Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/50

80 are mandated by the Arkansas Constitution. The State contends that Article 14, § 1, contemplates that public funds may be expended for education beyond grades one through twelve, but it does not mandate it. Rather, the State maintains, the constitution's language is permissive and gives authority not only to the General Assembly but also to local school districts to implement pre-kindergarten programs as they see fit. The State asserts that determinations as to what types of programs are best to promote student achievement should be made by the entities entrusted to make them by the state constitution, and those entities are the General Assembly and the public school districts, not the courts.

Lake View responds that this court should apply constitutional remedies to the case at hand. It further asserts that the trial court's ruling simply states that under the provisions of Arkansas Constitution Article 2, §§ 2, 3, and 18, the State must provide equal access to pre-school education, if the State is already either directly or indirectly financing some school districts that are providing early childhood education.

The Little Rock, Rogers, and Bentonville Intervenors also respond that the State's arguments might have some merit but for the uncontroverted testimony that the State cannot provide a constitutionally adequate education for students age six and older unless it establishes a program of pre-kindergarten education. The Intervenors' position, in a nutshell, is that if a child starts out behind due to no pre-school education, that child never makes up the lost ground. The Intervenors concede that Article 14 on its face does not mandate public education for students under the age of six. The Intervenors urge, however, that the State is required to "adopt all suitable means to secure to the people the advantages and opportunities of education[,]" under Article 14, and early-childhood education is clearly a suitable means. As a final point, the Intervenors emphasize that there was no evidence presented at trial to rebut the testimony of educators and experts that earlychildhood education is a necessary component of an education system which reasonably expects to enable significant numbers of students to perform at grade level. It is also the most efficient way for the State to fulfill that expectation, according to the Intervenors.