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Special masters: Schools have means for adequacy, but vigilance needed Friday, Apr 27, 2007 By John Lyon Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK - The special masters in the Lake View school funding case reported to the state Supreme Court on Thursday the state's public schools should have the financial means now to provide students with an adequate education, although the state must be vigilant to ensure sufficient funding continues. "Meeting the challenge of using the support which is in place, and that which will ensue, to give adequate education to Arkansas' children now passes to the local school districts. They should have the means to meet the challenge if the state remains committed to the all-important practice of funding education first," masters Bradley Jesson and David Newbern said in a report to the court. The masters said legislators, governors and other state officials "come and go," but they hope there has been an "awakening" to the need for continued vigilance of the state of Arkansas' schools. A successful future for Arkansas' schools will depend in large measure on continual review of finances and standards, the masters said. The now-defunct Lake View School District in Phillips County sued the state in 1992, claiming inequitable distribution of state education funding. In 2002, the state Supreme Court declared Arkansas public school funding system unconstitutionally inequitable and inadequate. The Legislature enacted sweeping changes in school academics and accountability in a 2003-04 special session, along with $400 million in new taxes to pay for them. Following a Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that school funding remained inadequate, the Legislature increased funding by more than $132 million in a 2006 special session. The state had been given a Dec. 1 deadline to address the court's concerns, but shortly before the deadline four school districts that had joined the lawsuit moved to keep the case open. The court granted the motion and asked Jesson and Newbern to take another look at school funding. At a hearing last week, lawyers for the school districts offered mostly favorable opinions of the Legislature's efforts. They praised the General assembly for, among other things, earmarking $456 million of the state's budget surplus for improvements to school facilities and increasing per-student funding by $121 million over the next two years. In their report to the court Thursday, Jesson and Newbern also praised the Legislature's efforts. "The new and improved school facilities which will result from the large appropriation from the fortuitous current financial surplus in the state treasury will play an important part in making our system of education one in which Arkansans may take pride," the masters said in the report. The masters also said it has become apparent that the General Assembly, the governor and education officials are aware that the task is continuous and reviews must be performed for every biennium. "We're still reviewing the report, but on its face it looks very encouraging," said Matt DeCample, spokesman for the vacationing Gov. Mike Beebe. "The masters had some very complimentary things to say about the strides forward in education that were made during the past legislative session," DeCample said. "We think it's a credit to the hard work by the legislators and the educators and the parents who all put in the effort together." Beebe was golfing in Arizona. DeCample said the governor was being provided a copy of the masters' report but may not have a comment until Friday. David Matthews, lawyer for the Rogers School District, which led the latest challenge to school funding, said the report was well-written and provided the Supreme Court with the factual outline it needs to determine if the Legislature's actions have created a constitutional public education system. "That's really the Supreme Court's call, but if they ask us to file a brief or make oral arguments, we're going to say we are very pleased," Matthews said. He said he would not be surprised if the Supreme Court relinquished jurisdiction of the school funding case, with an admonishment that the court would be open to a new case if the states reneges on its commitment to adequate fund public education. |
