FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – A study by the Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas finds that reforms of the state’s school funding system enacted by the Arkansas General Assembly following the landmark Lake View court case dramatically enhanced the adequacy of resources for schools and the equity by which they were distributed.

The Office of Education Policy, directed by Gary Ritter, associate professor and holder of an endowed chair in education policy in the College of Education and Health Professions, assessed the extent to which the state met the court mandate of improving the adequacy and equity of the state’s system of school funding.

The researchers, led by research associate Joshua Barnett, studied school finance data to assess the impact of changes enacted during and since the 2003-04 special legislative session. They found that new policies put into place increased funding to small school districts, to districts serving the most disadvantaged students, to districts serving high percentages of minority students and to districts whose students are struggling academically.

As an example, the districts in which more than seven of 10 students are low income now spend more than $9,300 per pupil; districts with the fewest poor students spend less than $7,600 per pupil.

“While many states are being chided for delivering fewer resources to the neediest students, Arkansas lawmakers should be congratulated for supporting a system that provides higher levels of resources to our most disadvantaged students,” Ritter said.

The study will be presented during a daylong conference in Little Rock on Tuesday, April 22, titled “Adequacy Achieved … Now What? The State of Education in Arkansas 2008.” The Office for Education Policy is sponsoring the conference with a keynote address from state Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, and panels of education researchers, other state lawmakers and educators.

In 1992, the Lake View School District in Phillips County in eastern Arkansas sued the state, alleging that the school funding system was inadequate. In 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the educational funding system was unconstitutional. As a result of the court ruling, the Arkansas General Assembly enacted comprehensive legislation to modify the funding formula, increase teacher pay, improve facilities and impose an extensive standardized testing program. In May 2007, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled that the state had met constitutional standards to provide an adequate school funding system.

Other findings in the Office for Education Policy’s study:

·         Statewide expenditures per pupil increased by 26 percent since 2003-04 from $6,578 to $8,315. Arkansas’ per pupil spending is now equal to the national average.

·         The state’s annual contribution to education funding increased from $3.45 billion to $4.48 billion. Nearly 50 cents of every dollar raised by the state government is spent on K-12 education.

·         After several decades in which Arkansas teacher salaries were among the lowest in the nation, Arkansas teachers in 2004-05 earned salaries just below the national average. In fact, on the measure of teacher salary, Arkansas ranked 25^th among the 50 states in 2004-05. 

·         Athletic spending remains an area of concern. Data indicate small school districts spend more per pupil for athletics than do districts with higher enrollments, districts serving more low-income students spend less per pupil for athletics than do districts serving fewer low-income students, and districts serving higher percentages of minority students spend less per pupil for athletics than do districts with lower percentages.

According to lead author Barnett, “The results of this study are consistent with the recent positive trend in stories about Arkansas schools. In the past year or two, we have had encouraging reports from our standardized test scores, from our Advanced Placement course participation, and now from the perspective of resource provision. This is good news.”

The researchers conclude the report by congratulating the lawmakers for their work in satisfying the Supreme Court’s adequacy mandate, but caution that much hard work remains.

“We are pleased to report that it now appears that the resources are in place and the state’s leaders have continued to push for high academic standards and rigorous curricula,” Ritter said.  “Now, of course, the task at hand is for our educational leaders around the state to figure out how to use these resources to meet these challenging standards and foster even greater student achievement for our students.”

The full report will be available online today at http://www.uark.edu/ua/oep/, and additional information about the conference April 22 in Little Rock also can be found at the Web site.