In Little Rock, Arkansas, a high school teacher alongside two students has initiated a legal battle against the state’s prohibition of critical race theory and what it terms as “indoctrination” within public educational settings. This lawsuit, filed with the aim of having a federal judge declare these restrictions unconstitutional, originates from Little Rock Central High School—a site deeply embedded in the history of racial desegregation since the crisis of 1957. The controversy arose following the state’s decision last year to exclude an Advanced Placement course on African American Studies from counting towards state credit.
The plaintiffs argue that these restrictions, part of a series of educational reforms signed into law by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders last year, infringe upon the First Amendment’s free speech protections and the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. They assert that these measures not only suppress free speech but also discriminate based on race. The lawsuit draws a parallel between the current restrictions and Arkansas’s historical resistance to classroom inclusivity in 1957, highlighting a repeating pattern of educational exclusion.
Arkansas, along with other states led by Republican administrations, has in recent years imposed limitations on the teaching of race in classrooms. These include bans on critical race theory, an academic concept from the 1970s that suggests racism is ingrained in the fabric of the nation’s institutions. Despite not being a standard part of K-12 education, and the Arkansas ban lacking a clear definition of critical race theory, the lawsuit contends that the law’s criteria for prohibited indoctrination are excessively broad and ambiguous.
This legal challenge in Arkansas mirrors a similar lawsuit filed by educators in Tennessee against that state’s comprehensive prohibitions on teaching certain aspects of race, gender, and bias in the classroom. Governor Sanders has defended the law and criticized the lawsuit, stating, “In the state of Arkansas, we will not indoctrinate our kids and teach them to hate America or each other,” accusing the opposition of politicizing children’s education.
The controversy extends beyond Arkansas, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also preventing high schools in his state from offering the AP African American Studies course. Despite these challenges, Central High and five other schools offering the course have decided to continue teaching it as a local elective, ensuring it still contributes to a student’s GPA.
This lawsuit represents the second challenge against Sanders’ LEARNS Act, which also introduced a new school voucher program. The Arkansas Supreme Court previously dismissed a challenge against the law concerning the legislative process used for its immediate enactment. Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin has expressed his readiness to defend the law vigorously, citing the reforms it has introduced to Arkansas’s educational system as necessary and beneficial.