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Good week's work, lawmakers say about special session Sunday, Apr 9, 2006 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - State legislators left a weeklong special session on education confident they had met a state Supreme Court order to address deficiencies in public school funding. Lawmakers also were surprised and pleased with the volume of legislation they were able to act on during the session that ended Friday. The Legislature increased state aid to public schools by nearly $200 million for this school year and next, raised the state minimum wage by $1.10 an hour, adopted a statewide ban on smoking in the workplace, including restaurants, and stiffened penalties for sexual predators. Gov. Mike Huckabee, who called the special session March 31, praised the Legislature for what he called a landmark week of work. "It just shows that when you can pass a minimum wage bill, a bill that deals with sexual predators, a clean air act ... some of the most major pieces of school funding legislation ever in the history of the state among others, it's a pretty good weeks work," Huckabee said. "Taxpayers, I think, can feel like their Legislature's gave them a good week's work this week." In December, the Supreme Court declared Arkansas' public education system unconstitutional. The high court ruled that lawmakers in the 2005 regular session failed to determine the amount of adequate education funding necessary for the 2005-06 school year. Justices criticized the Legislature for freezing minimum state funding at $5,400 per student and for not dedicating enough money to a 10-year, $2 billion facilities overhaul. The funding package approved during last week's special session raised per-student funding to $5,486 for this school year and $5,620 for 2006-07, and set aside an additional $50 million to go along with the $120 million lawmakers approved last year 2005 for facilities improvements over the two-year period. Other pieces of the school funding puzzle included $13 million in extra money for isolated school districts and for districts with declining enrollment. Money for the isolated and shrinking districts would come from existing revenues, while the state would tap its budget surplus to add to school facilities funding. "I just don't see how the Supreme Court could disagree," said Rep. Tommy Dickinson, D-Newport, assessing the Legislature's work in meeting the Supreme Court mandate. "We did everything possible to meet their concerns," said Rep. Jodie Mahony, D-El Dorado. Huckabee proclaimed that lawmakers met the high court's edict with a $132.5 million package that includes a cost-of-living adjustment in school aid for districts this school year and next. "I think that we have more than adequately met the need of addressing the COLA issue, which was one of the driving reasons in why we met here," Huckabee said, though he acknowledged he would have preferred more money for minimum teacher salaries. Originally slated for a 2.4 percent increase each of the next two years, the Senate accepted a House compromise for a 1.6 percent hike this year and a 2.4 percent increase next year. House Speaker Bill Stovall, D-Quitman, and Senate leader Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, said there was strong disagreement between them on the pay raise, but no animosity. "The House was strongly united behind the speaker's view, and views in the Senate were more diverse," Argue said. "The speaker won on that issue because the difference between 1.6 percent and 2.4 percent was not enough (to cause a stalemate), compared to extending the session or threatening the session." Also approved during the special session were bills to ban smoking in public workplaces, raise the state's minimum wage to $6.25 an hour, limit protests at funerals, enhance punishment for sex offenders and prohibit smoking in vehicles containing small children. "I thought it would take two weeks," said Rep. LeRoy Dangeau, D-Wynne, surprised that lawmakers dispensed with a 31-item agenda in a week. "Things went very smoothly for the amount of what we had to accomplish," Rep. John Paul Verkamp, R-Charleston, said. Rep. Roy Ragland, D-Marshall, who represents nine small school districts in his north Arkansas district, said he came to the special session determined to protect small school districts. He said he left having accomplished his goal. "The important thing for me is that we were able to balance the teacher pay scale and the foundational funding for rural schools," Ragland said. "The way it was set up originally, it was going to cost schools more money. But with this balance, it's going to work real well." Approving $13 million in extra funding for isolated school districts and districts with declining enrollment also was a key, he said. Rep. Shirley Walters, R-Greenwood, said one disappointment was that lawmakers rejected her bill that would have prohibited school districts from using state funds to sue the state over education issues. "That was a disappointment to me and also a larger number of others," Walters said. Huckabee supported the legislation, along with a measure he proposed that would have capped school districts' spending for administrative costs to 8 percent of their budgets. That measure also failed. ----- Arkansas News Bureau reporters Aaron Sadler and Doug Thompson contributed to this report |
