Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/17

Rh In 1994, school districts received approximately thirty percent of their revenue from local funds, sixty percent from state aid, and ten percent from federal funds. Lake View II, 340 Ark. at 484, 10 S.W.3d at 894.

In his 2001 final order, Judge Kilgore presented what he described as a "simplified explanation" of the school-funding formula, which no party has contested. According to the trial court, under the formula, the State Department of Education first calculates a "base level revenue" which is determined by adding all state and local money available to all public schools throughout the state and dividing that figure by the average daily membership of all students statewide. The base level revenue per student according to the 2001 order was $4535 for the 1996-97 school year. The State then calculates the local resource rate for students in each individual school district. This calculation is made by first determining the assessed value of personal, real, and utility property within the school district, and then multiplying that figure by 98 percent. That figure is multiplied by the uniform rate of 25 mills pursuant to Amendment 74. The resulting number is then divided by the average daily membership of students in that school district which results in the local resource rate. If the local resource rate is less than the base level revenue per student ($4535 in 1996-97), the Department of Education will make up the difference through its Equalization Aid so that all school districts in the state will receive equal revenues per student under the formula.

The 2001 school-funding formula is essentially the same as what was in place in 1994, which Judge Imber described in her order. The principal differences are that in 1994 the Department of Education used a "charge" of 26.7 mills rather than the uniform rate of 25 mills pursuant to Amendment 74, which was approved two years later, and the average daily membership was "weighted" for fictional students to provide school districts with funds for students with special needs. The 1994 "weighted"