Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/12

42 system is unconstitutional under the Education Article (Article 14, § 1) and the Equality provisions (Article 2, §§ 2, 3, and 18) of the Arkansas Constitution. The trial court also awarded counsel for Lake View School District No. 25 and the resulting class total attorneys' fees in the amount of $9,338,035. We affirm the trial court's order regarding the unconstitutionality of the public school-funding system but reverse its finding relative to excess debt service as a credit against each school district's uniform rate of 25 mills. We affirm the grant of attorneys' fees but modify the amount to an award of $3,088,050, plus costs in the amount of $309,000.

This case has been in litigation for more than ten years. On August 19, 1992, Lake View School District No. 25, school district officials, and certain individuals residing in Phillips County (hereinafter Lake View) sued the Governor of the State, the State Treasurer, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, Officers of the State Department of Education, and the State Board of Education (hereinafter referred to collectively as the State). The complaint prayed for (1) a declaration that the school-funding system was unconstitutional under both the United States Constitution and the Arkansas Constitution, and (2) an injunction against implementing the unconstitutional system.

On November 9, 1994, then-chancery judge Annabelle Clinton Imber found that the school-funding system did not violate the United States Constitution, but that it did violate the Education Article (Article 14, § 1) and the Equality provisions (Article 2, §§ 2, 3, and 18) of the Arkansas Constitution. In December 1994, Judge Imber modified her November order slightly with two additional orders. For purposes of this opinion, the three orders will be referred to as the 1994 order. The chancery judge stayed the effect of her order for two years to enable the Arkansas General Assembly to enact a constitutional school-funding system