I am a plaintiff in two court cases that challenge the LEARNS Act and not at liberty to argue those cases in this forum. However, there are a plethora of other problems with the LEARNS Act that need addressing, some that could become court cases in the future. Those interested in my cases may access them, as they are public record.

I sat on my mom's front porch swing with her the other evening, counting hummingbirds as they sipped from her zinnias. We listened to whippoorwills as lightning bugs appeared like the first stars and began to thread through the heavy July air, their tiny lanterns blinking against the gathering dark. There is a predictable rhythm to a summer evening in Arkansas. It comforts me. Cicadas swell in a rhythmic chorus, the frogs answer from the river, and you know, without looking at a clock, when the sun gives way to nightfall. I think it is human to like things that are predictable. It makes us feel safe. We like knowing that if we plant a seed in the rich dark soil of the Delta, or tend a tomato patch in the rocky dirt of the Ozarks, the earth will give back in direct proportion to what we put in.

But lately, I've been thinking about a different kind of math operating in our state, one that doesn't care much for the predictable rhythms of our communities. I've been wading through the ledger sheets of the Arkansas LEARNS Act, specifically this complicated creature called "performance funding."

If you ask the folks in Little Rock, they'll tell you it's a beautiful piece of machinery, designed to reward excellence, to spark a fire under our schools by tying real dollars to measurable outcomes. On paper, it sounds as pure and clear as the Buffalo River. But paper doesn't have to live in the real world. In the real world, funding for our children used to be simple and transparent--a baseline of about $7,700 per student, traveling with the child like a backpack full of supplies, guaranteed and steady.

Performance funding........

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