Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
islative session and maintaining present funding system through the 1998 tax year); DeRolph v. State, 78 Ohio St. 3d 193, 677 N.E.2d 733 (1997) (staying the effect of the decision for twelve months and remanding to the trial court for entry of judgment and retention of jurisdiction until legislation is enacted and in effect for action as may be necessary in conformity with opinion); Brigham v. State, 166 Vt. 246, 692 A.2d 384 (1997) (entering default judgment for students and school districts and remanding so that jurisdiction could be retained until valid legislation enacted and in effect, and for any further proceedings); Roosevelt Elementary Sch. Dist. No. 66 v. Bishop, 179 Ariz. 233, 877 P.2d 806 (1994) (reversing and remanding the case to the trial court for entry of judgment and retention of jurisdiction to determine within a reasonable time whether legislative action had been taken); Edgewood Ind. Sch. Dist. v. Kirby, 804 S.W.2d 491 (Tex. 1991) (staying the effect of the Supreme Court's previously-ordered injunction until April 1, 1991); Rose v. Council for Better Educ., 790 S.W.2d 186 (Ky. 1989) (withholding the finality of the decision until 90 days after the adjournment of the General Assembly).
[43] Clearly, the public schools of this state cannot operate under this constitutional cloud. Were we not to stay our mandate in this case, every dollar spent on public education in Arkansas would be constitutionally suspect. That would be an untenable situation and would have the potential for throwing the entire operation of our public schools into chaos. We are strongly of the belief that the General Assembly and Department of Education should have time to correct this constitutional disability in public school funding and time to chart a new course for public education in this state. Accordingly, we stay the issuance of our mandate in this case until January 1, 2004. This will give the General Assembly an opportunity to meet in General Session and the Department of Education time to implement appropriate changes. On January 1, 2004, the stay will terminate, and this case will be over. Any subsequent challenge will constitute separate litigation.
X. Conclusion
We emphasize, once more, the dire need for changing the school-funding system forthwith to bring it into constitutional
