Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
tem changed in 1995 with Act 1194, in which the General Assembly began providing grants and aid for special needs through specific categories. In 1994 and in 2001, based upon the two court orders, the State sought to achieve equal opportunity for Arkansas students by equalizing per-student revenues statewide according to the base level rate.
In 1994, as in 2001, individual school districts could pass additional millages assessed against district property to enhance local education, whether for building programs or for maintenance and operation. Indeed, Amendment 74 specifically contemplates variations in millages among school districts for maintenance and operation:
(a) The General Assembly shall provide for the support of common schools by general law. In order to provide quality education, it is the goal of this state to provide a fair system for the distribution of funds. It is recognized that, in providing such a system, some funding variations may be necessary. The primary reason for allowing such variations is to allow school districts, to the extent permissible, to raise additional fimds to enhance the educational system within the school district. It is further recognized that funding variations or restrictions thereon may be necessary in order to comply with, or due to, other provisions of this Constitution, the United States Constitution, state or federal laws, or court orders.
The State provides other funding and guarantees to school districts as well. For example, it provides what the trial court described as "additional base funding," which guarantees that all school districts will have a minimum state and local revenue per average daily membership that is at least eighty percent of the state and local revenue available for a school district at the ninety-fifth percentile.[1] The State also has programs to assist school districts
- ↑ The school district at the ninety-fifth percentile is determined pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 6-20-303(17) (Repl. 1999), which provides:
"Local school district at the ninety-fifth percentile" means, when ranking school districts in descending order by the total state and local revenue per average daily membership, a district which falls at the ninety-fifth percentile of the total number of pupils in attendance in the schools of this state, as described by 34 C.F.R. § 222.63 (1994)[.]
