Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/52

82 [25] This court has said that the legislature can neither be coerced nor controlled by judicial power. See Wells v. Purcell, 267 Ark. 456, 592 S.W.2d 100 (1979). In Wells, we commented on the remedies being left to the legislature and not to the courts: The legislature is responsible to the people alone, not to the courts, for its disregard of, or failure to perform, a duty clearly enjoined upon it by the constitution, and the remedy is with the people, by electing other servants, and not through the courts. Wells v. Purcell, 267 Ark. at 462, 592 S.W.2d at 104 (emphasis added). We then said: It must always be remembered that the state's constitution is neither an enabling act nor a grant of enumerated powers, and the legislature may rightfully exercise the power of the people, subject only to restrictions and limitations fixed by the constitutions of the United States and this state. Under our system of government the legislature represents the people and is the reservoir of all power not relinquished to the federal government or prohibited by the state constitution. Wells, 267 Ark. at 464, 592 S.W.2d at 105 (internal citations omitted).

[26] While it is uncertain whether the trial court, in its order, was underscoring the need for pre-school education or ordering its implementation, we hold that the trial court had no power to do the latter. Nor do we agree with the Intervenors that the courts of this state can mandate pre-school education as an essential component of an adequate education. That, again, is for the General Assembly and the school districts to decide. Article 14 contemplates that very thing when it refers to funding pre-six-year-old programs, as provided "by law."

VIII. Lake View's Arguments
We turn next to the various arguments raised by Lake View in its appeal.