Page:DuPree v. Alma School District No. 30, 279 Ark. 340 (1983).pdf/3

342 joined by other districts ), charging that the present system violates the state constitution's guarantee of equal protection (Art. II, §§ 2, 3, 18 ) and its requirement that the state provide a general, suitable and efficient system of education (Art. XIV § 2 ). The appellees' basic contention is the great disparity in funds available for education to school districts throughout the state is due primarily to the fact that the major determinative of revenue for school districts is the local tax base, a basis unrelated to the educational needs of any given district; that the curent state financing system is inadequate to rectify the inequalities inherent in a financing system based on widely varying local tax bases, and actually widens the gap between the property poor and property wealthy districts in providing educational opportunities. The trial court found the present system to be in violation of