Analysis: Education amendment could cost Arkansas taxpayers more than $1 billion per year

Opportunity Arkansas, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy organization, published an analysis this week exposing the potential cost of the union-backed Arkansas education amendment. They show it could cost taxpayers AT LEAST $1 billion per year.

“The proposed constitutional amendment contains a set of massive unfunded mandates that could leave Arkansas taxpayers on the hook for more than $1 billion per year (and perhaps even more) with no plan to pay for these mandates.“

“Unfortunately, Arkansans won’t be given any clear understanding of what the costs are or how to pay for them when presented with petitions by far-left advocates. And if the amendment makes it to the November ballot, the spending provisions will remain as clear as mud. But these rough estimates alone show that taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars—exceeding $1 billion—if this radical amendment is adopted as part of the state constitution.

“Just how much is $1 billion in context of the Arkansas budget?

“It’s more than the state spent last fiscal year on the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, Department of Health, Department of Labor and Licensing, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Transformation and Shared Services, and Department of Energy and Environment combined.“

Click here to read the entire Opportunity Arkansas analysis.