Cite as 351 Ark. 31 (2002)
responsibility for taxation for schools has in part been transferred to the local level. Local districts have run their schools, and the public is accustomed to local control. However, none of this alters the General Assembly's responsibility under our constitution.
The General Assembly has been well within its constitutional authority in the creation of the districts and in allowing local control. This court has long recognized that the General Assembly must employ agencies to accomplish the obligation of establishing and maintaining a system of free public schools. Lemaire, 174 Ark. at 939. See also, Allen v. Harmony Grove Consol. Sch. Dist. No. 19, 175 Ark. 212, 298 S.W.2d 997 (1927). The State may establish boards and appoint directors, but such boards and directors are only agents of the General Assembly. Maddox, supra. Boards and directors are but trustees appointed to run the system the constitution requires. Id., see also, Allen, supra. If the system does not function properly, the General Assembly bears responsibility whatever the cause. See Dupree, supra.
The majority notes the frustration that the Arkansas Department of Education has failed to complete an adequacy study requested by the General Assembly. The trial court stated that to determine the amount of funding "for an education system based on need and not on the amount available but on the amount necessary to provide an adequate educational system, the court concludes an adequacy study is necessary and must be conducted forthwith." This is a failure of the General Assembly. The Department of Education, in this context, is acting as an agent of the General Assembly.[1] The Department's inaction is a matter for the General Assembly to resolve. Wheelis, supra. It is the General Assembly's duty under the constitution to provide the required
- ↑ The Department of Education is not created or established by the constitution. It was created by the General Assembly. See Act 169 of 1931. Supervision of the public schools is vested ultimately in the General Assembly. Barker, supra; Ark. Const. art. 14, § 4. A State Board of Education constituting the State Department of Education was created by the General Assembly in Act 169 of 1931. In 1931, under Act 169, members of the Board were elected. In Act 244 of 1937, the General Assembly directed that the board members be appointed by the Governor. While the General Assembly has allowed the Executive Department to appoint members of the State School Board, the duty to supervise the public school system remains with the General Assembly.
