Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
Maury, 53 Ark. at 473. See also, Berry v. Arnold Sch. Dist., 199 Ark. 1118, 1124, 137 S.W.2d 256 (1940). This court has also stated that there should be a constant effort to raise the standards of the public schools and the General Assembly has the power to adapt our schools to the most advanced standards in order to give our youth the best education obtainable on all subjects. Dickinson, 120 Ark. at 88. In Maury, supra, this court went on to note that the duty to establish and keep schools in operation necessarily included the duty of agencies set up by the General Assembly to visit the schools, noting, and then correcting poor instruction and lack of progress. Maury, 53 Ark. at 473-74.
The discussion in Maury, supra, Berry, supra, and Dickinson, supra, also casts light on the meaning of "efficient." A system must be provided by the General Assembly that is capable of effectively fulfilling the constitutional mandate for a general and suitable system of public schools. The word "efficient" is defined as "Making, causing . . . Effective in producing the desired result with minimum wasted effort." The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 787 (Edition 1993). It appears doubtful to me that the framers of our constitution had a definition of "efficient" in mind similar to that set out in Rose v. Council for Better Education, Inc., 790 S.W.2d 186 (Ky. 1989). As noted in the majority opinion, the definition in Rose was relied upon by both Judge Kilgore and Judge Imber. In Rose, the Kentucky Supreme Court defined an efficient education in terms of educational subject matter and level of proficiency to be obtained. As the majority goes on to note, the General Assembly may have been influenced by the definition in Rose when Acts 1108 and 1307 of 1997 were adopted. However, whatever the definition of efficient might be, the adoption of such specific methods and goals in public education as discussed in Rose, supra, is a matter of policy left by our constitution to the General Assembly. See Wheelis, supra. Our duty is to determine whether the public schools as presently functioning meet the constitutional requirements of a "general, suitable, and efficient system of free public schools." Ark. Const. art. 14, § 1.
Although the terms "General, suitable, and efficient" might be more finitely defined, under the facts of this case, further definition is not necessary. The meaning of the words general, suita-
