Lake View School Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee
| Decision Date | 18 June 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-836.,01-836. |
| Citation | 189 S.W.3d 1 |
| Parties | LAKE VIEW SCHOOL DISTRICT NO. 25 OF PHILLIPS COUNTY, Arkansas, et al. v. Governor Mike HUCKABEE, et al. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Lewellen & Associates, by: Roy C. Lewellen, Marianna, for appellant class.
Wilson Law Firm, P.A., by: E. Dion Wilson, Helena, for appellant school district.
Mike Beebe, Att'y Gen., by: Timothy Gauger, Ass't Att'y Gen., for appellees.
Matthews, Campbell, Rhoads, McClure, Thompson & Fryauf, P.A., by David R. Matthews, Rogers, for intervenors Rogers and Bentonville Public School Districts.
Friday, Eldredge & Clark, by: Christopher Heller, Little Rock, for intervenor Little Rock School District.
Mitchell, Blackstock, Barnes, Wagoner, Ivers & Sneddon, by: Clayton R. Blackstock and Mark Burnette, Little Rock, for amicus curiae Arkansas Education Association.
Kaplan, Brewer, Maxey & Haralson, P.A., by: Regina Haralson, Little Rock, for amicus curiae Arkansas Public Policy Panel.
On April 2, 2004, the Masters filed their report in this matter as directed by this court's per curiam order of February 3, 2004. See Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 356 Ark. 1, 144 S.W.3d 741 (2004). On that same date, this court asked that any objection to the report by the parties be filed within twenty days. See Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 356 Ark. 587, 157 S.W.3d 192 (2004) (per curiam). Several objections and comments were filed, and this court issued a per curiam directing an expedited briefing schedule and oral arguments set for May 20, 2004. See Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 357 Ark. 274, 161 S.W.3d 787 (2004). Briefs were submitted, and oral arguments have been made. We now issue a supplemental opinion in this matter.
Our charge to the Masters in our February 3, 2004 per curiam was to examine and evaluate action by the General Assembly to aid this court in determining whether there has been compliance with our opinion in Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31, 91 S.W.3d 472 (2002) (Lake View III).1 We asked that this be done both with respect to legislative action taken by the General Assembly before January 1, 2004, and action taken after that date. We listed ten items for review. Those ten items represented a synopsis of our holdings in the Lake View III opinion. The Masters conducted hearings and received testimony from expert and lay witnesses. They also asked for legal briefs from the parties before issuing their report.
We first express our sincere appreciation to the Masters, Bradley D. Jesson and David Newbern, as well as to their staff, for the yeoman service they performed for this court. The Masters' Report totals 128 pages and is comprehensive and thorough. It has made the task of this court vastly easier. We accept the factual findings of the Masters pertaining to what legislative action has been taken by the General Assembly and pertaining to what administrative action has been taken by the Department of Education to comply with Lake View III.
What comprises an adequate education is apparently subject to considerable debate. The Arkansas Constitution requires the State to "ever maintain a general, suitable, and efficient system of free public schools[.]" Ark. Const. art 14, § 1. In Lake View III, we referenced the Rose factors for educational goals set out by the Kentucky Supreme Court in Rose v. Council for Better Education, Inc., 790 S.W.2d 186 (Ky.1989). The Masters opt more for a dictionary definition of "efficiency," which is the "capacity to produce desired results with a minimum expenditure of energy, time, money or materials[.]" Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged 725 (1993). The Masters also deem Dr. James Guthrie's definition of adequacy as coming "as close to being useful as any[.]" That definition is: "an amount of revenue per pupil enabling a student to acquire knowledge and skills specified by public officials as necessary to participate productively in society and to have an opportunity to lead a fulfilling life."
All of these assessments are helpful. We offer no conclusion on the precise definition of an adequate education as we deem that to be a matter better left to the General Assembly and to the State Department of Education.
We begin our analysis of the Masters' Report with the Adequacy Study that was the centerpiece of the report filed by the Joint Committee on Educational Adequacy with the General Assembly on September 1, 2003.2 We do so because it is this study that has formed the benchmark for legislative action and is the model against which the Masters gauged legislative and executive performance since our Lake View III decision. We quote the Masters' executive summary of recommendations made in the Adequacy Study:
a. "The Evidence-Based Matrix" ($224.6 million). The matrix is described as "the resources needed to provide an adequate education." Among the most important changes recommended to school organization are:
Pupil-teacher ratio of 1 to 15 for grades K-3; 1 to 25 for all other grades;
Additional teachers equal to 20 per cent of the number generated above to provide for enrichment programs for students and planning time for teachers;
Instructional facilitators at each school to help teachers improve instruction;
Additional staff members for schools with high concentrations of poverty, to include tutors and "pupil support personnel" added to school faculty for each 100 students qualifying for federal free and reduced-price lunches, with a minimum of one at each school; in addition, each 100 children identified as "English Language Learners" (ELL) generate an additional 0.40 full-time equivalent (FTE) tutor/teacher Adequate staff to meet the needs of children with mild and moderate disabilities;
Catastrophic funding program to provide special education to children with severe disabilities;
Elimination of instructional aide and assistant principal positions; and Additional funding for professional development, technology, instructional materials, and supervisory aides.
The recommended resource figures contained in the Adequacy Study, unless otherwise specified, are for a prototypic school unit of 500 students at the elementary (K-5), middle (6-8) and high school (9-12) levels. Adequacy Study at 19.
b. Teacher Compensation ($356 million), the components of which are:
Ten per cent (10%) salary increases ($183 million) to Adequacy Study at v. Salary formula "adders" ($94 million) used to provide additional salary funds: to attract teachers to less desirable geographic areas of the state; to provide additional salary for teachers in subject areas where they are currently shortages; and to provide additional salary for teachers with advanced graduate degrees.
Extending teacher contracts for five (5) days ($45 million) to provide additional time for professional development;
Performance bonus system ($30 million) to enable all teachers in a school to earn annual bonuses as a faculty in the event that student achievement is "boosted" from the previous year; and
Establishment of an appraisal system ($4 million) to implement these recommendations.
c. Early Childhood Education ($100 million).
Total Cost. Thus, the total cost of the "matrix" or "adequacy model," as itemized in "a," "b," and "c," above, increases the state's total spending for pre-kindergarten through 12 education by $680.6 million over "current" (2001-2002) expenditures from state and local sources for operation and maintenance. Adequacy Study at 65.
d. Funding Formula ($166.7 million property tax transfer). [Footnotes omitted.]
The Masters concluded that the Adequacy Study was "thorough in its approach."
We turn then to the legislation enacted to implement and fund the recommendations made in the Adequacy Study. According to the Masters, the funding reforms enacted by the General Assembly were "laudable." What follows is a summary of the Masters' findings relating to the ten issues listed in our February 3, 2004 per curiam. Not all of the legislation passed by the General Assembly in response to Lake View III and discussed in the Masters' Report is referenced in this opinion. We discuss only the significant legislation that appears integral to the Masters' findings and conclusions.
In the Masters' general observations, they noted first the herculean task of defining what is an "adequate" education. The Masters then went on to make the following findings and conclusions regarding legislative steps to implement the Adequacy Study.
The Masters noted that the General Assembly had created the Joint Committee on Educational Adequacy to oversee compliance with the Lake View III decision in the Regular Session in 2003 by Act 94 and that on September 1, 2003, the Joint Committee filed its report with the General Assembly.3 Also during the Regular Session, the General Assembly passed Act 603, which requires school districts to establish plans for more parental involvement in the public schools
In the Second Extraordinary Session, multiple legislation was passed, including a masters program for school principals (Act 44), goals for family resource centers to improve performance of economically-disadvantaged students (Act 68), special-education catastrophic funding (Act 77),...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Friends of Lake View School District 25 v. Beebe
...we affirm. I. BACKGROUND On June 18, 2004, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee (Lake View 2004), 358 Ark.137, 189 S.W.3d 1 (2004), the latest iteration in a series of cases dealing with the financing of public education in Arkansas.5......
-
Lake View School Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee
...of our State will not fall short of the goal set forth by this court. We will assure its attainment. Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 358 Ark. 137, 161, 189 S.W.3d 1, 17 (2004) (emphasis The allegations made by the movants in this case are of the most serious kind. The core assertio......
-
Kimbrell v. McCleskey
...is deemed adequate by the State.”Fort Smith Sch. Dist., 2009 Ark. 333, at 11, 322 S.W.3d at 7 (quoting Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 358 Ark. 137, 155, 189 S.W.3d 1, 13 (2004)). Most notably, we have stated, “This does not mean that if certain school districts provide more than a......
-
Lake View School Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee
...to meet the educational goals of this state. Indeed, we praised their efforts in 2004 as "laudable." See Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 v. Huckabee, 358 Ark. 137, 189 S.W.3d 1 (2004). D. Act We agree with the Masters' finding that the linchpin for achieving adequacy in public education is the ......
-
GLIMPSES OF REPRESENTATION-REINFORCEMENT IN STATE COURTS.
...the State student learning standards); Lake View Sch. Dist. No. 25 of Phillips Cnty. v. Huckabee, 91 S.W.3d 472 (Ark. 2002), supplemented, 189 S.W.3d 1 (Ark. 2004) (striking down Arkansas' system as inadequate and inequitable, because it violated the state constitution's education article e......