Arkansas governor hopefuls focus on health, education, prisons

Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Democratic state Sen. Fred Love and Libertarian Colt Shelby said they would address affordability, healthcare, education and the state’s prison system if elected governor, but differ in their strategies. 

Lowering taxes “at a time when people are struggling to make ends meet,” is a top priority for Sanders, the former White House press secretary for President Donald Trump who was first elected governor in 2022. 

“We don’t want people to have to decide between whether or not they can put gas in their car or groceries on their table,” she said.

Lawmakers approved four rounds of income tax cuts and eliminated the state’s grocery tax during the 44-year-old’s first term. Sanders said she wants to continue “responsibly” phasing out the state’s income tax so people can keep more of their money and spend it how they want. 

Shelby agreed with helping Arkansans save money, and said he would focus on initiatives to help the middle class, such as eliminating the used car sales tax and increasing Arkansas’ standard deduction rate to match the federal rate.

The 42-year-old drill site manager said he also supports proposed legislation that would have provided $2 million in additional turnback funds, state-collected revenue distributed to local governments, to each county. This would give counties more control over what infrastructure they invest in to build up their local economy, he said. 

“It’s not the big government’s job for economic development, that should be up to the lower governments,” Shelby said. “What Arkansas tries to do is control where we put all these things and giving tax abatements, and I’m not for that.”

Love said he would address affordability by ensuring companies recruited to the state through incentives offer affordable wages. 

The 51-year-old term-limited state lawmaker also said it’s important to focus on skilled trades by getting young people involved in these industries and retraining older Arkansans who’ve fallen out of the workforce. 

Love applauded Arkansas’ $11 minimum wage for exceeding several other states’ rates, but said it’s not enough.

“Families are still working twice as hard not to make ends meet, so we need to start investing in jobs that actually are high-paying jobs,” he said. 

Healthcare

Sanders expects healthcare to dominate next year’s legislative session, and said she wants to ensure access to quality affordable care. Conversations are underway about “the best path forward” for Arkansas’ Medicaid expansion program, said Sanders, who has not specified what approach she’d prefer regarding the program’s delivery. 

The state requested a two-year extension after the Trump administration rejected its request to renew the program this summer. Arkansas’ program doesn’t meet a provision in a new federal law that requires it to not cost the federal government more than would be projected without the program.  

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The state needs to invest in Medicaid by increasing enrollment, Love said. Arkansas depends heavily on Medicaid, and the state’s healthcare system doesn’t work without it, he said. 

Many rural hospitals have closed or cut back on services due to increasing labor, equipment and administrative costs, and low reimbursement rates. 

Supporting Medicaid helps keep Arkansans healthy and prevents them from going to the hospital when they’re sick, which can be expensive, Love said.

Shelby said he hopes the state’s Medicaid expansion request is granted. He also said it was a “no-brainer” to opt into a federal policy that allows states to extend Medicaid postpartum coverage to 12 months. 

Arkansas is the only state to end postpartum Medicaid coverage at 60 days instead of extending to a year. Sanders has said the coverage isn’t needed because the state has other insurance options for low-income Arkansans.  

Education

Sanders said she’s not walking away from education, a major focus of her first term.

The 2023 LEARNS Act made several changes to the state’s public school system, including raising the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 and creating a school voucher program that allows state funds to be used on certain educational expenses, such as private school tuition. 

The program is open to all K-12 students and has received bipartisan pushback from lawmakers over its growing cost and impact on public schools. 

Love said one of his first acts as governor would be signing an executive order to end the program. Sanders dismissed Love’s vow.

“It’s illegal and so it’s not going to happen,” she said. 

Love vows order halting school vouchers if elected Arkansas governor 

The governor cited improvements in students’ test scores, and questioned why someone would move away from a system that’s working. 

The Arkansas Constitution vests legislative power in the General Assembly.  But Love argued he would have the authority to bypass the Legislature and end the voucher program under Section 6 Article 2 of the Arkansas Constitution, which says the “supreme executive power” of the state is vested in the governor.  

“The Arkansas LEARNS Act is a long-term, detrimental piece of legislation that’s going to end up closing a lot of public school systems if we don’t stop it now,” he said. 

These closures can hurt communities where school districts are the area’s largest employer, Love said.

Shelby said he would scale the program back to have income requirements, noting it’s helped some students access education they couldn’t have afforded otherwise.

Additionally, Shelby wants to restructure the state’s education department to allow for more decisions to be made at the local level instead of the Capitol. He also wants the department to be led by an Arkansas native who knows the state’s public school system. 

“I want to put a lot of emphasis on our public education, and I’m not saying money, I’m saying attention because throwing money at it doesn’t always work,” he said. 

Prison system

Sanders said she still believes Franklin County is the best place to build a new prison to address the state’s overcrowding issues. The project has been put on hold after facing public pushback and challenges with infrastructure and funding. 

However, Sanders said she’s open to other alternatives such as expanding a Little Rock recidivism program and expanding existing prison capacity. The state has opened up 1,500 additional beds at existing facilities and will continue working with the Legislature to expand capacity, she said. 

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Shelby, who lives in Franklin County, and Love both oppose the prison project.

“Building more prisons is not the answer,” Love said. “We are not going to jail our way to a safer society.”

Love said he would look at the whole system, which he said needs to include a comprehensive plan for helping incarcerated people transition to society after being released, fairly compensating county jails for holding state inmates and increasing bed capacity at the state’s mental health hospital. 

He also highlighted the correlation between literacy and incarceration, and said the state needs to invest in a better childcare system so kids can start learning reading skills early. 

Shelby said he would look at amending the Protect Arkansas Act, the 2023 law signed by Sanders that overhauled the state’s prison system. The law requires the most violent offenders to serve the majority of their sentences, leading to more people in prison.

“The Protect Act’s one of the poorest bills that’s costing us a whole lot of money,” he said. “It’s not keeping anybody safer.”

Shelby said he would support reentry programs, as well as expanding the Calico Rock prison and existing county facilities in areas with high crime.