Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Session didn't go as planned

Everything didn't go according to Hoyle at the recent special session of the Arkansas General Assembly, but Sen. Percy Malone said he believes the Legislature met the court's mandate.

Malone said the Arkansas Supreme Court gave the appointed masters 10 points to gather factors on to determine whether or not the state complied with its order. "I believe we're in compliance. The Legislature had responses to all 10 points. Now, the masters are in fact finding mode for the ASC."

The 10 points in question are:

(1) The Adequacy Study prepared for the General Assembly and the steps taken by that body to implement the study;

(2) The steps taken by the State to put in place a system to assess, evaluate and monitor public school curricula offered in all primary and secondary schools in the state;

(3) The steps implemented by the State to assure that a substantially equal curriculum is available to all school children in this state;

(4) The steps taken by the State to assess and evaluate public school buildings and educational equipment across the state;

(5) The steps taken by the State to implement measures to assure substantially equal school buildings and school equipment are available to all school children in this state;

(6) The measures in place to assure teacher salaries are sufficient to prevent the migration of teachers from poor school districts to wealthier districts or neighboring states;

(7) The accountability and accounting measures in place for the State to determine per-pupil expenditures and how money is actually being spent in local school districts;

(8) The accountability and testing measures in place to evaluate the performance and rankings of Arkansas students by grade, including rankings in-state, regionally and nationally;

(9) The measures taken by the General Assembly to enact a school funding formula and to fund it so the school children of this state are afforded (a) an adequate education, and (b) a substantially equal educational opportunity so as to close the gap between wealthy districts and poor ones; and

(10) The measures taken by the General Assembly to assure funding education is the priority matter in the budgetary process.

While expressing optimism in meeting the 10 points, Malone said there will be some administrative consolidation. In fact, some 57 schools will likely be administratively consolidated.

"Gov. Huckabee," he said, "acts like we didn't comply with the court order, and this is the first time in Arkansas history we had a tax increase without the support of the governor." The tax hike is the 7/8 cent increase in the state sales tax. Gov. Huckabee allowed it to become law without signing it.

The work done by the Legislature, Malone said, is significant because of the steps taken for education in Arkansas. Under the laws passed teachers will be better paid, there will be accountability and more equitable funding for school districts.

The Legislature, he said, in future sessions, will see what it costs to educate each child, take this amount, multiply it by the number of students in the state and this will be the base amount needed for educational purposes in Arkansas.

The Arkansas Constitution, he said, requires the state to fund three things: the three branches of government, the national guard and free education for all the children of the state. The other things the state provides money for, he added, such as roads, bridges and prisons, are not mandated for funding by the Constitution.

"They will take a back seat to the cost of education," Malone said. "The accountability portion of the laws will let the public know how much money is going to schools, where it's spent and how the schools, students and teachers are doing."

Parental involvement, he said, is a key, and discipline is a major issue. "The court said no excuses."

To make things more equitable, the Legislature put more money into low income students, those with learning disabilities and those needing English as a second language. The court order, Malone said, also dealt with teacher pay and mandated the state get teacher salaries to the regional average. "We did it, and also put $40 million into pre-K. We had been spending $14 million a year on pre-K," he continued. "In order to help education in Arkansas we must get children at the youngest age possible."

Malone said the standardized testing shouldn't be seen as a threat by either students or teachers, but as a tool to improve with and measure what's being done. "We hope to be able to note improvement with the Benchmarks. We hope there's a way to reward the better teachers, but don't want to punish anyone. There needs to be a way to help get students to their potential."

Malone said the Legislature tried to comply with the Constitution and ASC mandate. "Arkansas is a rural state. We can't have one big school in Little Rock and have everyone drive there."