
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
17:52
for the bill and as a committee member make a motion do pass. I
have a motion do pass. Any debate on
the motion? Seeing none, all in favor say aye. All opposed, no.
Congratulations, you passed your bill. All right, before we get started on the next bill, we will hear Representative Lowry present the bill, and then we will take questions from, I'm just kind of going over the procedure for everybody that's in the other room so they can know what we're doing, and we'll take questions from the committee, then I'm going to open up to the ones that have wanted to speak for or against this bill. We have about 10 or 11. I would
ask that the committee can take as long as they want. I'd rather you not take too long because it's going to be a long bill but the community and the people that are signed up against it I ask that you will please be brief in your speeches please do not repeat yourself three or four times on the same subject it just makes for a long day and if Somebody's already brought that up. You may mention it, but let's try not to deal with the same thing over and over each time, please. Being a committee person, the committee people understand what you're trying to say.
We're not trying to limit your debate at this time. If we get real lengthy, we may have to limit debate, and I would rather not have to. So at this time, Representative Lowry, you're recognized to take the end of the table to present House Bill 1231. Do you have this was amended and engrossed right?
It's already been engrossed. Okay. So the bill is amended from original form. I'll let you tell them that.
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
20:02
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, members. The bill has been amended. The original version of the bill did have references to higher education, and that has been amended out of the bill, mainly because it had been brought to my attention that there is no such
thing as a 1619 project curriculum for higher ed, that it is something that has been distributed to something like 4500 K-12 schools. So, we've taken higher ed out. So, I'm ready to present. Okay, thank you. You're recognized. Well, members, I can really relate to something that Representative Brown said the other She made a comment about never having
Chair
Unverified
20:54
been so nervous in her life.
And I usually don't get nervous, but I'm extremely nervous about this
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
21:03
because I know a lot of you have really been drugged through the coals. I know I have over this. I think the first place to start is to tell you what the
Chair
Unverified
21:17
bill does not do. and I've never made a presentation this way but I think it's so important because there's been a lot of incorrect information
about this bill there's been spillover from another bill related to critical race theory and some of the things have spilled over to you so what does it not do? it does not ban the teaching of black history I have been very clear and very specific in saying that I believe that we would be committing educational malpractice if we did not teach black history. If we did not talk about the contributions
of African Americans in the fabric of America. We especially would be committing that malpractice if we did not teach about it here in Arkansas because we've had so many painful moments that we have to recognize happened. Little Rock Central High Crisis, 1957. We have to teach about that. We have to talk to our students about what happened with the Elaine Race riots. We have to talk about the contributions of some great African Americans. You know,
we just voted last week, Representative Allen's bill, to add teaching about the contributions of our former colleague, Representative John Walker, and his fight for civil rights here in Arkansas. Those are things that we have to include in the teaching and the telling of history. I know that there are a number of people lined up to speak against the bill. Chairman Cozart mentioned that he hopes everyone would be concise
in their statements. And I've had a number of people reach out to me that they wanted to speak for it, but I really know, you know, what all we've already been through. So I've really only asked two individuals to be here today, and they've signed up to speak for the bill. So I hope that the chairman will give them latitude to give extended comments. The other thing that this bill does not do is it does not ban teaching about 1619.
That date is one that is noted by the 1619 project as the date when first African slaves were brought to the continent of the Americas. But actually the truth is there were slaves brought to this continent almost a century before that, 1526, in the areas now commonly known as Georgia and Florida. So that's really one of the first problems that we have to have with the 1619 Project is saying that it's historically inaccurate to say that those were the first slaves brought to America.
But what's even more troubling about the 1619 Project curriculum is that the writer, and let me just tell you, this is a project that was developed, a series of narratives, essays, developed by the New York Times in celebration or acknowledgement of the 400-year anniversary of 1619 of the slaves being brought to this continent.
Only of the 20 contributors to that, only four are historians, yet this pretends to be or portrays itself to be a historical perspective. The most troubling aspects of that historical perspective, and if you'll give me a second, I want to bring my notes up here.
Speaker 78
25:26
The most troubling aspect has been saying the main thesis by
Chair
Unverified
25:36
the writer from the New York Times is that everything we, and I want to make sure I'm accurate in presenting what she wrote. The lead essay proclaimed that our democracy's founding ideals were false when they were written.
That our history as a nation rests on slavery and white supremacy, whose existence made a mockery of the Declaration of Independence's self-evident truth that all men are created equal. I think one of the most poignant things that I've come across in doing my research and preparing for this was researching what it meant when Benjamin Franklin first said it and when it was written into the preamble of the Constitution
that we are forming a more perfect union. It never really occurred to me. Why didn't they just say, I mean, surely they were proud of what they were writing. Why didn't they just say a perfect union? But they used the phrase more perfect union. And historians have said that the reason that they wrote that is because they recognized that it was going to take a long time. It was going to take a lot of toil. It was going to take a lot of failures. It was going to take mistakes, but it was going to take also triumphs
that were going to get us to this point of being that perfect union that we want. Today is part of that. the pain the pain that I know a lot of us are going through of receiving hundreds of emails having motives being called a racist, called a bigot just because I want us to have a complete conversation
about what is historical truth that's part of forming this more perfect union yes it's important for us to have differing voices but where that's painful and where that is eroding and devastating is when we say that as the writer does of the 1619 project that July 4th 1776 is not the birth date of America that that was a lie
and they knew it was a lie when they wrote it. If you've wondered why in the last 24 months, 24 to 36 months or so, that we have heard more and more clamor for removing the names of Washington and Jefferson and Lincoln from monuments, from buildings. The San Francisco School District just voted to change the name of something like over 40 schools.
And among those names are Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln. Lincoln, you talk about giving that last drop of blood. Lincoln died because he believed in justice for all. He died for that, and yet the 1619 Project proclaims him, as one writer says, basically deems Lincoln as a white supremacist.
He banked his entire presidency on the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation and then gave that last breath to support that. And yet Lincoln's name has been thrown on the trash heap of history according to those who would pretend to say that the 1619 Project is accurate, it is appropriate history to be taught in our schools. We also were told that by the writer that the only reason that the United States saw it or the main reason that the United States saw it to separate itself from England is that it wanted to continue to promote slavery.
The truth is, America, the state of Vermont, was the first state, the first governmental entity of any type to actually pass laws abolishing slavery. And it wasn't until the 1800s, the early 1800s, that Britain even came around to abolishing slavery. It had already taken place many places on the colony, on the continent of America.
Quakers early on passed a resolution wanting to abolish slavery. That was in 1688. In 1777, Vermont was the first sovereign state to abolish slavery. In the 1780s was the beginning of the Underground Railroad, and among the people that were most involved in that, yes, we've heard of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, but alongside them, alongside them was also Harriet Beecher Stowe, Secretary of State William Seward.
They helped 40,000 to 100,000, the estimates really vary, enslaved peoples to be able to be free. see this more perfect union that we talk about doesn't just happen because of white people or because of black people it happened because along the way they worked together and I know that this seems like a very strange vehicle to use to try and make that point
but that is exactly the point that I'm making and maybe maybe I come from We all have different perspectives that we have, and that's one of the arguments that is made for the 1619 Project is it's a different perspective. Well, that's fine. But in presenting different perspectives, we don't just say that the other perspectives are wrong. We don't just wipe out history. I've been accused of wanting to whitewash history,
but the whitewashing takes place when you say that this history, that we've always acknowledged is true, July 4th, 1776, that Jefferson first wanted to, he wanted to include in the Declaration of Independence an abolition of slavery. But John Hancock persuaded him, we need to have a unanimous vote. And the only way that we're gonna have a unanimous vote is if we still, we do not reference slavery.
so this is an awful stain on our history no doubt about that and it should be discussed in our classrooms but the 1619 project is not the vehicle for that one writer says that the 1619 project is a thesis in search of evidence several historians have talked about how it's the inaccuracy of the history. The presentation of this is history. While there are some wonderful narratives that
are written, if you haven't read it, it's 100 pages. It's some great writing. But it's not historical truth. And it's certainly not the kind of weighty historical truth that supports saying that everything that we have come to know as the founding of America and the founding fathers, that that is false, that it's a lie, and that those who wrote it at that time, they knew it was a lie. So this is the reason that I brought this legislation,
for us to recognize that, yes, there is a place for different perspectives, but this is not the perspective that we need in our classrooms. The 1619 Project is definitely a thesis in search of evidence. No matter how flowery the language is and no matter how pure the heart motive is, even of the writers, of wanting to make sure that we don't ignore the contributions of African Americans in the forming of this nation, of this more perfect union.
We cannot do that by totally throwing away everything that we've come to know as the foundation of America. If we do, then it makes the exercise that we do every afternoon when we gavel into the House chamber of pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, it makes it something shallow, hollow.
We can take a stand here. education committees have this is not a new thing for us to sound in on curriculum we've done it on computer coding we did it on personal finance we did it when we separated the robert e lee and martin luther king days one of the reasons why it was sent to the education committee is that provisions were put in to say that we will have teaching sections on the
contributions of Martin Luther King and of Robert E. Lee, so we did dictate curriculum. We dictated curriculum when we said, I think it was Representative Hendren's bill about cursive writing, and we also did it last week when we added the name of John Walker as someone who should be talked about in the teaching of black history and the contributions of black Arkansans.
This is not a new thing for us to impact, to get involved in curriculum. And I think of all the times that we have involved ourselves in curriculum, this is one that is critically important. Because we need to make sure that we are not throwing, we are not whitewashing history, that we are not throwing aside everything that we have come to know to hold dear. Maybe I'm overly sensitive to this. My dad was in the Air Force for 26 years, and I remember growing up on an air base in Puerto Rico during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
I remember him telling me about having been shot down behind enemy lines in Korea and then realizing later in life when he passed away because of exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. You see, those things are important. And equally important is that alongside him, whether it was Korea, whether it was his time in Vietnam,
whether it was his 26 years on flight lines all over the country, he worked alongside black Americans, African Americans. because they, too, also believed in this more perfect union. And all the gains that we've had through history, whether it was the Underground Railroad or whether it was the March for Voting Rights and Civil Rights, alongside of the icons of African American civil rights history,
were whites, were Hispanics, were people of all colors. I mean, that's the beauty of America. We're a great melting pot. Are we perfect? Absolutely not. That more perfect union will probably never be a perfect union because we're always going to be working and moving forward. And I hope that this conversation, the fact that we can hopefully civilly talk about this, will be another part of that process.
Speaker 86
38:23
And so, Mr. Chairman, I'm open for questions. Representative Murdoch, you're first off. Thank
Speaker 87
38:31
you, Chairman. Representative Lowry, you and I have talked offline about this, what you've brought before us today, and it was my hope that those conversations that you've had with me and others would have yielded something a little different this morning. To try to be brief and to the point, what you're doing is censoring, and you're taking away the ability of those that have been trained
to stand before our students, stand before America, and teach and provide trained guidance in curriculum development and leadership. What you're saying, what you're trying to do is dictate this bill, excuse me, as you articulate, would dictate exactly what could be taught. The very thing that you're doing at the end of the table right now is the problem that we see. You're sitting at the end of the table. You have an opinion that you're sharing with us on a thesis, and you're teaching.
You're trying to teach, though your facts and accuracy are in question, and I won't spend time questioning that. But the point is that you're taking away that ability from those that have been trained to do it. Simply that. We can discuss, debate, listen, and make our own conclusions from a thesis or a theory. So it's not even about 1619 gives you a vehicle, but you're killing the process, the process of education and those that have been trained to do such.
That is not the role. Now, Mark Lowry, a representative Lowry, can have his opinion. And that's not even what I want to get into is your opinion, because it's based upon your life, your history and where you are. But we cannot come here and then put a punitive damage, a financial cause, if you will, that will penalize school districts and others from utilizing this.
That is not the purpose of why we're here. So, again, understand what the pushback is. We
Speaker 88
40:47
can debate 1619. We can debate a lot of things that you're talking about. I
know you're trying to get to a question, but you're
Speaker 90
40:56
really stating a statement. Right, I really didn't have a question. You've taken John Walker's place. But anyway, I'll conclude because I
Speaker 87
41:07
said I would be brief. But it's the process of education that you're impeding upon,
not necessarily your subject matter because it has a whole lot of issues. But we can't agree to this because it's the process, and we have those that have been trained to do this. So my question is – well, I don't have a question.
Speaker 90
41:31
I don't have a question. I really don't have a question of you. I really don't have a question. It would be about the 1619 Project. But that's why this should not go forward. So as a statement, Chair, thank you for that.
Chair
Unverified
41:44
Representative Goffrey, you're recognized. Thank you for not asking me if I agree. Thank you,
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
41:51
Mr. Chair. And I do have a question as a follow-up to Representative Murdoch. Representative Valerie, I'm curious
how familiar you are with the current Arkansas academic standards for social studies. I understand your objection to the 1619 project in particular and its
premise that it's founded upon. but I'm just wondering how familiar you are with the social studies standards both by particular
grade level and content area and in general the kind of the founding principles of social studies instruction. I did a little bit of a deep dive last night. I used to teach fifth grade and so I know that in fifth grade students are working on you know comparing the social economic political geographic development of the colonies from multiple perspectives and a variety of sources. Eighth grade students are analyzing the development of regional tensions prior to the Civil War using a variety of primary and secondary sources. In U.S. government, students are looking at the influence of social, economic, political factors
and the formation of American government. African American history calls out 1619 specifically as the starting date of the colonial period. and students are analyzing migration patterns both voluntary and involuntary from Africa to the Americas and then just in general all K-12 students of social studies are doing things like developing questions that consider multiple points of view using evidence from multiple sources including primary sources and are constructing critiquing and communicating arguments and I think
that's why we've heard such pushback from educators but particularly social studies educators that is their work. That is their craft. These are the standards that are already laid out in the Arkansas curriculum frameworks. So I'm just wondering, are you opposed in particular and solely to the 1619 project or to all
Chair
Unverified
43:43
of social studies, curriculum, and instruction in general? Well, thank you for the question. Specifically to the 1619 project, not to talking about 1619, to even talking about
how 1619 is really an inaccurate date of saying that that was when the first African slaves were brought to this continent. It actually occurred in 1526. So the 1619 project at that point is inaccurate in that portrayal. But no, I'm not opposed at all. I think it's a very needy part for us to talk about that
Speaker 98
44:18
history, to talk about the total history, the total accurate history.
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
44:24
Follow-up. And so you would
then be opposed to using some of those primary sources, those photographs, those poems, those essays listed and included in the 1619 project as part of the work of analyzing and constructing arguments and utilizing sources from multiple
Chair
Unverified
44:47
perspectives? I am opposed to the use of the 1619 curriculum. 1619 Project Curriculum.
Representative McKenzie, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr.
Representative Gayla H. McKenzie
Unverified
45:02
Chair. And I believe we'll be given an opportunity for statements toward the end, so I've got a question here. We will have debate at the end. Thank you. Representative Lowry, I've done some reading on this and have some thoughts, and I look forward to hearing the discussion from folks. With regard to the remedy, I'm sorry, I cannot see you, so we'll just, with regard to the
remedy, I have concerns about that, even if we can come to a meeting of the minds, and we may or may not, but as we enter the discussion about the curriculum teaching itself, the remedy of removing public funding, how that would be accomplished, that's concerning to me, even if we were to get to a meeting of the minds or agreement on the other issue. So can you speak to how that would be addressed and accomplished? Because it does seem like it would invite litigation.
Chair
Unverified
46:00
Well, the remedy really is just an enforcement mechanism. And it is, I would say that it probably would be very difficult to enforce because the school, if it is found to be teaching, say, whatever school, it's teaching the 1619 Project, there would be a rake back of any funds, any public funds that were used to teach that curriculum. Well, part of my understanding of what the New York Times has done with the 1619 Project is that they've actually provided, a for-profit corporation is providing this curriculum to schools.
I don't know of any other example where we have allowed for-profit entities to actually infuse into our educational system their narratives. so the cost would probably be minimal for a school district if they did choose the 1619 Project curriculum to use it. But I think that the statement that we are making is an important one, that we feel like that this is not a factual narrative.
It is not one that should be taught as history. It could be taught as literature. It's good literature. It really is. It reads extremely well, but it's not accurate history. You're recognized. Thank
Representative Gayla H. McKenzie
Unverified
47:36
you. And one question I have as we go through this discussion, I didn't reach out to you in advance, because sometimes I think these questions need to be aired in public. It's good for the constituents and people.
And sometimes we have so many discussions behind the scenes, the people are left out in our thought process. So what I'm wondering is, because I tried to read as much as I could on 1619 and read the actual essays, and it was some homework. My question for you is, because as you acknowledge, it would be difficult and maybe problematic with the remedy side of this. And I certainly have some strong reservations, which we can go into later on with this 1619 project.
What do we think about if we were to require informed parental consent before this were taught to students? Because I know as a parent perspective and constituents that I've spoken with, I think there is some common ground here. I know that I have a lot of concerns from people on this project, from what I'm talking to. So what are
Chair
Unverified
48:47
your thoughts on that? Well, that is an approach that I have been looking at, especially in light of the other bill that I think has generated most of the heat, 12-18.
I'm really considering pulling that bill down and actually trying to do something along the lines of a Student Protection Act, some type of an opt-in that parents would be able to actually, they would have the right to be able to review curriculum and then at that point would be able to make a decision of whether they wanted their student to participate. So that is one approach. I think the main issue here, and this kind of gets back, I think,
to what Representative Murdoch was raising, just as you have, I have heard from parents. i've heard from teachers and there's actually one that will be appearing today to testify in favor of this bill many of them don't that they don't feel like they have a voice they don't feel like that they have the opportunity to be able to push back on something that they come they believe
totally undermines the the factual accuracy of the history that we do teach and that's really the motivation for this legislation. It probably is problematic in terms of the enforcement mechanism but I don't think it is unimportant as far as raising this issue so that parents are aware. See, a lot of times you're right. A lot of the conversations we do up here, we do offline.
We talk amongst each other, and that's good. Sometimes that contributes to a bill being pulled down. I thought this issue was too important to pull the bill down because parents need to know. They need to be able to exercise that option. And so it is something that I have considered as another way to try and approach this.
Speaker 105
51:04
Representative Deffenbaugh. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Okay, Representative
Representative Gary Deffenbaugh
Unverified
51:11
Lowry, excuse me. I'm going to put Reggie's statement to questions, all right? Number one, do you not think schools are competent enough to prepare their own curriculum? I mean, you know, that this, well, go ahead. Did
Chair
Unverified
51:37
Okay. You know, I don't know that that has ever been a question when we have adopted, when we the legislature have actually sent directives to school districts to adopt different types of curriculum. I don't know that we've ever challenged competency. This is just an issue of giving voice to those who feel like they don't have a voice in pushing back against this particular curriculum.
So it's not an issue of challenging competence. When I was
Representative Gary Deffenbaugh
Unverified
52:10
a teacher, that's what I got out of it, though. When we were getting bills from this legislature, that's the way it looked like. Anyway, one more question. So why should we take your word? You made a good presentation. Why should we take your word of what's history and what's not history, your thesis, your study? Why should we take your word over what has been studied through the years?
Speaker 78
52:44
You shouldn't take my word. Because I know that one of the
Chair
Unverified
52:49
reasons why the New York Times felt like they needed to put this out is because they feel like they're, and this was a conversation that Representative Murdoch and I had. I also had a conversation with Representative Emmett, several others, a couple of members, a member of the Little Rock School Board, a member of the North Little Rock School Board.
And they've said, you know, do you understand that our story has not been told? Our story many times, even if it's been told, it's been muted. And I understand that. And that's why I wanted to, at the outset, point out that there's nothing in this bill that says we can't and shouldn't teach black history. We should. And we ought to do it more than just Black History Month. because there has been so many decades where that story has not been told.
But this is not the proper vehicle to do it. You know, I coached debate at the university level and even worked with high school students, and I understand the importance of having differing perspectives and trying to come to, I mean, it's a competitive situation, academic debate. Classrooms are not necessarily that way. I mean, we hoped that they would be. But all I remember, even at the university level,
is if we were talking about a controversial topic and one or several students, most of them would just sit silent. Several of them would push back. The first thing I would do after class was go to the student and ask them to join the debate team because I knew that they were a rare breed. But most of our students don't have that voice, don't have that confidence that their opinion is going to be heard, that their pushback is going to be heard. And that's also the case with many teachers,
that they don't feel that they will be heard or have been heard when they have spoken up and said this is inappropriate to be presented as factual history. Thank you. Thank you. Representative Deffbaugh brings
up a good illustration. I think when he was saying that, I thought about a lot of us go to church every Sunday, and we hear the preacher preach every Sunday. But if you don't pick your Bible up and check and make sure he's quoting those scriptures right
and preaching it right, you have no idea. It could lead you astray, as any teacher could or anything that any curriculum we have could lead you astray if you don't check it out and make sure it's correct. So when you go to church, make sure your preacher's
Speaker 70
55:42
preaching the right word. King James Version, I guess. I just had to throw
Chair
Unverified
55:53
my two cents in. King James Version, okay. Thank
Representative Karilyn Brown
Unverified
55:58
you, Mr. Chair. Some of the e-mails that I have received have stated the fact that the writer of the e-mail is an educator and a teacher of history.
I know myself that I did not get a complete history when I was being taught. I went to school. One of my best friends in junior high was the daughter of a Tuskegee Airman. her father was my father's commanding officer in the Air Force
and we saw each other just briefly in the halls at our school in Illinois and then when we saw each other again on Okinawa it was like oh glory hallelujah I see somebody I recognize and we became best of friends we did a lot together I didn't know about the Tuskegee Airmen at that time, and it wasn't until later, I have a question in this, it wasn't until the Tuskegee Airmen, there was quite a bit of publicity, I think, in the late 90s, maybe early 2000s, about the Tuskegee Airmen Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.
And I thought about that, and I thought, I just bet you Colonel Roberts was a Tuskegee Airman because he was of that era. So I called the convention center, and I was put in touch with his widow, and I was able to recontact with my friend. But what I'm saying or the point I'm trying to make is that even though these educators may have been taught how to teach history,
they themselves may not have been taught complete history. So, when we encounter, I think it's incumbent on the citizens that when we, wouldn't you agree, that when we as citizens encounter false history, Just as Woodrow Wilson created false history by eliminating the black leaders and accomplishments from our history books in his era in the early 1900s, which most of us have been affected by.
I think that in creating this more perfect union that we refer to is to stop the teaching of false history. And if our teachers themselves have been victims of false history, I think it is incumbent, wouldn't you agree, it is incumbent on us as legislators to step in? Yes. I mean, that's the purpose of this legislation.
Yes, it is. Thank you. I would like to caution the members. Please keep the statements down and try to keep into questions. It makes for a long day, but this is not the way we work on education. We need to have a question and to do so. Thank you. Representative Feige, question, please.
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
59:41
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Lowry, do you know how many Arkansas schools are using the 1619 Project
curriculum, and a second part of that question,
what has been the response in those areas? I'm
sorry, I didn't catch the last part. I was asking what has been the
Speaker 85
1:00:05
response in those areas in which it has been taught. I do not know how
Chair
Unverified
1:00:10
many schools are teaching it. All I know is that there has been considerable pushback, enough pushback to abolishing it that you almost have to conclude that it is being taught.
The only evidence I've seen that actually talks about it in the public schools is from the New York Times that points out that the 1619 Project is in 4,500 schools throughout the United States. I don't know how many of those are in Arkansas. Rep. Johnson, you have a question? I thought there would be a queue.
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
1:00:52
I guess I better be ready. Yes, specific question, Representative Lowry. So you mentioned that you would not be opposed to teaching it as literature. I have a question about your bill specifically. As I read the bill, it doesn't make those kind of clarifications. Would your bill, as it stands, allow for that type of teaching in context, or would it reduce funding for teaching
Chair
Unverified
1:01:15
the 1619 curriculum in any fashion? Well, I think your point is well taken, that it doesn't make that. And I've actually thought about amending the text
where it actually refers to banning it as teaching history, okay? But as you know, I mean, this has been kind of dragging on. We waited for fiscal impact for a while, And I know the longer that this was drug out, the more e-mails you were getting, the more, yeah. So I didn't want to delay the process anymore, but I think that that point is well taken. Are there any other questions from the committee?
Representative Modics, you recognize me. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Lowry, very briefly, you've
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
1:02:04
kind of addressed it, But one of the concerns I do have is how would this be implemented practically? Would there be a complaint made and the Department of Education would do an investigation and almost be like some sort of a trial to determine if it was being taught? I don't understand really how it would be implemented, and if you could touch on that, I'd appreciate it. I know there will be some rulemaking authority, but if you could help me with how you foresee that, I'd appreciate that.
Chair
Unverified
1:02:32
Well, and I think you answered your own question, is that the Department of Education on the last page, the division, shall file the proposed rules with the Legislative Council. So there would be rules that would flesh out the implementation of this, whether it would, and sometimes in rules you can even go so far as to produce a form that parents could use or someone could use to object to the curriculum.
You know, as you can imagine, our legislation would go in, you
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
1:03:08
know, hundreds and hundreds of pages if we were to detail every last bit of the nuances of it. But that's really, simply, that's the answer to your question,
Chair
Unverified
1:03:17
is the department would promulgate rules. Representative Godfrey, you're recognized for a short question. Thank you.
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
1:03:25
It is short. but I'm just wondering
if the department has an opinion on this bill or an official stance or statement.
I'm sure they do. Actually, if you'll wait, we have them signed up on this list, so I'm not going to bring them up until we do that. So we have three pages of his committee through asking questions. We have about three pages of for and against. Here, they're not full pages, but I have a lot. So if you're ready, we're
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:03:57
going to start calling them up. Representative Lowry, do you want to move at this time or do you want to stay on the other table with them?
You can just move to the side if you want to. That would be fine. Just give them room. Okay, as I call you up, please just yourself come in to testify. If you have someone with you, please only bring one person in the room with you, and they will have to stand or find another seat. So at this time, Jack Clay from High School Students Education. You're against the bill. Is Jack Clay here? Okay. And if I get your
name wrong, please forgive me because I am not a great person at that.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:04:44
Jack, if you will take the end of the table, state your name and who you're with, and you're welcome to take your mask off if you want to. We can sometimes hear you. If you don't want to take it off, that's fine. But state your name and who you're with,
please. Make sure that microphone is green. Hi, thank you.
Jack Clay
Unverified
1:05:02
My name is Jack Clay. I'm not really with anyone, but I am bringing my experience as a high school student here. All right. You are recognized
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:05:09
to state what you would like to state. Thank you, sir. Pull up my notes.
Jack Clay
Unverified
1:05:18
So hello, members of the legislature. Thank you for your time today. Thank you for everyone who has come to witness this very important hearing. It's very critical to the role of education in our students' lives. I am a high school student. I am a high school senior. I just recently turned 18. And both of my parents are teachers. My mom is a speech pathologist. She works with kids in elementary and up to around middle school age. And then my dad is a high school teacher. He teaches drama. And they all work in the Bryant School District. And I am a student in the Bryant School District.
school district. I have been for four years. It's a very wonderful school district. And while I've been in that school district, and really just in school in general, I have absolutely been captivated by the role of social studies in our education system. See, in social studies, it's not just, here's what happened, congratulations, you're a historian. It's, here's what one person said happened, who was there. Now here is a person who gathered all the facts after the fact and put it
in a nice little neat document. Now analyze them and tell me which one is more correct, which one is less correct, what the strengths and weaknesses of each one are. And that is the purpose of social studies as I've come to know it. Ever since my seventh grade history class, U.S. History with Miss Lewis, actually in Sheridan School District, I see Representative Bragg over there. I believe that his wife may have been one of the teachers for my second grade class, somewhere around there.
Anyways, sorry. But anyways, so my experience with social studies has always been that if we reduce it to just learning a story and leaving class, it never leaves any kind of impact. You know, the purpose of social studies is to cultivate leaders. The purpose of history is to tell people what has happened and how to analyze stuff critically. Now, I will say that in this particular case, I have some problems with the legislation.
That's why I'm against. It says that when it is talking about the punishment, the remedy, it is, in my opinion, very vague. It does not list exactly what may be taken away from school. I have read through it, and that is one problem that I personally have with it. Also, if we are wondering, you know, the major non-fact that we've heard here mentioned is that apparently slavery began in 1526 instead of 1619.
I mean, if we're going to get really into the weeds, 1619 is when the colonies which would become the government of the United States of America first had slaves. It's not the first slaves to be on the American continent. That's why it's called 1619. It was also released on the 400-year anniversary of that, which is why it's called 1619. And that really brings me to my priorities, because we can sit here and we can run through the 1619 project and point out everything that we think could be said better, we think could be
changed we think might need to be clarified, but that's not what we should be doing. That's not a good use of our time. Our priorities should be teaching about black history in a more complete sense. We should be equipping students with the tools to analyze and honestly examine this shared history we have inherited. I mean, I've heard the phrase, it's a thesis, it's in search of evidence but really this legislation is a solution in search of a problem in my opinion
so all I'll say is that this great nation we've come to inherit is ours if we take it and if we continue to try and prevent our history from being told because it is our history if we continue to say this is what happened and there is no other alternative perspective in the history of the entire nation, we'll come to really limit ourselves in what we can accomplish. The next generation of Arkansas's political minds are being cultivated right now, and without a full
education, I fear that there will be a lot of opportunities that are snuffed out for them. Thank you. Are
there any questions committee for him? Seeing none, thank you, sir.
Thank you. At this time I would like to bring in Kylie Crosno and that would be a four
and I probably said your name wrong but I'll let
Yes, you might take that off. And please state your name and who you're with
Kylie Cross
Unverified
1:10:28
for the record, please. My name is Kylie Cross now, and
I'm a high school social studies teacher. All right, and
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:10:35
you are recognized to speak for the bill. Yes. All right, I'm not a public speaker, so please bear with me. I made some notes. To begin with, excuse me, the 1619 Project,
I read through the whole thing line by line, and all of these were discrepancies that I found. I'm not a history expert in everything. I've been teaching social studies for 13 years and this just for me looking at it is things that aren't exactly accurate. The 1619 Project, from my perspective, it wants to teach it just from one perspective and you can't do that in history. Students don't get an accurate viewpoint and our current curriculum and standards
already allow for multiple viewpoints to take place. For example, in my classes, when we cover Christopher Columbus, we cover how it was great for colonization and settlement of the New World, but at the same time, Native Americans were killed and slaughtered because of it. Declaration of Independence, in our civics classes and American history classes, when Jefferson wrote, all men are created equal, I already teach that that meant wealthy white landowners. It didn't apply to women, African-Americans, anyone else. We already include
African-Americans into our study. African-American history is covered numerous ways in accurate points of view. During the Civil War, I covered in Arkansas history and American history. Robert Smalls, I don't know if anybody knows about him, he was a slave. He stole, or not really stole, hijacked a confederate warship and learned the codes and his family was hidden on it and he was able to get by all the confederates on the coast because he knew the codes and was able to get to
freedom for his family and the other people on there and ended up turning the ship over to the union army to be used um when we talk about the transcontinental railroad and the expansion west it did for settlers. We mentioned that it was built with hard labor by Chinese immigrants who were not treated nicely, and when the railroad was done, they were forced out. Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court case in 1896 that gave us the term separate but equal, we go through that,
and we do a whole lesson on how it was anything but equal. We look at pictures, um things like that documents from both sides um there's already standards in place in our social studies standards to include lessons on the whores of slavery jim crow era civil rights movement etc so from the social studies teacher perspective we're already teaching multiple viewpoints um like i mentioned with this there's some things in here that's just flat out incorrect
I'd just like to give a couple of examples on that. On page 54 of the 1619 Project, it states that in 2012 in North Carolina, Republicans won legislative and executive power for the first time in more than a century. They used it to gerrymander the electoral map and impose new restrictions on voting, specifically aimed at the state's African-American voters. Redistricting is held every 10 years after the census. So by the time that these people would have taken office in 2013, the lines would have already been drawn.
So it wouldn't have been that new
Speaker 135
1:13:57
legislature that did it. The 1619 Project argues that the colonists didn't fight the
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:14:02
Revolutionary War to gain independence, but to end slavery. Britain did not ban the slave trade until 1807, 31 years after. And slavery itself did not end in Britain until 1833. The 1619 Project uses a lot of facts and statistics, which are, if you just read it the way they wrote it, they are very factual.
But if you look at the whole story, they're proven wrong. For example, Crispus Atkus, the 1619 Project, teaches that he was the first person killed during the Revolutionary War
Speaker 137
1:14:32
because he was a slave. I'm going to slow you down a little bit. We can't go through the complete history
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:14:39
of this. There's no way we have enough time.
If you want to make your point, I would really appreciate it. You're about five minutes into your presentation. That's going to take another hour and a half if we do it that way. Thank you. Okay. I
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:14:53
guess the whole thing, I wrote this as notes,
is just to talk about the inaccuracies. It's already, it's just not factual. Once you teach the whole story and learn all the perspectives of it, it's just not true. I
Speaker 135
1:15:10
had a few examples, but if I can stop on
them. If you would take questions, I have someone to ask questions. Okay. Representative Beck,
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:15:20
you're recognized. Thank you for your presentation. What captured me was you were talking about how the balance,
and teaching the balance and all that. There's been a lot of questions that I've heard earlier here today concerned about that if you remove the 1619 project, that you would be at least indicating that you would be removing that balance, the ability of the teachers to give that balance. I would like two questions. Number one is, what is the mechanism that you use currently, independent of the 1619 Project, to ensure that you're doing a balanced thing?
And what effects do you think eliminating the 1619 Project would have on your ability to do that balanced history? I think by eliminating
it, we already look at both sides. Primary sources, I use a lot of diary entries from both sides because it's something that the students can relate to. Just like I said before, just give them the whole story, tell them everybody's story that was there. The 1619 Project, if you just use it,
just the facts they give and don't do the whole story, then you're just getting one side. But once you do everybody's perspective from that story, then their facts are inaccurate and it's not true. Is that all
you have, Representative Beck? Any other questions from the committee? Representative Love, you have one. Thank
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:16:54
you, Mr. Chair. I didn't catch your name, ma'am, but I wanted to ask,
so are there any inaccuracies in the materials that you currently use? Not that I have realized and looked at. I
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
1:17:09
mean, I like to go through. I've always loved history, so I've always looked at all sides, and nothing that I currently use personally have I found inaccurate. All right. What do you got?
Speaker 152
1:17:25
Got another one? Hurry up. Yeah. Go ahead. No, I'm fine.
Okay. Any other questions, committee? Sorry, I know this is going to be a long morning, so I'm just trying to move it on as fast as I can. Sina, we have no more questions. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you. And to the committee, not
yet. At some point, if you want to limit debate, I will take that motion, but I'm going to go until you, the committee, decide that you want to limit debate. We do have about 12 more.
So at this time, I'm going to bring in Julie McDonald, Mrs. Julie McDonald, if you're there. Greenbauer, I believe, or a parent. Oh, that was students from Greenbauer. I'm not sure. It just says parents. We'll be against,
Speaker 156
1:18:27
speak against the bill. Julie, are you here?
Does anybody know in the other room
if she is here? Not seeing Julie coming forward. We will
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:18:52
slip down to Camara Seals. Let me say that wrong. Okay. Ms. Seals, if you're here. Ms. Seals, if you'll take the end of the table
and you will state your name and who you're with, you're recognized
Kamara Seals
Unverified
1:19:28
to speak against the bill. Thank you, Your Honor. My name is Kamara Seals, and I'm wearing two hats today. I am the policy director at the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, and I'm also wearing my NAACP hat. I'm a life member. I have worked on staff with the national NAACP, and I am an active member
of the Pine Bluff branch in AACP. I'm here today to speak in opposition to this bill. I listened to Representative Lowry as he presented and from the moment I read the bill I was very concerned and I ditched the prepared statement that I I had written out so eloquently and decided I just need to say from my heart how I feel
and how my people feel, okay? We are in a time where we keep hearing, you know, in this bill, in this session, we have seen some really mean-spirited bills, okay? I feel personally that this is one of those mean-spirited bills. Now, let me say this. We know that slavery is a part of the DNA of America.
I'm going to say it again. Slavery is a part of the DNA of America. Black history is American history. And when I look at this bill, and I've read it line for line, I've taken notes, I've analyzed the best I could, and one of the most concerning lines for me is line 12, section 5, line 12.
I'm just going to read this real quickly. It says the 1619 Project is a racially divisive and revisionist account of history that threatens the integrity of the Union by denying the true principles on which it was founded. Now, if we want to talk about the true principles on which America was founded, you got to talk about slavery. There is no way you can talk about the true principles. When the
Constitution was written, I was considered three-fifths of a person. And like Barbara Jordan, the late great Barbara Jordan who was a lawmaker out of Texas said, thank God that through the process of amendment and interpretation we are now included as we the people. So in looking at history, we got to remember that history has not been taught from a full perspective
of the contributions that slavery made to this great nation. We got to consider that, y'all. I come from a small rural community in southeast Arkansas. I grew up in Hamburg, loved Hamburg. Throughout the whole school, my K through 12, I had three black teachers. So that just gives you a little bit about the history. My mother was an educator.
We learned about history in school. When we got home from school, my mama would say, now I'm going to give you the rest of the story. Because in public schools, we only got the part that those who wrote it wanted us to know. Okay? So I come up in a household where my sister and I, we were able to get the rest of the story.
We got to learn about the contributions that slaves made to this country. We are a great nation. We are awesome, okay? I served my country honorably for eight years in the United States Air Force Reserve. I went in as optimistic as any 18-year-old. I came out almost distraught because of the racism I dealt with as an 18-year-old in the
United States Air Force Reserves, okay? So when we're looking at this bill, let's don't just say, you know, I heard the teacher that just spoke before me, I believe, talk about the inaccuracies. There may be some inaccuracies. I've read parts of it. I've not read it all in detail like she have, but I have read parts of the 1619 Project curriculum. I think it's great.
There may be, Representative Lowry, some inaccuracies in there. Now, we definitely cannot fight about the dates of slavery, whether it was 1526, 1619, or 1776. It existed. And again, we are a great nation built up on the backs of free labor called slavery. So we need to, this needs to be taught. And the way I see it, my interpretation is that our history is not being taught in public schools.
It's being mentioned in public schools. There is a difference in being taught and being mentioned. So I'm closing, but I'm adamantly against this bill. I'm even offended by the very title of the bill. The very title says, the very title, bear with me. The very title is about, oh, creating the Saving American History Act of 2021.
Why do you got to save American history by keeping slavery out of the equation? Why do we have to save American history? We're not destroying American history by teaching about the contributions of slavery. Y'all, we are a part of this country. Slavery was a dark part. It was a dark part of our history.
But let's own it. Does that make sense? Let's own it, okay? And I know my time is, I know I got to wrap up, but I'm very passionate about this. You know, I'm a social justice advocate. I've been doing this all of my life. I've been in public service. So this is something that is very near and dear to my heart. And I really think we need to teach this in the public schools. You know, the penalty, why would you penalize a district or a school 10% funding?
That's a hardship. That's just, you know, unconscionable. So I'm going to stop there for the sake of time. Are there any questions? Thank you for listening, and I will entertain any questions at this time. Seeing no questions, thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Thank you for hearing
me at this time. At this time, we have another one for the bill, Iverson-Jackson.
If you would make your way this way, sir.
Iverson Jackson will be speaking for the bill. If you'll take
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:28:08
the end of the table, sir, state your name and who you're with. You are recognized to speak for the bill. My name
Iverson Jackson
Unverified
1:28:20
is Iverson Jackson, and I wrote down on the paper that I was with myself i'm sure you're with some other people but you're just i'm sure i'm sure of that thank you for
this opportunity to speak and that you know as you sit and listen to everything that everybody has to say the
Speaker 169
1:28:41
concern uh that i have and why i support uh this bill it's uh you know we we do have our history american history and history is full of the good the bad and the ugly. And I have seen in my life, my lifetime, I have seen us deal with that consistently, deal with that. We own up to the ugly. We do what we can about the bad,
but we continually promote the good. And you cannot do anything if you're not first operating in truth. Everybody has different opinions and so forth about that, but there are some things that are just not debatable, some facts in history that are not debatable. When you say that 1619 was the birth of the country and so forth, you're not just changing American history. You're changing world history because other nations have always been involved, and the things that happen in America also affect the rest of the world.
And so it's this document, and I too have read the whole document, and I've looked through it, and you could tab through it and just have inaccuracy after inaccuracy after inaccuracy. And no matter how badly I want something to be, if it's not accurate, then it's not going to be good. Well, my children that are all grown now were in school, and when they were doing their history lessons, and this was at a private school. It was at a school that primarily African-American children were there, and they would come home and tell me what they learned in black history.
Well, I would go back up to the school to talk to the teachers and say, I want you to tell them all about it, not just because, you know, I don't want to history, if we're teaching history, history is not to make one person or one group of people look bad, one person, one group of people look good. It is to tell what happened. It is to tell what happened. So if you don't tell the truth and you don't tell all of history, and I agree with some of the things that have been said here, if you tell all of history, then you're not going to get an accurate picture.
History is not just about what you put in history, but also about what you omit from history. And when I read through the 1619 Project, then I saw a lot of things that were omitted, and now my opinion, for the purpose of slanting it to a certain degree. What I saw in there would also cause more polarization in our country. And again, you could go down through and list one after another after another.
Now, I spent 25 years serving in the United States, so I'm reserved. I don't care what you do in life. You're going to see and you're going to have challenges. You're going to have people that will be for you, people that will be against you, people that look like you, people that don't look like you. That's part of the human nature. As the scripture says, the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And so slavery is not just an American issue. It is an issue of the heart. The Indians enslave one another.
Africans enslave one another. Europeans enslave one another. It's not something that's unique to the United States of America. What we have to have is we're going to teach things in our classroom. I don't think any of us in here would be satisfied if our children came home, yes, good children, and the teacher taught them that one plus one is three just because they wanted it to be three. No, you wouldn't insist that the teacher would teach your child that properly or if they were spelling and the teacher just allowed them to spell a word
the way they felt it should be spelled, then you would not allow for that either. And so we can't, just because we want something to be a certain way, we can't just say let's just let it go because, you know, it represents something that we like. No, it has to be accurate. It has to be true or to do more harm than it does good. And as I read through that project and I thought, you know, if students read this and they have this in the curriculum,
I don't know whether it would be safe for a certain political group to walk the street. And that's because of what's in it and what's not in it. And so it's a polarizing document. I don't see it as history. It came across to me more as propaganda. And so we have to really look at that. And if you have not read that, I would ask that you would take the time. It's 100 pages. And that doesn't mean all 100 pages are good. Yes, there are some good things in there, some things that are thought-provoking that we have to look at.
But when you're talking about teaching children, I would not allow my child to sit and hear that. My grandfather was born in 1894. It was a very different America for him than it was for his youngest son, my dad, who was born in 1939. America was a very different America for me. I was born in 1962, and America was still yet a very different America in 1991 when my daughter was born.
Each generation, there are three generations of us still alive, myself, my daughter, and my father. He's 80 years old. All three of us are a very different America, but each generation is progressively better. It's progressively better. So, yes, we own up to our history. We own up to our history, but we also have to acknowledge that we, better than any other country in the world and in world history, have making progress. The America that's presented in the 1619 Project could never have produced the likes of a Frederick Douglass,
could never have produced a Bessie Coleman, a Benjamin O. Davis Sr., or Benjamin O. Davis Jr., could never have produced Frederick Douglass, could never have produced a Ben Carson, and could never have produced a Barack Obama twice-elected President of the United States by a white majority, mainly white majority. Could not have won without those votes. So this America that we live in, we should tell this story, but we should tell it accurately. And so we cannot allow that type of curriculum that's very biased, very biased to us, one group, cannot allow that.
Iverson Jackson
Unverified
1:35:07
And if it's history, again, like math, spelling, it needs to be accurate. So thank you, and I'll entertain your
Speaker 171
1:35:16
questions. Are there any questions? Seeing none, thank
Speaker 172
1:35:20
you, sir. Thank you. All right. At this time, I have Scott Hamilton will
be against the bill. If you're back there, Scott, please make your way forward.
It's coming. Okay. Some of these signed up online, so that's why I'm making sure they're here. Scott, if you'll take the end of the table there, if you'll please state your name and who you're with and keep it as brief as possible. We still have about ten more, so maybe, well, at least eight more. You are recognized, sir. Okay,
Speaker 174
1:36:11
yes, thank you for having us today.
I appreciate the time. uh as i mentioned uh state your name and i'm sorry scott hamilton and i'm with myself today all right yes i'm going to be very brief because it is going to be a long day and i think a lot of folks have things to say so i'm going to simply just read something that i think is important as we talk about the 1619 project and the impact of it but i think more of the base of what we're doing here today. We're looking at a project which is defined as a project. It is someone's
interpretation. It is someone's position. It is simply a collection of essays that cobble together tell a story. That's pretty much all I know. I'm a product for Arkansas schools. Very proud of it. graduate of Hendricks College. Also have a JD and MBA. Much of what I know about my history was taught to me by my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents. I knew my great-grandmother.
She was a daughter of a slave. She told me stories of great pride and work that she and her family did. She also told me stories of rape, murder, and all kinds of atrocities that as a child, I had no idea what she was talking about, but I do now. It's horrible. But it's American history. It is what it is. So I'm just going to read you something briefly here because I think there's plenty of folks that are going to talk about 1619, but let's talk about
this. As we talk about factual history, the history that I know, again, is perspectives. It's what people research and they personally believe. A historian, not sure what a definition of a historian truly is. It's someone that likes history, counts for history, lays history out. So on July 9, 1914, nearly 500 people gathered on the edge of what's called Best Farm, which
is outside of what's known today as Frederick, Maryland, got a good friend that lives there, to dedicate a monument to Confederate soldiers who fought and died at the Battle of Monocacy. The ceremony followed the United Daughters of the Confederacy's UDC well-established formula for dedication ceremonies. There were Confederate veterans, prayers, speeches, music, and children. All orchestrated as part of the UDC's effort
to reframe the narrative of the war from one of a southern fight to preserve slavery to a lost cause effort to protect southern honor and state's rights. The United Daughters of the Confederacy UDC was formed in 1894 to protect and venerate Confederate memory following the American Civil War. There are 22 chapters today in Arkansas. So I'll say that all to say, the books that I learned at Hall High School, my civics class at Forest Heights,
were based on a lot of these narratives that were put together. I remember these stories, but they were narratives. They were positions that certain groups wanted to be our history, and that's fine. The 1619 Project is simply a project. It is Nicole's way of telling the stories of her research. For our legislature to decide what can and cannot be utilized as a tool to teach our children is concerning to me.
It should be concerning to all of us. Because this sets a precedent that's quite interesting. It's one that allows our legislature to say, you know, if we want to, for lack of a better word, censor a certain work as a tool to teach, that concerns me. I do think educators must consider how they teach information, particularly sensitive information, as we're talking about today, because it is critical that our children are protected.
They are not given things that they cannot handle, but there is a way to do that. And my position today is that this is not the correct way. Thank you. I'll
Speaker 171
1:40:39
take any questions. Any questions from the committee? Seeing none,
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:40:46
thank you, sir. Thank you. I do not have any more for. I do have some that did not say what they are, so
I'm going to leave them to the last since they did not sign up for or against. So we will continue with the against. I'm going to have fun with this one.
TJ Medell? Is that wrong? Okay. All right, if you will
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:41:26
take the... Hi, good morning. if you will uh state your name and who you're with you're recognized for
Speaker 177
1:41:33
a statement tj simba medel uh i'm for myself
Speaker 179
1:41:35
as a fellow arkansan i do not want this bill to pass my mom is a nurse at uams who is currently on the front lines as we speak battling this pandemic every day while educating the next wave of caregivers in between COVID shifts. At our dinner table COVID talks are common and one night
Speaker 180
1:42:01
I worked up enough courage to ask her something I'll never forget. What's one of the
hardest parts about your job? Her answer telling the truth about death. Families can't handle it people don't want to accept it whether it be for themselves or their loved ones. She reminds me that the stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She tells me that the truth is painful, but part of the healing process is that we have to deliver painful truths all the time. And by doing so, it allows families to find peace and puts us all on the path towards
forgiveness for ourselves and with God. The 1619 Project might feel like it's distorting history, that it may sound racially divisive,
Speaker 179
1:42:49
but one thing we all know and can't agree on is that it is the truth. As a Filipino-American of modern-day history, lately
Speaker 180
1:43:00
I've been watching elder Asians, I've been, I've been watching things happen to, to, to my people that look like
Speaker 177
1:43:13
me. And I ask myself what
side of history, what will their story be told? Especially, will it be told through history or through TikToks or Instagram or Facebook? I will never understand what it's like to experience what the 1619 Project is personally, but as a student of history in which
Speaker 180
1:43:35
slavery was a foundation of all civilizations all the way back to Mesopotamia. I wonder why would my state, and please correct me if I am wrong, why would my state that has ranked 42nd in education since 2018
punish educational institutions for wanting to have human truths be seen during a global pandemic? By passing this, you'll be passing a message that you'll send to the great grandchildren of Arkansans that if you don't want anything to be taught in schools, then just take away their funding. If you pass this, then how do you plan to police the access of this curriculum on a student level, by the student? I mean you can literally Google this on your phones right now. I can email the curriculum to every single
Arkansan right now. So what message are you sending to a future generation that could hypothetically teach this to themselves at the lunch table, in between classes. And we all know our kids have phones. We all are on them right now. So and even if they don't have them, their best friend does. So access will be there. HB 1231 is the bargaining stage of grief with slavery. If this passes, then our children's children's children, long after we are gone, will ask history, how
will I trust my representatives with education if they want to control the narratives that the descendants of slaves came in. And as a next-generation Arkansan, I don't want to bargain with the truth. I want to accept it. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Because by telling these difficult and very painful truths, it allows families, human families, human beings to
find peace and put us all on the
Speaker 179
1:45:26
path towards forgiveness for ourselves and with God. Thank you very
Speaker 67
1:45:36
thanks sir. Thank you sir. Alright, at this time I have Michelle Lynch from
the Arkansas Teachers Association. Michelle, if you would like to come speak against the
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:45:53
bill, you're recognized to do that. She's coming. I'll see her. Michelle, if you'll please recognize yourself
Speaker 187
1:46:22
and who you're with, you're recognized to speak. I'm Michelle Inch, the Executive Director of the Arkansas State Teachers Association,
and I'm going to read my statement today. I think it's important to note today, we're looking at this through a curriculum perspective, and my Ph.D. is in curriculum and instruction with an adolescent learning and development emphasis. ASC is a non-union, non-partisan educators association serving teachers and other school employees. And as a member-driven association with thousands of members, you can imagine our feedback has been both passionately for and against this bill.
But two issues membership surveys consistently confirm are the importance of local control and the need for high-quality instructional materials. Today I'm going to be process hard. Legislation needs to solve a problem, and its outcomes at the end of the day result in effective and necessary policy. Targeting one particular resource would not result in effective policy, and it would not solve any root problem. HB 1231 sets a precedent for legislation that targets single projects and writings, hurts local control, where the responsibility for curriculum development lies.
Because of these reasons alone, this legislation is not good for Arkansas education. A quality curriculum must have a scholarly foundation. We start with factual information and resources, peer-reviewed by experts, so that true learning and critical analysis and thinking is possible. A well-informed citizen is one who can more effectively analyze opinion and not-so-scholarly work, such as journalistic and media products. It seems more and more our education system is falling into an abyss of resources produced by people who are agenda-driven, not information-driven, and or who do not have the expertise or fully understand the structure of the discipline to which they speak.
But central to quality curriculum is the standards-based selection of topics, issues, resources, and activities. Be it a textbook, an article, a work of literature, or a movie, choosing these resources can be a daunting task and requires purposeful and thoughtful selection. What could help tackle these issues this legislation is attempting to address would be the development of comprehensive guidance on the procedural, analytical, developmental, and ethical considerations to employ when selecting curriculum and selecting resources to support that curriculum instruction and assessment.
Today, that resource is the 1619 Project. The project has strong merits. It raises viewpoints that warrant discussion and analysis. It focuses on an error not given its due in terms of time or significance. We also know about this project, as Senator Chesterfield, a former history teacher, noted in the Black Legislative Caucus meeting on February 1st, that this is a work of journalism, not history, and it has inaccuracies. Historians criticize the document for having significant and misleading inaccuracies.
The author of the project asserts it's not a history, but it's journalism. These are issues that, again, not only apply to this particular project, but any resource or a teacher or district is considered utilizing in the classroom. I would submit that Arkansas teachers and parents do not want to be inundated with agenda-driven or national media-developed curriculum, lesson plans, and student activities, And we've also long known that textbooks contain inaccuracies, conveniently skip, marginalize, and downplay significant topics and issues.
I was a professor at UA Little Rock before I learned that Arkansas had Japanese internment camps. In my kindergarten through undergraduate, education was in Arkansas. I felt betrayed and cheated out of history. It's a terrible feeling. But as we work to do and be better in all content areas, we must proceed with the understanding that it is the ethical and professional obligation of all educators to ensure curriculum resources, instructional techniques, and learning activities are carefully selected and utilized in ways that do no harm, while facilitating the learning and critical thinking grounded in factual information.
At the end of the day, curriculum and resource selection is a local decision. We encourage DESE and those serving schools in curriculum support roles to ensure its guidance to districts reflects the procedural, analytical, developmental, and ethical considerations to follow when developing curriculum and selecting these resources. Our educators and children deserve scholarly-based academic rigor and relevance as the foundation to learning.
Thank you, and I'll be happy to take any questions. Representative Ball, do you recognize? Representative
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
1:51:35
Ball, do you have a question? Okay. Representative Meeks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And you brought up a lot of the concerns that I have with this. Essentially, as you stated, it's a piece of journalism. It does have inaccuracies in it. and it wasn't developed by historians or totally historians. So my question to you is this. You talked about the curriculum being chosen as curriculum.
I'm equally concerned with us, quote, unquote, putting out this fire because we all know a little bit later there's going to be another fire and there's going to be another fire trying to create some uniform standard here. Who at the local district level selects the curriculum? You briefly mentioned that in your statement, but could you go into that in a little more detail about who in that local district would be the one who would be responsible to say that, yes, we want to teach something like this, or no, we're going to reject something like this? Is that fully done at the local level?
Who would make that decision, and what role does the Department of Education play in that? So,
Speaker 190
1:52:37
and the department can speak for itself. And if
Speaker 187
1:52:42
I need to wait until the department comes up, I can do that. So the department lays out the standards, and then at the district level, usually what happens is they get a committee of teachers and administrators, and they work together collaboratively to choose that curriculum. and the district should have a strong curriculum coordinator
who can guide that process in a way that they are able to, like I said, have the filters of the procedural and analytical, the ethical lens to look through as they are choosing those resources.
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
1:53:17
Okay, so it's local administrators and teachers. Do the local parents have much input into that choice or is it strictly
Speaker 186
1:53:25
the school employees themselves? That would be a local decision, and
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
1:53:29
I don't know which ones. do
and don't. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Any other questions? Thank you, ma'am. Appreciate your testimony. We have four more left. I'm going to continue
on until somebody. Yes, ma'am. Representative speaks.
Chair
Unverified
1:53:49
I don't know, thank you, about limiting them to five minutes apiece. You can limit debate, that
is non-debatable. It takes a majority of two-thirds of the quorum. We have a motion to limit debate, for and against, to
five minutes each. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries.
Yes, sir. Per testimony. If questions are asked, that will lengthen that out because we can't control how many questions there would be. So next up, I believe I have, and I think it's Angela Frazier Henson. It may
be Angelica. I'm not sure. But Ms. Henson, if you would come forward. Okay. we have a timer
yeah somebody would please move one of those chairs out of the way down there Sorry for the time to get in here.
Is that microphone on? It is. Okay. If you would state your name and who you're with, please, we'll let you proceed.
And you have five minutes to present what you would like to do, or less.
Angela Frazier-Henson
Unverified
1:55:37
You can take less. No problem. Hopefully it will be less. My name is Angela Frazier-Henson. I'm representing myself as a citizen of the state. I come to you today as a resident of Arkansas that was born, raised, and mostly educated here in the state of Arkansas to address my concerns about House Bill 1231.
I believe it will punish students, teachers, school districts, and the entire state by removing state funding from public schools for a teaching curriculum like the 1619 Project. The sponsors of the bill claim that the true date of founding of our country is July 4, 1776. And my argument would be that it takes steps before the date of the signing of the Declaration of Independence
to move the process forward to that point of signing that document. and the document itself, the Declaration of Independence. If you look at it critically, you'll see that it lays out 20, I'm skipping a lot of my prepared statement, 27 grievances that today would be classified, could possibly classify King George III as a bully of the colonies
because bullying is defined to seek to harm, intimidate, or coerce, often done to someone perceived as vulnerable. The king actively took steps to intimidate, coerce, and harm the colonies by the way he governed. So the question becomes, what's the purpose of House Bill 1231? My belief is the sponsors of this bill seek to become the King George III of 2021. 21, they seek to harm and intimidate and coerce, or in other words, bully our educators to
only teach the things they deem acceptable about our country's history. They seek to codify the teaching of history facts that introduce the slave trade to the country as unacceptable and punishable by removing state funding at the district level, which in turn would put targets on teachers' jobs. Our current public school system is being targeted enough with legislative bodies seeking to move funding to chartered schools and out of public school systems.
And that would further cripple our public school education system by placing the targets on the back of teachers, wanting to give historical facts about how our country was founded. the area of the debate seems to be more about how slavery impacted our development as a country and and seeing as today we we still have inequalities between white and black and brown communities it shouldn't be that big of a debate and i wanted to remind those today that
are here that our u.s capital was built by slaves so our slavery's our slavery and the impact it's had on this country is a huge part of our history, and all of it needs taught. I look at my own education and think back to what I was taught. I was raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and schooled in Pine Bluff and Watson Chapel school districts. My belief is that much of the founding of our country was grossly glossed over, and better stated, whitewashed.
Extraordinarily little focus was placed on what today would be described as the negative aspects of our founding fathers' actions. We were not given accurate descriptions of what European settlers did to indigenous people of this land to take the said land from them, nor were we taught about slavery or the indentured servitude accurately. These events and so many others have been glossed over throughout our history,
and so much so that too many people today try to deny these events. Even events like the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement have been grossly over-minimalized. I feel like this is the original cancel culture. One thing I was taught by so many of the best educators I had in Mala was to not just take the information I was given, but to research and to look at all the facts and make informed conclusions and decisions.
I'm going to skip quite a bit of what I had prepared and go to the last thing I wanted to say. I'm not an educator. I'm not a descendant of a slave or an indentured servant to my knowledge. I'm not black or brown or indigenous, but I am a human being that sees the paths that we have taken. Thank you. I'm sorry your time is up,
but thank you for your testimony. Is there any questions from the committee? Seeing none, thank you. Julie Lott will be next,
President of the Arkansas Black Mayors. Julie, if you will, or Julian, I'm sorry, Julian. I'll get that right. Probably never been called Julie before, have you? Julian, if you'll state your name and who
Julian Locke
Unverified
2:01:17
you're with, you're recognized to speak. Five minutes, please. Thank you. Okay. My name
Speaker 204
2:01:23
is Julian Locke. I'm a pastor and mayor in the Ouachita County seat of Camden, Arkansas.
I serve as president of Arkansas Black Mayors Association, whose membership now represents 57 municipalities and 470,000 Arkansans. On behalf of mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, loved ones, and your neighbors across Arkansas, I urge you to oppose HB 1231, which is arguably named Saving American History.
I ask you to oppose HB 1231 to prohibit the use of public school funds to teach the 1619 Project Curriculum and to reduce funds distributed to public schools that teach the 1619 Curriculum for the reasons that are written within it. Number one, many of our schools are already suffering, and to even go through the burden of having to legislate that, or who will even enforce it at the local level present its own problems.
And like Representative Lowry, I don't even know where it's being taught or the problems that it has presented. Does it say that every school is mandated to teach it, or does it allow the schools to choose at a local level whether or not to even implement some of the journalistic writings within? Arkansans believe in the First Amendment, and this bill uses a heavy hand of government to try to freeze speech that some find subjectively offensive.
History is not one narrative, but many. An excluding perspective offends the founders' intentions of protecting speech from government censorship. Our schools and universities are truly the marketplaces of ideas, where ideas are heard and challenged so that critical thinking skills can be developed. Second, Arkansans believe in local control of their schools. This bill will set the precedence that bureaucrats in Little Rock should have more say in a local school's curriculum than parents and teachers.
And Arkansans are proud of our schools and the uniqueness that each community school brings to the state. Giving more control to bureaucrats should not be taken lightly. And while, again, I do not know where it's being taught or what's going on to make this bill even have to come before us now, Arkansas's history is rich and varied. It has brought all of us together and will continue to bring us together as long as we remain open to each other's perspective.
I thank you for your openness to listening to me on today, but I ask that you please not close down this communication or discussion on the subjects that may seem uncomfortable to some of us. We don't need to do the cancel culture thing that silences people, and neither should we use government to talk over one another and to consider someone else's point of view irrelevant. Growing up in Sunday school I was taught about creationism but when I went to
school I heard about evolution. It didn't do anything but cause us to have a deeper conversation at the table. This position today seems juxtaposed to many of the thought patterns that I've heard some conservatives push and I think that many of the bills that we're seeing in this particular legislation follow along a common theme. I don't want to go into discussion about the Soviet Union, but I think we're headed in a bad direction when we start erasing people out of pictures, as Stalin did. And I ask you again that you will please oppose this
bill, HB 1231, which disparages the importance and the accuracy of the history of blacks in America and also particularly in the state of Arkansas. Thank you. Are there any
questions? Thank you, sir. I have one more before we bring up the Arkansas Department
Speaker 156
2:05:32
of Education. I have Fernando Woods. Fernando Woods, are you here?
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:05:41
There we go. Fernando, if you would state your name and who you're with. You
Fernando Woods
Unverified
2:05:56
are recognized to speak, and you have five minutes, sir. All right, thank you. My name is Fernando Woods. I represent We the People, which is stated in the Constitution. First of all, I want to say thank you for having me here. And I want to say that my people were not brought here.
We were kidnapped, raped, killed. They stole our scientists, our doctors, everything. That's what they took before I start this. You don't want to teach 1619, but people celebrate the movie A Birth of a Nation, which is rooted in deep-seated hatred for the American slave. 1619 will open the eyes of our children, your children,
our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren. It will show some of the true story of America and how it treated its black citizens of today. It will show how the system was created, why it was created, and who it was created for. It will show how today we are no better off than we were back in 1619. Why won't the American public or the people of Arkansas just accept responsibility for the sins and crimes against humanity?
For years, we have tried to get along with everyone, yet people come here from different countries for the American dream, and we have suffered the American nightmare for them to come here and live that dream. So I'm saying to some people, I'm not going to call their names, don't be a coward. Just stand up and say, we did what we did. We apologize, and what can we do to fix it? Well, teaching 1619 is a part of fixing the problem, because when I went to school,
if I would have knew that Christopher Columbus brought slaves, I never would have celebrated that day. I never would have pledged allegiance to this flag. I never would have sung the Star-Spangled Banner. It's things that we weren't taught. History is hidden, and only truth can bring out facts and let us heal because until we bring out the truth, a lie is going to cause problems. The truth will set you free. I was raised in a black Baptist church, and that's what my grandmother always said.
The truth will set you free, not a lie. So they tell us about 1619, but the whole American history that I learned was a lie. It never told me that Abraham Lincoln had slaves, Andrew Jackson and George Washington. Every president that Lowry got up here in Maine had slaves. So those were the good people we're talking about. That's what we're looking at. But you don't want to teach this because you know the backlash that you're going to have
from the children that's in school now. When they find out what really happened, the white and the black children will be mad about history, the story that you're telling. So I'm here to vote against the bill, and I'm here to promote 1619 and other black American history that has been whitewashed. Thank you. That's all I have to say, and hopefully we'll make a human being decision and say, yes, all history should be taught. and we get to choose if we want to go and study it our own self and find out the facts.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:09:33
Thank you. Are there any questions? Seeing none, thank you, sir. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to bring someone from the department, whether Secretary Key wants to come or someone
else. That is all that I have. Well, hold on, hold on. Hold on, Secretary Key. I think I missed Dr. Fletcher, Philip Fletcher. Come on. I'm sorry. It didn't have a for or against on that one, so I just kind of left you to the end. No, it doesn't.
Sorry about that. I had to go back and look at my
Philip Fletcher
Unverified
2:10:11
other sheet. State your name and who you're with, and you're recognized. My name is Dr. Philip Fletcher. I represent myself, and I just want to provide a perspective. I'm neither for nor against this bill. Uh, I've heard what I think most people would agree with is what's undisputable is the facts about what has happened to black Americans and their ancestors here in the United States.
That's undisputable. I learned it in fifth grade. I memorized the Emancipation Proclamation given by Abraham Lincoln, who didn't own slaves. I memorized that in 8th grade, had to pass the Constitution in 8th grade. I got my degree, bachelor's degree in ethnic studies, African American history in college. So much of this is I'm familiar with. So I believe this bill, Mr. Lowry, is more addressing not the facts per se,
and there are inaccuracies like in any part of history. Every person that communicates history carries a bias. That's the reality. the winners of history write history. That's the fact of world history and nations. What this is addressing is the premise and the conclusions outlined in 1619, but also other such products such as White Fragility, written by Robin DiAngelo, Abraham Kendi, Stand From the Beginning,
how to be an anti-racist. All developed within the same framework, which is called critical race theory, coming from, which is called critical theory, which began in the Frankfurt School in Germany, coming from Hegel, which produced Marx, which produced neo-Marxism, which produced a writer called Marcuse, which produced Derek Bell, who was considered the father of critical race theory, who wrote his seminal essay back in 1980 lamenting what he thought was the lack of progress by black Americans
in response to Brown v. Board of Education. And in that, he is considered the father of critical race theory. His protege, Dr. Kimberly Crenshaw, who produced Intersectionality, which took critical race theory to look at race, gender, and class. Why do I say all that? 1619 Project is a product of that framework. And that framework is this. As I look around the room, every white man and woman in this room, you are either complicit in
white supremacy, or if you don't know about it, by your ignorance, you are still complicit in it. We keep talking about facts. Fine. Let's look at the framework in which all of this is being developed as well. We want to talk about people being educated, right? So I could not possibly imagine, my kids have graduated high school now, but I could not possibly imagine one of my kids coming home and being told that they are
responsible for something they did not do. Should they know about it? Yes. Should they be informed about it? Yes. Should they understand the outcomes of those decisions that were made by their ancestors and those within the country, yes. But to have then my child come home, and I'm looking at every one of you white people right now, because the premise is of the 1619 Project, of how to be an anti-racist, how to be in white fragility, and other such products, is that each and every one of you in here,
if you are voting for this bill, you are maintaining white supremacy in the status quo. And if don't support it, then you are a coward. You are implicitly continuing the quote-unquote legacy of racism. Now, this should be at local control. School boards, elected officials at the local level should be determining this. We've heard talks about, I'm shocked, small government actually. So allow the
teachers who have been trained, allow those school boards and the school board presidents and chairmen who have been elected and selected, allow them to do the hard work to make those choices. Secondly, return freedom back to parents and students so that they can choose how it is that they want to learn. And then third, if I were to apply critical race theory, and I'm being quiet after this, where's the Marshallese history? Where's the Latino history? Because in our
Arkansas Code, Title VI, the only thing I see is African-American history. I'm sorry your time is up. Yes sir.
Speaker 210
2:15:13
So in conclusion, represent everybody. Are you Any questions? Seeing none, thank you,
sir. Secretary Key, would you come forward, please? Johnny Key, Department of Education.
Speaker 214
2:15:37
You're recognized for whatever. If you want to make a statement, then we'll ask a question. Just a quick remark, so I won't take five minutes. The agency is against this bill. The department has established a comprehensive process for developing and approving academic standards and courses. These courses are to accurately represent academic content. It's outlined in current law, Arkansas Code 615-2906. The process is outlined for establishing the standards that are taught in grades K through 12 in all public schools.
This process involves a committee of Arkansas educators and community members with professional experience related to that content area. It's classroom teachers, K-12, it's higher education experts, it's a number of experts in the area of history. We could look at state historians, people like Tom Dillard and folks like that that are well-known in the field of that content. The standards developed by the committee are then reviewed and approved by the State Board of Education.
These follow typically a seven-year cycle as facilitated by the division. State law also outlines the responsibility of superintendents to submit a written statement of assurance to the division that the content of each class and subject area is aligned to the Arkansas academic standards that are approved by the State Board of Education. This is a part of their standards for accreditation. The law also places the responsibility of adopting curriculum with the local school board.
So we would say that, again, I think Representative Lowry did allude to this, that there have been times that we have deviated in the state from this, but this is still the position of the department that this is something that's, as far as adoption of curriculum, best left to the local elected boards and the administrators and educators. There are some technical issues as well with the bill as far as withholding of funds.
ESA funding is funding that is issued on a per-pupil basis. How we would determine what part of that funding is used for professional development would be difficult, and typically that doesn't happen until at the end of the year when districts reallocate some of their funding and through the coding process where they have to use ESA funds to supplement professional development or other funding sources. So ESA is also driven by the status of students being low-income students.
And so the portion that says that no income funding for low-income students would not be at risk, we're not sure how we would make this work even through the rules process so that's all I wanted to say Mr. Chairman and I'd be happy to take
questions just for informational purposes people sitting at this table are not bureaucrats but we do have a bureau person at the end I won't call him a bureau crat but legislators are legislators we're not bureaucrats that was just for informational purposes
some people think of us as those So questions for Secretary Key, Representative Meek here first off. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
2:19:11
going to kind of start off with a little bit of a statement here and then kind of get into my question and try to be brief with it. So as a lawmaker, as we try to make these decisions, I try to make these decisions based upon principles. So as I'm looking at the principle here, if we were, for example, debating this instead of the 1619 project, if we were debating the white supremacy project, I wonder how many of the people who were speaking against would now speak for it.
Or if we were debating the Communist Manifesto project or the Marxist project or name any project from any group you like, how do we apply this principle so it applied evenly? and I kind of come to the place where I think sharing some of your concerns that if we put out this fire today, what fire are we going to be putting out next week and the week after that and the week after that trying to apply this principle uniformly.
As far as just the 1619 project itself, where does the department stand on the project? Do you think it's something that should be taught? If so, how should it be taught? And then, likewise, what role does the department have then in influencing the local districts in making these decisions? You said it was primarily a local decision of a local district. But let's say a local district wanted to start teaching, you know, communism, for example, or, you know, any other ism that you want.
What role would the department have in setting the standards of, no, we don't need to be teaching that because it's not accurate? Because we want accurate history taught, but what we don't want, at least for my part, what I don't
want is I don't want propaganda
Speaker 214
2:21:09
taught as history. I agree that the intent of our academic standards is to have fact-based, you know, and they
are based in fact, but the curriculum and materials then can be selected by the local school district, the individual school, or even the teacher as they bring things into the classroom. I think our role is one of if we are made aware that there's something that is being taught that is out of alignment with our academic standards, then we have the responsibility through our standards of accreditation process to look into that. And if we determine that something is not being properly taught or is out of alignment with those standards,
then that district would be subject to whatever consequences that could occur through the standards process. Okay, so if a school district, and I don't even know
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
2:22:01
if you all even know how many school districts are even teaching 16, 19. We're not aware that
Speaker 214
2:22:07
any are using this curriculum. Okay, so as of right
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
2:22:11
now, as far as you know, there's no one's using this curriculum. And if someone did start using this curriculum and that was brought to your attention, how then would you approach that?
Would you say, would you be in favor of allowing that curriculum to be taught or
would the department take the position of no or where would you be at with?
Speaker 214
2:22:35
I think it would have to be compared and looked at in the context of the academic standards. We have academic standards for an African-American history course. It's a half-credit course. And I think whether it's 1619 or any other types of resource that would come into play,
we would have to look at it on its own merits. I mean, we have not made a decision on any specific, whether it be 1619 or other type of course or curriculum or supplemental materials or anything like that. I will give you an example. of where we do check into these things. A couple of weeks ago, one of your colleagues notified me of something that was of objectionable content, inaccurate,
and it was posted and used as a resource in a school district. As soon as we were notified about that, it had nothing to do with 1619. It was something different. But we looked at that, and we determined that this video clip was posted on the Sandbox. Sandbox is a user-uploadable content system where teachers can put things up there and have it, and we own it.
We provide that. As soon as we looked at that clip, I looked at it myself. It was totally inaccurate, and we pulled it down because it was something from the History Channel. And at the first two minutes, it sounded like it was pretty on target. The last minute, it was something from the show Ancient Aliens. And we determined that that was very inaccurate, and we pulled that down. So that's why it's important, though, for local educators, local boards, local principals to really dig deep and understand what are these content,
what are these supplemental materials, what are these things that are out there, because there are a number of things out there that are inaccurate and would lead students
Speaker 18
2:24:44
down the wrong path. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Ripson Murdoch, you recognize. I think you
Speaker 87
2:24:49
have a question, not a statement, right? Well, so the question to Secretary Key, and I go back to the premise of my initial issue with this, it's not even necessarily as we hear about the content of various things that have happened in history
through our testimony today. As I read the bill, my major problem with the bill is the censorship and the process of educating and how we educate. You have standards. A.D. have a standards review if there is a question. But the process says that we present the information, it's taught, it's determined at the local level, as somebody mentioned, by local educators, as you just mentioned. And then that curriculum development then is taught to the students, and they're able to discern, make decisions, and be thusly educated.
That's the process. What this bill does is take that process away and is determined by Representative Lowry's bill what can and cannot be taught. It's really not about 1619. It's about the process of education and how we educate, and the standards that's utilized in doing that. 16-19 is the topic that has gotten a lot of attention, obviously. But to me, it's the process. Is that a question? So is that the issue here to make sure we stay within the process?
Because 16-19 is not the issue per se. As I said in my
Speaker 214
2:26:11
statement, we have an established process, and it's educators that are at the forefront of determining these standards and setting them for the whole state. And we feel like that process is well established and works. Thank you. Representative Brown, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative Karilyn Brown
Unverified
2:26:32
Do I have this right? Commissioner Key or Secretary Key? I've served both roles.
Secretary Key. I'm sorry. Getting used to these new names. I have received, and not all of us have, numerous emails extolling the virtues of the 1619 Project from teachers. So that leads me to believe that they might quite likely be teaching this in their classroom. um what is what is to prevent them from teaching this in their classroom if if you all have not
had an opportunity to vet it properly
Speaker 214
2:27:16
well i i don't want you all to think we haven't vetted it i mean we've had uh our curriculum folks that have looked at the 1619 project but we don't endorse adopt recommend materials or curriculum unless specifically directed to do so by statute, and so we've reviewed it, but it's not our role to say it's good or bad.
That's just not what we do. Could there be teachers that are using materials from this? Yes, but when you say a curriculum, we're not aware that any district has adopted this as a curriculum for their history courses. Thank you. Any other questions for the commissioner? Seeing none, thanks, sir.
Thank you. Representative Lowry, would you like to take the end of the table?
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
2:28:26
Would you like to close for your bill? Yes, sir, I would. Members, thank you so much for your patience, and I want to thank all those who also came forward to speak for and against this bill. I think it's a dialogue that needed to take place. I think even some of the responses that you've heard from Secretary Key indicate that this is something that needs to be discussed,
that it needs to be vetted, and now it will be. Whatever happens in this committee, you can be rest assured that parents, many educators all across the state of Arkansas are now aware of the 1619 project, even if they weren't previous. Just in closing, let me just mention a couple of things. I've referenced historians saying that the facts are really not there.
But let me just reference two. Gordon Wood, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian who focused on the American Revolution, said that the 1619 Project is so wrong in so many ways. James McPherson, who was a dean of Civil War historians, he said the 1619 Project presented an unbalanced, one-sided account that left out, left the history out. There are numerous historians have come out
against the 1619 Project. Now, I think it's really important for us to come back to what the bill says. The bill does not say, don't teach about 1619 or 1526 or any of the other important times for us to remember about America's strained history, and it is a strained history. It is one that we are continually trying to improve upon.
You heard one speaker talk about that if you adopt this, made a reference to Stalin and wiping out history. Well, that's
Chair
Unverified
2:30:49
frankly what is happening with the 1619 Project. It is the ultimate cancel
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
2:30:55
culture, where we're hearing that the names of Washington Jefferson, you've already heard one
Chair
Unverified
2:31:01
reference saying that, one gentleman saying that Lincoln owned slaves. He was anti-slavery his entire life. He gave his life opposing slavery. So members, I'm
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
2:31:14
not going to belabor this any
further i mean you've been extremely patient and i appreciate it and um and i'm going to close i know that there may be further discussion um but i'm going to close and ask that for a do pass motion on this bill hb 1231 to ban the teaching of the text the 1619 project curriculum not teaching about 1619, but do pass on HB 1231. Are you asking, you're making that motion? I'm
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
2:31:51
making the motion. All right, you're making the motion. We have a motion
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
2:32:01
to do pass. Do we have debate? Representative Feight. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm concerned when we as a legislature begin to list things that our schools cannot teach and punish them for doing so. If problems arise because of what's being taught in our schools. Our parents, our school boards, our teachers are the appropriate people to come in and make those corrections. That's what's
appropriate. That's what's right. For those reasons, I will be voting no on this bill.
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
2:32:33
Representative Godfrey, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I agree with Representative Feit. I just want to clarify, you know, nobody is saying we need to teach the 1619 Project curriculum exclusively. No schools are doing that. No schools are asking for
that, but I think it is worth noting that the work of social studies and really all high quality engaging instruction is to engage critically with content from a variety of sources from multiple perspectives. We heard that from proponents and opponents of this bill. Now it's
no surprise to this committee likely that I disagree vehemently with Representative Lowry here, but I also, if I were back in the classroom, I would not exclude his perspective from being discussed in my classroom. In fact, I think a really great lesson plan would be to, you know, use an essay from the 1619 Project and compare that and critique that against Representative Lowry's presentation in the bill today. I think that is the work that educators are doing. They're using their curriculum standards, they're using their district curriculum maps and pacing guides to create engaging critical thinking lessons, and that's the work that educators need to continue
to be empowered to do. I think the concerns by the department, by students and parents of color and their allies and educators are valid,
Chair
Unverified
2:33:46
and I'll be voting no as well. Thank you. Representative Speaks, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I never thought I'd say this, but I really appreciate you bringing this before us. I think it's going to be good for parents to hear this and know what is, and then they will have that choice to make with their students and the schools and school boards
to hear this, and I appreciate you bringing it before us. Thank you. Representative
Representative Gayla H. McKenzie
Unverified
2:34:17
McKenzie. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I agree. I think this is a good discussion to have, and I read something I wouldn't have probably before. I'd read what people said about 1619 project curriculum. Now I've read a good portion of it myself. I will be voting against this, but I do want to say a couple things. I want to be accountable to the people I represent, first of all. Primarily, I have
a problem with the remedy. I just don't see how it's just not workable and it's a problem. I struggle with the local control, but I do appreciate the concerns for the 16-19 curriculum. After visiting with folks on both sides of the issue, and I appreciated the ones who called, frankly more than emailed, because I could visit with them. Time and time again And I heard from folks, I said, you know, until recently, I said, you know, I haven't read it. Have you? And their response was no.
And to have such powerful convictions on either side and not really having a knowledge of what was presented in it, I think, and I said, I'm going to go read it. And I got the response back that they would too. But everyone I visited with, everybody, they all agree, the good, the bad, and the ugly, we need to teach it. They all agree, yes, we do need to have a better emphasis and more perspective. and that all of us agree that our education in many of these areas could have been better. And, of course, there's a lot of education to teach, and we're mindful of that.
But this is an area that we need to focus on and do better, and I agree. But with regard to the 1619 Project, folks, if it's going to be a history curriculum, it's been around for about a year, and it's a series of essays. Things should be time-tested, in my opinion, before we put these forth to kids and say, here's some facts, and I read some things that were very powerful in this curriculum that spoke to me and I needed to hear, but there were also things that were in there that were very powerful that I think as a parent, and that's the last, I'll close with
this, let's not leave them out of here, and we mentioned that, the local control, and I'm glad that we've got this out there so parents can now look. I would encourage, many teachers said to me, trust me, trust me, trust me, I'm an educator. I've been trained, and I appreciate all of that. But we respond to our taxpayers because we're spending their money up here. They should be watching our hearings, and we should be accountable to them. When we bring our kids to school, that's the most dear thing to parents, even more than their money.
And so I think I want to convey to everybody here and to our teachers, I appreciate your input. We need it, and you need to, and what a value you are. But let's never forget that the parents need to have some input in here, too. Let's talk about these curriculum. And that's why I mentioned maybe informed consent. I hope we don't teach this in my district, but there's some valuable things in it. So if we do, please, let's inform parents. Let's have these conversations, and it's never just always be. It's about the professionals.
Parents have wisdom that they've learned through years of trials of teenage years, and they have a valuable input as well. So thank you for bringing this, and I appreciate all the people, all perspectives that came. And I did watch all closures. I watched somebody video the exchange you had with the Black Caucus. The respect all around was really appreciated, and we need more of that. Thank you. Representative Beck, you're
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
2:37:41
recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'm going to be repeating some of the things that some of the other people have already said.
When this first came up, and the story I tell people when they call me is, I didn't know a lot about the 1619 Project, so I started researching it. And then as people called me and they would say they're against this or whatever, I would ask the question, have you read the 1619 Project? What are some fundamentals in this thing that you support? What is in it that merits me passing or voting for this or against it? And I was really trying to make my decision as to what to do. I was amazed, agreeing with what was said earlier, that the number of people who had not looked at this.
Now, the things that are covered in the 1619 Project are important. If you were to ask me my opinion, do I think the 1619 Project is factual, I would say no. My research, there's a lot of things that are in question there, but I'm not a professional historian. But I think probably the thing that you've done, which is great, I think, I think you've gotten this on the front pages. I think you've gotten people paying attention to it, and I think it will be exposed for what it is.
There's probably, there is certainly, in my research, there's certainly things in the 1619 Project that is worth being taught, but there's a lot of, it should not be taught, I don't think, as a curriculum. But I do believe that there are things in here of merit that can be taught. All right, any other debate? All right,
seeing no other debate, do we have a do pass motion? All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed, no? No.
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:39:30
I'm sorry, for your bill, the noes have it. Your bill has failed. I think you've shed a lot of light on this subject, and I think we'll be talking about this in the future for a while. All right, so it's been a long day. Thank you for coming, and thank everyone for being kind. Thank you, Capitol Police, for doing your job, and we are adjourned.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA
Number Sponsor Subtitle
HR1008 Evans TO CONGRATULATE THE CABOT SCHOOL DISTRICT AND THE SCHOOLS WITHIN THE DISTRICT ON BEING NAMED PURPLE STAR SCHOOLS.
HB1231 Lowery TO PROHIBIT THE USE OF PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS TO TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM; AND TO REDUCE FUNDS DISTRIBUTED TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS THAT TEACH THE 1619 PROJECT CURRICULUM.
SB66 J. English TO ALLOW THE TUITION-FREE BENEFIT FOR SOLDIERS AND AIRMEN OF THE ARKANSAS NATIONAL GUARD TO APPLY TO PROGRAMS OF STUDY IN WHICH THE COURSES ARE TAKEN EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE.
SB72 J. Sturch TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR SCHOOL PERSONNEL.
SB77 L. Eads TO AMEND PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS CODE CONCERNING EDUCATION RENEWAL ZONES.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE- HOUSE, Feb 9, 2021 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Representative Bruce Cozart Chair
Unverified
Representative Brian S. Evans
Unverified
Julian Locke
Unverified
Representative Charlene Fite
Unverified
Melissa Rust
Unverified
Speaker 17
Speaker 21
Speaker 31
Speaker 33
Representative Stephen Meeks
Unverified
Representative Megan Godfrey
Unverified
Speaker 44
Chair
Unverified
Representative Rick Beck
Unverified
Speaker 58
Speaker 59
Representative Gayla H. McKenzie
Unverified
Representative Mark Lowery
Unverified
Speaker 78
Speaker 86
Speaker 87
Speaker 88
Speaker 90
Speaker 98
Speaker 105
Representative Gary Deffenbaugh
Unverified
Speaker 108
Speaker 70
Representative Karilyn Brown
Unverified
Speaker 85
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
Representative John Maddox
Unverified
Jack Clay
Unverified
Speaker 132
Kylie Cross
Unverified
Speaker 135
Speaker 137
Speaker 152
Speaker 156
Kamara Seals
Unverified
Iverson Jackson
Unverified
Speaker 169
Speaker 171
Speaker 172
Speaker 174
Speaker 177
Speaker 179
Speaker 180
Speaker 67
Speaker 187
Speaker 190
Speaker 186
Angela Frazier-Henson
Unverified
Speaker 204
Fernando Woods
Unverified
Philip Fletcher
Unverified
Speaker 210
Speaker 214
Speaker 18