Arkansas Legislature Takes First Steps to Comply with Lake View Ruling

On January 23, 2003, the Arkansas House Education Committee recommended a bill that would establish a Joint Committee on Educational Adequacy. The Committee would first define the components of an adequate education for Arkansas students and then, with the help of consultants, determine the cost of those components, including per-pupil spending, in order to arrive at a dollar figure for the total cost necessary. The bill proposes that the Committee report its findings to the Legislature and Governor by July 31, 2003.

Debate about the formation of the committee was complicated by the concurrent discussion in Arkansas about consolidation of the state's smallest districts. Members of the teachers and superintendents unions, who oppose consolidation, argued that that the state should delay consolidation until the adequacy study is complete, but Governor Mike Huckabee, among others, countered that the study could not be done until it is known how many districts the state will have.

Proposed creation of the committee is in response to an Arkansas Supreme Court decision in November 2002 that found the state's school funding system unconstitutional and ordered that an adequacy study be conducted.

Prepared January 24, 2003