Welcome to the best opinion pieces of the week from News From The States. Our commentary includes our own journalists from across our extensive network as well as outside voices to bring a wide range of perspectives and ideas. In addition to the sampling below, you can look through all our commentary here.
TOP COMMENTARY OF THE WEEK
The ‘education governor’ and the threat to public schools
Sonny Albarado | Arkansas Advocate
Sarah Huckabee Sanders addresses the crowd outside the state Capitol on Jan. 10, 2023, after she was sworn in as Arkansas' 47th governor. (Photo by Karen E. Segrave/Arkansas Advocate)
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ two inauguration day speeches and slew of executive orders she issued contained a lot of references to GOP red-meat issues: from an alleged “crime wave plaguing our cities” to supposedly creeping big government from Washington.
I’m going to focus on the big one: so-called education reform.
To reform something is to change it with the goal of improving it. The way Sanders and the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly want to improve public education in Arkansas seems to me more like dismantling.