Page:Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002).pdf/8

38 on certain points, was simpiy not binding on the trial court in 2001; the supreme court affirmed the trial court on this point.
 * 1) SCHOOLS & SCHOOL DISTRICTS—SCHOOL FUNDING—DESEGREGATION FUNDS DID NOT CONSTITUTE "STATE AID" FOR CURRENT EXPENDITURES.—The supreme court agreed with the trial court that desegregation funds provided to the Pulaski County School Districts did not constitute "state aid" for current expenditures and should not form part of state funds for purposes of the Federal Range Ratio test; the conclusion to the contrary in the 1994 order was not law of the case; appellants failed to convince the supreme court that the trial judge erred in his legal conclusion, and the supreme court affirmed the trial court's decision on this point.
 * 2) SCHOOLS & SCHOOL DISTRICTS—SCHOOL FUNDING—TRIAL COURT DID NOT ERR IN NOT EMPLOYING SCHOOL-FUNDING FORMULA USED IN 1994 ORDER.—The supreme court rejected appellants' argument that the trial court erred in not reverting to the school-funding formula used in the 1994 order; that formula employed weighted average daily membership as opposed to categorical grants and aid, which was substituted by the General Assembly in Act 1194 of 1995; the new school-funding formula is what the trial judge measured against constitutional mandates; it would make no sense for him to have determined compliance by examining the constitutionality of a formula that had been repealed by the General Assembly; moreover, the 1994 order was not law of the case.
 * 3) SCHOOLS & SCHOOL DISTRICTS—EXCESS DEBT SERVICE MILLAGE—LEGISLATION PROVIDING FOR CLEARLY CONTRARY TO PLAIN MEANING OF ARK. CONST. AMEND. 74.—The wording of Amendment 74 to the Arkansas Constitution makes it abundantly clear that each school district is responsible for assessing a uniform rate of 25 mills for maintenance-and-operation purposes; if a school district already has in effect millages for maintenance and operation, those millages may be counted against the uniform rate of 25 mills required by Amendment 74; nowhere, however, does Amendment 74 provide that part of a millage adopted by the school district for an entirely different purpose may be subtracted from the 25 mills owed; the General Assembly's legislation permitting excess debt service millage, codified at Ark. Code Ann. § 26-80-204(18) (Supp. 2001), is clearly contrary to the plain meaning of Amendment 74.