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Huckabee wants to reassert state authority over school funding Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 By James Jefferson Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - A state senator who discouraged colleagues from lecturing the state Supreme Court in an education reform report also questioned Tuesday whether the wisdom of admonishing the court to butt out of public school funding, as Gov. Mike Huckabee suggests. The governor wants state responses to the high court's order to remedy funding deficiencies to include a reassertion of legislative and executive jurisdiction over financing public schools. He is considering calling a special session as early as this month. The state has increased funding for schools by more than $700 million over the past two years in response to a 2001 Supreme Court order declaring Arkansas' school funding system unconstitutional. But lawmakers again are considering additional dollars for public schools because of a December high court ruling that funding approved in 2005 for the current school year was inadequate. Huckabee said he supports granting schools an inflationary adjustment and increasing the state allocation for improving school facilities in a special session that he said should also include a message to the court that the Legislature and governor have agreed on a definition of educational adequacy that justices should respect. "We have to tell the court 'This is it. We've defined the target, we've hit the target,'" Huckabee said in an interview with the Arkansas News Bureau. Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne, who last week urged members of the House and Senate education committees not to include criticism of the court in a report to other legislators on funding recommendations, said Tuesday he doubted a statement such as Huckabee suggested would serve any useful purpose. "I don't entirely agree with the court, but I don't entirely disagree with them. Without their involvement, we wouldn't have made some of the significant progress that we've made," Luker said. "At some point, obviously, it's appropriate that they step out of the picture. I don't think they want to play an continuing role in the state's public education system," he said. "But whether any words, as opposed to deeds, on the part of the Legislature is going to accomplish that, I don't know. Our focus needs to be on deeds and trying to accomplish some of the things that the court made a point of." In December, the court found the amount of funding the Legislature approved for public schools this year and next year to be unconstitutionally inadequate. In particular, the court criticized lawmakers for failing to raise the state minimum aid to school districts beyond the $5,400-per-student level set in a 2004 special session. The high court also said lawmakers "grossly underfunded" a 10-year, $2 billion overhaul of public school facilities with $120 million in start-up money over the next two years. The court ruling resulted from a petition by the Rogers School District - 48 other districts subsequently joined - to reopen the school funding case it closed after lauding reforms the Legislature approved two years ago. David Matthews, lawyer for the Rogers' district, said Huckabee's call for a declaration of authority over school funding oversimplified the issue. The Supreme Court has never tried to usurp the authority of the legislative and executive branches to define educational adequacy or tell the Legislature and the governor how to define or set school funding, Matthews said. "What they have said is, 'If you don't follow your own rules and laws, it is our job as the third branch to tell you that you have not met the constitutional level," he said. "That's not going to change, no matter what legislation they pass. Legislation does not trump the constitution, and it shouldn't." Last week, the House and Senate education committees endorsed a plan to provide $87 million more in minimum state aid to school districts for this school year and next, including increases for teacher salaries and school operating costs. Lawmakers also heard a report that additional facilities funding could range from $50 million to $180 million. The education committees are scheduled to meet Thursday to consider adopting the full report. Matthews said it was "good that the Legislature has conducted hearings and heard from people and is trying to answer the questions that should have been answered before the last regular session," but he declined to comment on the funding proposals. |
