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Supreme Court rules school funding unconstitutional, again Friday, Dec 16, 2005 By Aaron Sadler Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The state has retreated from its obligation to adequately support public education and must reverse its course within a year, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled Thursday. Gov. Mike Huckabee said it was too early for him to decide whether to call a special session to address the court's concerns. The governor said he would review the opinion and build legislative consensus before committing to a session. In a 5-2 decision, the high court ruled the Legislature failed to make education spending its top priority in this year's regular session and "grossly underfunded" school building repairs and construction. The court set a Dec. 1, 2006, deadline for lawmakers to remedy what Justice Robert Brown called "a constitutional infirmity which must be corrected immediately." Huckabee dismissed suggestions that the state dip into a $123 million budget surplus to address the high court decision. Budgets fluctuate, he said. Brown wrote the majority opinion for the court, as he did in 2002 when justices found education funding inadequate and unconstitutional. Forty-nine school districts asked the Supreme Court earlier this year to reopen the school funding case - first filed by the Lake View School District in 1992 - that it closed last year after the Legislature adopted sweeping reforms. The districts claimed that lawmakers' decision this year to freeze per-student funding at the $5,400 amount set in a special session last year resulted in inadequate funding for Arkansas' 450,000 public school students during the current school year. The high court did not specify what it considered a proper funding figure, but said legislators should have abided by a law that requires a biennial study to determine financial adequacy. The court said the Legislature was wrong to freeze minimum state aid and funding for at-risk students. The ruling also said lawmakers failed to make education their top spending priority, and that they allocated $85 million less than necessary for immediate school building projects. "This is a gentle nudging back on course, and I think we'll all benefit from that," said David Matthews, attorney for the Rogers School District, which filed the court petition that 48 other school districts joined. "I think the court hit all the right notes," he said. Huckabee said he would take some time to consider the ruling before deciding a course of action. "Keep in mind the Supreme Court took months - months, not days, not weeks, months - to come to a conclusion about what should be done. And even then, it's fairly vague," the governor said at a Capitol news conference. "They cannot expect us in days, or even weeks, to be able then to come up with the detailed and meticulous plans to implement something that would meet ... what they took months to come to." House Speaker Bill Stovall, D-Quitman, said he was willing to work with the governor and legislative leaders to come up with a solution. "Obviously the ruling appears to say we've inadequately funded education and facilities," Stovall said. "I am willing to work to provide some remedy if we can get a group in the House and Senate to agree on a remedy and want to work with that in a special session. We would work with the governor should he call one." In a contentious 4-3 vote this spring, the high court retook jurisdiction in the case at the request of the complaining school districts, led by Rogers, Barton-Lexa, Little Rock and Pulaski County. The Lake View district was forced to consolidate with the Barton-Lexa district last year under a new law that forced the mergers of districts with fewer than 350 students. Arkansas' first statutory consolidation law was among sweeping education reforms adopted last year, along with more than $370 million in new taxes to pay for them. This year, the Legislature appropriated more than $110 million toward a 10-year, $1.9 billion overhaul of public school buildings and equipment. Huckabee remained troubled by the court's earlier decision to reopen the case, but said Thursday that the issue is now "water under the bridge." "We respect the court's decision," he said. In Thursday's 5-2 decision, Justices Betty Dickey, Donald Corbin and Tom Glaze and Special Justice Carol Dalby joined Brown in the majority. Chief Justice Jim Hannah dissented, joined by Justice Jim Gunter. Hannah's dissent contended the court overstepped its authority in monitoring or ordering action by other branches of government. Dalby joined Hannah and Gunter this spring, but said in a concurring opinion Thursday she relented to the majority on the question of jurisdiction. The court appointed Special Masters Bradley Jesson and David Newbern to evaluate the school districts' complaints. In an October report, the masters criticized lawmakers for failing to increase per-student spending. The masters said testimony indicated districts needed more money to keep up with inflation and pay for several programs mandated by the Legislature. They said a $35 million increase in state aid for health insurance premiums did little to directly effect education. The court concurred with most of the masters' report. During their hearings, the masters found "largely uncontradicted evidence" that the Legislature backtracked in its support of education. On Thursday, Attorney General Mike Beebe said he had nothing to work with when it came to defending the Legislature's failure to conduct the adequacy study, as required by Act 57 of last year's special session. "There were a couple things we didn't put up much of a defense on because there was no evidence," Beebe said. "The main one was that there was no adequacy study done. There was no evidence to contradict that." The court said the Legislature could not have determined whether a cost-of-living adjustment was necessary without the adequacy study. Even so, Brown wrote it was "troubling" that all other state employees received cost-of-living raises, while public schools got nothing. The court said information is now available to conduct an Act 57 study. The court urged one immediately, otherwise risk two years of educational inadequacy. Without compliance with Act 57, the state would: "write off two years of public education in Arkansas, which we refuse to do." Outside consultants are scheduled to submit an adequacy report to legislators by Sept. 1, although Huckabee said the House and Senate education committees might make an adequacy determination sooner. If the Legislature does meet in special session before the court-mandated deadline, Huckabee would consider renewing his push for broader school consolidation. Meanwhile, he said he would review how efficiently the state spends its public school dollars. He called for greater transparency in how public education money is spent. Thursday, he produced a document showing an average of $94.150 yearly goes to the average public school classroom. Of that, $39,266 is for teacher salary and Huckabee labeled $54,884 as "unidentified expenditures." Throughout hearings before the special masters and the Supreme Court, lawyers for the state attorney general's office maintained the court should consider how efficiently public schools spend their money. As a result of tax increase enacted last year, school districts receive about $400 million more annually. Beebe said the state needs more time to see how that additional revenue is utilized. "While financial resources are obviously important, constitutionality is about much more than just money," the attorney general said. "The taxpayers are entitled to know precisely how effectively their money is being spent before they are asked to spend more." Huckabee said improved test scores and higher teacher pay should have also been considered when judging educational adequacy. "It seems like the only factor we look at is how much money we spend," the governor said. The attorney general's argument that the high court should consider adequacy as a political question they should not address was shot down by the court Thursday. Also, the court rejected a portion of the special masters' report that criticized Huckabee and the General Assembly. The court called members of the executive and legislative branches "dedicated public servants who are striving to meet the educational goals of this state." Matthews expects Huckabee to move forward to call lawmakers into session soon. "I frankly think, given our governor's historic interest in education and his willingness to comply with court orders in the past, he, when the time is right, will call a special session." |
