Horatio school stops student from aiding campaign of Rep. DeAnn Vaught

A Sevier County high school stopped a student from using school resources to aid the re-election campaign of District 4 Rep. DeAnn Vaught.

She is running for re-election to the Arkansas House of Representatives.

Zane Vanderpool, Horatio's superintendent, says the school immediately stopped the student's assignment.

For Rep. DeAnn Vaught's re-election campaign, the student was in the process of creating a website, logo, and t-shirt design.

The school learned about the issue from a concerned parent in February.

Vaught represents Sevier County, Little River Couty, and a section of Howard County.

She also serves on several committees, including the House Education Committee.

According to news reports, election law in Arkansas disallows using publicly funded property and/or resources for political campaigns. 

The superintendent said he learned of the project after the representative was present at the student's marketing class.

However, school officials said that the instructor was unaware that the project broke any policy by working on the political campaign. 

The school district informed the teacher, and all work on the campaign project ceased. The student was then asked to choose a different project.

According to school officials, the teacher was not aware a school project collaborating with a student for campaign materials is against the law or school district policy.

School officials told the teacher to end the work and have the student choose another subject for the assignment.

It does not appear anyone broke any laws in the matter, and the project was not suspended.

However, students received a valuable lesson about mixing politics with state resources that they will not soon forget.