After near-split with Girls State over deadline issue, Arkansas legislators to host alternative

Arkansas Girls State participants in the House chamber on May 29, 2025. (Photo courtesy of the Arkansas House of Representatives)

By Ainsley Platt, Arkansas Advocate

One of the most contentious issues Arkansas lawmakers confronted this year had nothing to do with the state’s multibillion-dollar budget or millions proposed in income tax cuts. Nor was it related to hot-button topics like school vouchers.

What riled up lawmakers instead was the prospect that dozens of high school girls would be unable to participate in a civic tradition that dates back to World War II. The dispute endangered the Legislature’s relationship with Arkansas Girls State, with lawmakers threatening to revoke the group’s access to House and Senate chambers.

The near-split from Arkansas Girls State arose during the session that wrapped up last month and centered around the program’s application deadline. The bipartisan backlash against the group’s deadlines highlighted the importance of the civic education Girls State has provided for high school students, lawmakers said.

“We should be encouraging young girls to participate in programs such as this, not degrading them because they didn’t get something turned in on time, or an adult didn’t get something turned in on time,” said Rep. DeAnn Vaught, a Republican lawmaker who spearheaded the campaign against the group’s decision.

The tiff began when legislators said they heard from families caught off-guard and complaining about a change in the application deadline compared to past years. High school guidance counselors must submit paperwork to nominate eligible rising high school seniors. This year, that deadline fell during the week of spring break.

Vaught said the number of rising seniors who would ultimately miss out on Girls State due to the stricter deadlines numbered at around 150 — though she said the number could be higher.

“It may be more than that now, because they were — I hate to say bragging — but they were like, ‘Oh, there’ll be more who will miss it because they won’t get their money paid in on time,’” Vaught said.

Arkansas Girls State is a summer program that has been sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary’s Department of Arkansas since 1942, providing an education in civic engagement and the legislative process through participation in a week of programming, mock political campaigns and elections. The events end with a mock legislative session at the Arkansas Capitol. Its sibling, Arkansas Boys State, began in 1935.

Both groups have a storied history in Arkansas politics. A 1963 photograph of Bill Clinton shaking John F. Kennedy’s hand as a Boys State delegate to Boys Nation became famous during Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders also served in Girls State, participating the same year as former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker’s daughter. After Tucker died last year, Sanders said she and Tucker’s daughter, Sarah, ran on a joint “Huck and Tuck” ticket during their time at Girls State.

The auxiliary did not respond to a request for comment for this story. In a statement posted on its website, the organization said its deadlines were not arbitrary, had been communicated numerous times and were necessary for the smooth execution of the program. The program hosted more than 600 girls for a week at Harding University last summer, and is set to be held between May 24 and May 29 this year.

“It was an honest mistake made by adults that are in a public school system where they’re very busy and overburdened anyways, and to punish the girls because of it, we just couldn’t understand,” said Republican Sen. Breanne Davis, one of the Girls State chairs alongside Vaught.

Vaught said the program is exceedingly important — and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many of the girls, who can only participate in the summer between their junior and senior years.

“It’s so important that they learn as much as they can about how, really, how our world works, as far as in the political realm,” Vaught said.

The deadline issue caught the attention of legislators when they began getting calls from the families of girls who were told by the auxiliary that they couldn’t participate in the week-long summer program.

All 134 sitting lawmakers signed onto letters urging the auxiliary to extend the missed deadline.

Davis and Vaught said that failed to prompt any communication from the organization, so they filed resolutions to prevent Girls State from using the House and Senate chambers as it traditionally does each year for its mock legislative session.

After the resolution was filed, the auxiliary reached out, Davis said, but “it was very clear at that time that they were immovable and unwilling to let the girls in.”

Vaught said the resolutions weren’t meant to be retaliatory, but rather to try and get the auxiliary to respond to legislators’ concerns. Ultimately, Girls State was allowed to continue using the chambers. The Senate resolution passed, but was later rescinded. The House’s resolution was pulled by Vaught before it could go to a floor vote.

After the resolutions failed to yield a satisfactory solution, Vaught and Davis announced the creation of the Arkansas Civic Leadership Institute, a one-day alternative to still give the girls a taste of the legislative process.

At least a dozen lawmakers plan to volunteer their time to pull off the condensed program, which will take place May 26, though Vaught said they won’t be able to replicate the full Girls State experience.

“They should get the experience that they would get at the Capitol on the day that they would have been there,” Vaught said.

The Arkansas Advocate is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to tough, fair daily reporting and investigative journalism that holds public officials accountable and focuses on the relationship between the lives of Arkansans and public policy.