Judge Gives Ark. Lawmakers 2 Years To Fix Formula

By Laura Miller

A chancery-court judge in Arkansas has declared the state's school-funding formula unconstitutional, and she gave the legislature two years to correct it.

But a lawyer representing the Lake View school district, which filed the lawsuit challenging the formula two years ago, said he is not optimistic that lawmakers will solve the problem. He plans to ask the judge to clarify her order.

Pulaski County Chancellor Annabelle Clinton Imber ruled earlier this month that the state does not provide a "general, suitable, and efficient" system for financing its public schools, as mandated by the state constitution. But her 52-page decision did not indicate how the formula...