Erika Lara, Katie Parrish, and Nikita Glendenning v. Gwen Faulkenberry, Special Renee Sanders, Anika Whitfield, and Kimberly Crutchfield

Summary

The Arkansas Supreme Court held that parents participating in the Arkansas Education Freedom Account program had a recognized, legally protectable interest in litigation challenging the program's constitutionality. The court further held that state actors did not adequately represent the parents' narrower interests and therefore reversed and remanded the denial of intervention as of right.

Holdings

1. The appellants established a recognized interest because invalidation of the program would cause them economic loss, including the loss of approximately $6,600 available for private-school tuition or home-schooling expenses, and the requested clawback directly threatened their resources.
2. The state actors did not adequately represent the appellants' interests because the state defendants had a broad focus on Arkansas's public-education system, while the appellants had a narrower personal interest in the education of their own children and could provide evidence relevant to the equitable consequences of the requested relief.
3. The appellants were entitled to intervene as a matter of right under Arkansas Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a)(2).

Questions Presented

1. Whether parents eligible for the Arkansas Education Freedom Account program have a direct, substantial, and legally protectable interest sufficient to intervene as of right in a constitutional challenge to the program.
2. Whether disposition of the constitutional challenge may practically impair or impede the parents' ability to protect that interest.
3. Whether the interests of the parents are adequately represented by the state actors defending the program.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded