Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Judge Rejects Settlement

STATE SEN. MIKE ROSS

District Three

A Pulaski County judge has rejected a proposed settlement of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's school funding formula.

The settlement had been agreed to by the plaintiffs, the governor, the attorney general, the State Board of Education and legislative committees that monitor litigation in which the state is a party.

The suit was filed by the Lake View School District in eastern Arkansas in 1992. The plaintiffs said that the state formula for distributing aid to public schools did not go far enough to equalize spending among rich and poor districts.

There are 311 school districts in Arkansas and state aid accounts for about 62 percent of the revenues. Most of the remainder of the revenues are generated by local property taxes.

The Lake View School District's challenge of the funding formula became a class action lawsuit. The Pulaski County chancery judge said that the proposed settlement would be unfair to other school districts in Arkansas that are a member of the class. The settlement would have barred any legal challenges to the funding formula for the next two years.

Opponents contended that if the settlement was approved, school patrons and school districts would relinquish for two years their right to challenge the fairness of the state's funding formula.

One major reason the judge rejected the settlement is that Arkansas voters approved Amendment 74 to the state consti-tution in 1996. The amendment sets minimum millages for property taxes levied for public schools.

The amendment also creates a method in which the state collects revenues and redistributes the fund to all school districts. The method has narrowed the gap in per pupil expenditures so that education funding in poor areas is more nearly equal to that in more prosperous areas.

The judge said that imple-mentation of the amendment had apparently resolved the questions of unequal funding that were raised in the 1992 lawsuit.

In recognition of the role played by the Lake View District in causing the state to equalize school funding, the judge said that Lake View's attorneys deserved substantial fees. He urged the attorneys and the State Education Department to try to reach an agreement on the amount of the fees.

There are still questions remaining about the status of the lawsuit. The Pulaski Chancery Court ruling appeared to be a final chapter in the legal challenge of the funding formula that was in place in 1992. However, attorneys left open the possibility that a lawsuit may be brought that challenges the current formula.

Supporters of the settlement want the case ended so that the courts no longer have jurisdiction over education funding, which is one of the main responsibilities of the legislature.

Revenue Report

State general revenues in March were about $281 million, an increase of $22.6 million over March of 1997. Greater than expected sales tax revenues accounted for much of the increase.

This is good news, because state revenues reflect the health of the Arkansas economy. The revenue report indicates that the job market in Arkansas is healthy, and that Arkansans are sufficiently confident in their economic future that they are buying more products.