Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
My generation has had all of this they want in many cases, and they're — they're retiring.
. . . .
MR. MATTHEWS: That's right. Okay. We're getting there. Track with me. In order to implement ACTAPP, you've got to have good teachers?
DR. SIMON: Yes.
MR. MATTHEWS: In order to have good teachers, we've got to have more —
DR. SIMON: Money.
MR. MATTHEWS: Money.
DR. SIMON: For teachers' salaries.
MR. MATTHEWS: And until we have more money for teachers' salaries, we jeopardize the efficiency, the suitability, and the quality of the ACTAPP program, which you and others have implemented. Isn't that true?
DR. SIMON: That's correct, yes, sir.
In short, the Benchmark testing and the ACTAAP program which represent the paramount initiatives by the State to correct the course of educational deficiencies in Arkansas are dependent on quality teachers. And, according to the Director of the Department, quality teachers is an area where we have a crisis.
Testing, rankings, and teacher salaries do not tell the whole story. According to the uncontested findings of the trial court, in the Lake View School District, which is undeniably a poor school district, ninety-four percent of the students are on free or reduced school lunches. That school district has one uncertified mathematics teacher who teaches all high school mathematics courses. He is paid $10,000 a year as a substitute teacher and works a second job as a school bus driver where he earns $5,000 a year. He has an insufficient number of calculators for his trigonometry class, too few electrical outlets, no compasses and one chalkboard, a computer lacking software and a printer that does not work, an inadequate supply of paper, and a duplicating machine that is overworked. Lake View's basketball team does not have a com-
