[April 17, 2025] Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF), an organization of top attorneys that regularly defend constitutional rights, issued their praise for Gov. Sarah Huckabee-Sanders’ signing of SB 572 into law in Arkansas earlier today. This news closely related to SLF’s legal work representing Miranda Stovall, a mother of four who was denied copies of secret survey materials in her child’s public school district in Kentucky. That Kentucky school district denied the mom’s request to obtain the surveys given to her minor child, claiming the material was copyrighted.

This new Arkansas law is the first of its kind in the US and clarifies the state’s Freedom of Information Act to make all school learning materials and curriculum officially categorized as public records that are accessible to parents and the public for review without school districts claiming they are protected by non-disclosure agreements with curriculum/textbook companies.

SLF Executive Director Kim Hermann said, “We applaud Gov. Huckabee-Sanders for signing this first-of-its-kind bill into law. There has been a sinister trend of schools across the nation issuing secret surveys to children where the parents are not privy to the personal questions being asked. These surveys have been found to include inappropriate questions relating to sex, race, gender, and mental health. The passing of this bill into law affirms that schools are not allowed to indoctrinate children and then try to hide behind intellectual property and copyright laws. Children belong to their parents, not school districts or governments. Arkansas is leading the way in parental rights with this decision and other States would do well to follow suit.”

Download SLF’s full statement.