Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/76

106 public school system. It is up to the General Assembly to do whatever it must do with respect to boards, districts, or bureaucracies to make the system meet the constitutional requirements.

The General Assembly is free to decide how to establish and maintain a system of public schools that meet the constitutional mandate. Barker, supra. The current public school system does not meet constitutional requirements. The General Assembly must now act. We do not have the power to hold a constitutional mandate in abeyance. Hutton v. Savage, 298 Ark. 256, 769 S.W.2d 394 (1989); Creviston, supra.

I also note that, as the majority discusses, the issues raised in this case include whether the current funding system is adequate and whether it is equitable. These two issues are inexorably connected and what is actually at issue before this court is simply whether the current school system provided by the General Assembly meets the constitutional requirements of a "general, suitable, and efficient system of free public schools. " Ark. Const. art. 14, § 1. Funding plays a role, in determining whether a general, suitable, and efficient system of public schools is being provided. In Dickinson v. Edmondson, 120 Ark. 80, 178 S.W. 390 (1915), this court stated: "The Legislature has no authority to select an arbitrary basis for the disbursement of funds. " Dickinson, 120 Ark. at 90.

The issue in this case is more complex than a mere funding issue. The majority cites Dupree, in its discussion of funding quotes the Dupree opinion where this court stated that, "[f]or some districts to supply the barest necessities and others to have programs generously endowed does not meet the requirements of the constitution. Bare and minimal sufficiency does not translate into equal educational opportunity." Dupree, 279 Ark. at 93. This statement by the court in Dupree in 1983 may also be interpreted as stating simply that bare and minimal sufficiency does not satisfy the requirements of a suitable public school system.

I agree that in practical terms it is highly doubtful that meaningful reform will ever be achieved by the General Assembly