alluding to a right, but declining to determine whether it is fundamental because funding scheme did not pass rational basis review
How later courts described this case
- alluding to a right, but declining to determine whether it is fundamental because funding scheme did not pass rational basis review
- assessing the school funding formula against the equality provisions of the constitution, not the education article
- alleged the funding scheme caused a great disparity in funds available for education and violated Arkansas' constitution requiring "a general, suitable and efficient system of free public school...."
- noting trial with thirty-nine witnesses, 287 exhibits, and 7400 pages of testimony
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
John I. Purtle, Justice, concurring. I concur with the majority with the exception that I insist that the right to a free public education is fundamental. Article 14, sec. 1 of the Arkansas Constitution of 1874 clearly mandates the state to provide a free school system to safeguard liberty and provide a bulwark for free and good government. Not to hold that such an education is fundamental is to chip away at the underlying foundation and, indeed, the cornerstone of our present democratic way of life.
It further seems to me we ought to suggest some type of alternate plan to the one which has been struck down. One simple solution would be to require each district to levy and collect a certain millage on all property assessed at 20% of market value. The state would then distribute its money on a per capita basiá, taking into consideration certain weighted allowances for special situations such as a handicapped program, to be applied to all districts alike.