Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders wants to improve access to the state's higher education institutions, overhaul the state's higher education funding model, and authorize the firing of professors who waste time indoctrinating students, the governor told state lawmakers on Tuesday.
The Republican governor said she also aims during this year's regular session to ban cellphones in the public schools from "bell to bell."
Sanders emphasized that she seeks to end the state's sales tax on groceries -- which she described as "our most regressive tax" -- and signaled she wants to use medical marijuana tax revenues to make the summer EBT program and the state's free breakfast and lunch programs financially sustainable, and make breakfast free for any public school student who wants it.
"Education, cost of living, public safety, those are the priorities that have defined the first two years of my administration, and with your help those are the priorities that will define the next two as well," the governor said during her 37-minute State of the State address with her three children, her husband, and her parents on hand.
Tuesday was the second day of the 95th Arkansas General Assembly's regular session.
Sanders, who is the nation's youngest governor at 42, said that "whether you think I am way too young or really, really old, the results of our first two years speak for themselves.
"Our economy is up, crime is down, education is improving, Arkansas is growing, and the state of Arkansas is very very strong," she said.
Afterward, Arkansas Republican legislative leaders praised Sanders' proposals, while Democratic legislative leaders' raised questions about some of the governor's proposals, but agreed with some other proposals.
Sanders told lawmakers on Tuesday that higher education can be the difference between a life of poverty and a life of great success and it should be available to every single person in the state, no matter what their background is, and "today let us commit to make that happen."
She said her plan to improve Arkansas' higher education system will be known as Arkansas ACCESS.
"Together, we will expand Arkansans' access to higher education and non-degree credentials, whether their path comes straight out of high school graduation or many years down the line," the governor said, and that starts with making applications easier.
Sanders said that "we will make it so that you can submit one application, pay one fee and use the same application for any state-supported college or university in Arkansas.
"Arkansas students go to our colleges and universities to be educated -- not to be bombarded with anti-American historically illiterate woke nonsense," she said. "We will make it so that any professor, tenured or not, that wastes time indoctrinating our students instead of educating them can be terminated from their job."
Sanders said the state will address the skyrocketing cost of higher education by funding college credits, while students are still in high school, and expand scholarships to associate degrees and non-degree credentials.
"And we will change our higher education funding model so that it puts state dollars behind all types of degrees -- bachelor's, associate's, and non-degree credentials," she said. "For too long, students have been told a lie that the only way to be successful is to get a four-year degree right of high school. When this body passes Arkansas ACCESS, every student young and old will be know the truth. Every Arkansan is different, and every education journey will be unique too."
The investments that the state makes in education will have a payoff a long way down the road, Sanders said.
The governor's proposed general revenue budget for fiscal 2026 that begins July 1 would reduce total general revenue allocations for the state's two- and four-year colleges from $778.8 million in fiscal 2025 that ends June 30 to $777.5 million in fiscal 2026. The proposal would also increase the general revenue allocation for higher education grants by $3 million to $43.6 million in fiscal 2026 and trim the general revenue allocation for the sustainable building maintenance program for higher education institutions by $1.7 million to $2.8 million.
The governor's proposed general revenue budget of $6.49 billion for fiscal 2026 represents a $182.5 million increase over fiscal 2025, with most of the increased general revenue allocated to the state's Education Freedom Account voucher program and the state Department of Corrections.
During the 2023 regular session, the Legislature enacted the governor's signature education initiative, the LEARNS Act.
The LEARNS Act increased starting teacher pay from $36,000 to $50,000 a year, authorized $2,000 raises for other teachers and created the state's Education Freedom Accounts are vouchers designed to help students attend private school, parochial school or home school.
Sanders said next school year, Education Freedom Accounts will become universal so that every student in the state of Arkansas will have an opportunity, like a student at St. Theresa's Catholic school in southwest Little Rock that she mentioned during her speech.
"By working together we have achieved tremendous progress on our K-12 schools," she said.
The governor said she would seek to ban cellphones in the schools "from bell to bell, so that our kids are not distracted in the classroom or out of it, and we will break the cycle of mental health crises facing our students.
"With the help of this body, we have already taken major strides," she said. "We started a phone free school pilot program, and three quarters of our school districts voluntarily participated and signed up for that program."
One phone-free school saw a 57% decline in verbal and physical aggression, and a 51% drop in drug-related offenses, Sanders noted.
"We will update the Social Media Safety Act so that it is no longer held up in court and (can) begin to get enforced, and we will give moms ... the right to sue Big Tech companies under state law so that they can hold bad actors accountable," Sanders said.
The governor said many Arkansans are struggling with the high cost of groceries, gas, and many other things.
"The good news is that in a just few days the reckless tax and spend policies of the Biden administration will be over and we will have President Donald J. Trump back in the White House fighting for every single American," said Sanders, who served as White House press secretary for part of Trump's first term as president.
She said she will work with the Legislature to end the state's sales tax on groceries and ease the burden on families trying to put food on their tables.
"We can and will eliminate it this session," the governor said.
Afterward, Senate President Pro Tempore Bart Hester, R-Cave Springs, said in an interview he suspects his legislation to eliminate the state's 0.125% sales tax on groceries also will cover with the sales tax on groceries at the local level.
The state's 0.125% sales tax on groceries is expected to generate about $10.2 million for the state in fiscal 2025 and $10.6 million in fiscal 2026, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
Between city and county sales taxes combined, local sales tax averages a total of 3.3% across the state, and these city and county combined sales taxes when applied to grocery purchases, would generate approximately $271.4 million in fiscal 2025 and $279.8 million in fiscal 2026, Hardin said. Any local sales tax implemented at the city and county level currently applies to the purchase of groceries, he said.
Asked about whether the local governments could afford the loss of more than $200 million of tax revenue from the sales tax on groceries at the local level, Hester said in an interview that "Look, we think there are people, who can't continue to afford to pay the tax."
"We just think it is the right thing to do by the people, and it is our responsibility to take care of the people of Arkansas," he said.
Sanders told lawmakers on Tuesday that last year she signed up Arkansas for summer EBT that gives $120 over the summer months to parents, whose children receive free and reduced priced lunches during the school year, and 250,000 Arkansas students were served through the program last summer.
She said she's already announced that Arkansas will participate with summer EBT this summer.
"Today, I am announcing my plan to use medical marijuana money to make both this program and our free lunch and breakfast programs financially sustainable for years to come," Sanders said. "We will also use those funds to make school breakfast in Arkansas completely free for any student that chooses."
The governor said that she also wants the Legislature will pass the Good Neighborhood Act to give liability protection to those people who donate food to other Arkansans.
She said SNAP "should be focused on healthy nutritious food" and Arkansas will be the first state to seek a SNAP waiver and ensure the state's neediest families receive the food that they need to stay healthy.
SNAP is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Sanders said the proposed Buy Local Act will encourage the schools to purchase food in state from Arkansas farmers.
The governor said the Arkansas General Assembly enacted the Protect Act in 2023, and violent crime in Little Rock has declined, and "we are ending the catch and early release of violent repeat offenders."
Sanders said that every inmate in Arkansas deserves to have access to programs such as the Pathway to Freedom program at the Wrightsville Unit, and "this year, we will expand and require evidence-based programming in our prisons and we will make it happen so that we are doing a better job with our state."
The state has added nearly 1,500 prison beds at existing facilities to ease the burden on county jails, she said.
Sanders said the state has worked with the Legislature to expand the prison system with plans for a new 3,000-bed prison in Franklin County.
President Trump has promised to deal with the crisis on the southern border and fix the state's broken immigrant system, she said.
With regard to immigration, Sanders said she would seek to pass the Defense Against Criminal Illegals Act "to slap enhanced penalties on violent illegal immigrants and remove them from our state."
In addition, the governor said she would further seek legislation divest state resources from communist China, and "banning our adversaries from buying land around things like our military bases and electric substations."
REACTION
Arkansas House Speaker Brian Evans, R-Cabot, said in a written statement that "The Governor's speech outlines an ambitious and comprehensive plan to tackle some of Arkansas' most critical challenges, including improving education, reducing costs for families, and enhancing public safety.
"Members are eager to see measures passed this session that will have a direct and positive impact on their constituents, and many of her proposals align with those goals," he said.
Hester said in an interview "I thought the governor was excellent and she met our very high expectations.
"I am excited about the direction she continues to lead Arkansas," he said.
Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Searcy, said in an interview Sanders' State of State address was "filled with a conservative pragmatic approach to the issues that we are seeing.
"Obviously, I am incredibly excited about the announcement and the support for the universal breakfast program in our public schools," said Dismang, who is a co-chairman of the Joint Budget Committee. "That has been a priority for a while and I am truly excited that is something that she has made as part of her package."
House Republican leader Howard Beaty of Crossett, said he was "excited about the comments the governor made about wokeness and indoctrination from the college classroom."
"You've got a lot of our young folks that are going to school, they're very impressionable and they get in class and these professors take advantage of that opportunity and enamor them with some of their woke ideology," he said.
House Democratic leader Andrew Collins, of Little Rock, called Sanders' proposal to make it easier to fire professors "a solution in search of a problem."
"I'm not exactly sure what problem we're solving here to create a pathway to fire professors perceived woke nonsense seems like it invites the politicizing of the profession which is something that higher education has tried to avoid,' he said.
Collins said Democrats agree with Sanders' proposal to use medical marijuana tax receipts to fund free breakfast for students at public school, the elimination of the grocery tax, and the proposal to ban cell phone use by students at school.
"I do think generally speaking Democrats certainly share an interest in making sure that kids' mental health is protected," he said in reference to the governor's proposal on cell phones in schools. "I think some of the proposals that she talked about probably would be helpful and they may (garner) bipartisan support."
Collins said his caucus oppose Republicans' bills that demonize immigrants, teachers and minority groups.
"Every session nice sounding ideas give way to harmful, extreme culture war attacks on people in our state," he said.
Collins said he was encouraged to hear Sanders mention maternal health and encouraged her to take up Democratic ideas to address the issue.
Senate Democratic leader Greg Leding of Fayetteville said in an interview that there is "definitely some stuff in there that we can work on together.
"You are the chief executive for the entire state and it's fine to have your own ideology, but (there is) just the constant need to seem to divide people," he said.
Leding said he is encouraged by the governor's proposals to make free breakfast available to public school students and expanding access to higher education.
"It doesn't sound like we are going to agree on everything higher education-related, but certainly increasing access to higher education is something I think we can absolutely support," he said.
ARKANSAS MEDAL OF FREEDOM
Sanders said one of the most difficult days that she has had as governor came last summer when a gunman opened fire at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, and senselessly killed four Arkansans and severely injured nine innocent people.
She recalled Dallas County Sheriff Mike Knoedl said "'This will not define us and it will not divide us.'
"That was true for Fordyce that day and it is true for our state every single day," Sanders said.
"For him to have found the energy and the courage to lead his community after this terrible event shows the strength, the courage and the faith of this great hero," she said.
Incredible Arkansans deserve more than a mention in a speech and newspaper, Sander said.
"So today, I am announcing the Arkansas Medal of Freedom," she said. "It will allow us to recognize and to honor Arkansans, who have distinguished themselves in service to the state and to their fellow citizens and I cannot think of a better person to receive the first Arkansas Medal of Freedom than Sheriff Knoedl."
Sanders bestowed Knoedl with the award before state lawmakers.
Information for this article was contributed by Josh Snyder of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.