Arkansas
Arkansas’ long-running school finance lawsuit is officially over, after the state supreme court unanimously ruled May 31 that the $600 million that the legislature has spent on improving public schools since 2005 is adequate and makes the K-12 system constitutional.
The lawsuit, filed in 1992 by the Lake View school district, resulted in a ruling a decade later by the Arkansas Supreme Court that the state’s school finance system was unconstitutional. The court specifically pointed to problems with rundown school facilities and low teacher pay.
Late last year, the supreme court appointed special “masters” to review and report on the legislature’s progress toward improving public schools.
