10:30 09.12.2008 | All news from "Arkansas"
Arkansas Lawmakers Wary of Setbacks on Schools (Analysis)
But at least one veteran of the litigation that carries the now-defunct Lake View school district's name thinks that may be easier said than done.
Term-limited Sen. Jim Argue said he's not worried the state will immediately lapse into conditions prompting another court fight over whether the state is adequately funding its public schools. But he calls the proposed public school budget for the upcoming two years a "meager proposal" that ignores pressing issues such as rising insurance and teacher costs.
"I wouldn't go so far as to predict litigation, but it could be the beginning of a trend that leads to litigation in the future," Argue said.
Argue, D-Little Rock, won't be back for next year's legislative session and many of the new faces at the Capitol next year haven't been part of the contentious battles that marked the Lake View case.
Arkansas' highest court last year ended the Lake View case when justices ruled that the state had adequately funded its public school system. The ruling came after lawmakers set aside nearly half a billion dollars to build and repair school facilities and added another $122 million to education funding.
Facing a national recession and the governor's push for another cut in the state's sales tax on groceries, lawmakers have much less room to pump more money into the school system. But they also don't have the cloud of Lake View hanging over their heads.
David Matthews, the Rogers attorney represented the plaintiffs in the long-running case, has been watching the Legislature's moves not as a lawyer readying for another lawsuit, but as a citizen. And he says he hasn't seen anything so far that's given him any concern.
"The most important reason that I'm OK with where we are is I don't have a client that's calling me saying they're shortchanging us," Matthews said. "I have not heard that from my client, so I presume people believe they're doing the right thing."
Matthews said part of what gives him confidence this time around is Gov. Mike Beebe, who dealt with the school funding struggle first-hand as a legislator and then as the state's attorney general. Sen.-elect Joyce Elliott, who dealt with Lake View as a state representative, credited Beebe's role in the litigation as a safeguard.
"He has the same scars that a lot of us have from those days," said Elliott, D-Little Rock. "We don't want to revisit that."
Another court case may not be on the horizon, but lawmakers still have their fair share of political battles to wage as they take a look at the education budget. Despite the infusion of facilities money, some lawmakers are grumbling that the funds aren't reaching districts fast enough.
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