A trial with the potential to reshape education financing in Arkansas has been rescheduled on the promise Thursday by the attorney general's office to provide information sought by the plaintiff about changes to the funding laws.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza initially declined a request to delay the trial by Assistant Attorney General Rosalyn Middleton in the lawsuit by the 350-plus-student Deer/Mount Judea School District over how the state has financed isolated schools and transportation.
Piazza said he wanted to resolve the case before the 2016 legislative session because the Newton County district seems to add new complaints about education funding to its lawsuit every time the Legislature convenes.
The trial had an Oct. 26 start date, but Piazza agreed to reschedule, setting the two-week trial to begin Feb. 22, based on Middleton's assurance that she will provide the school district's lawyers the information they'd been seeking: insight into the legislative reasoning behind the challenged funding laws.
Middleton said she's been compiling the information as part of the discovery process, but hasn't gotten all of it ready to turn over.
She had come to court Thursday not only to seek a trial delay, but also to ask the judge to block efforts by the school lawyers to question some current and former legislators and staff under oath about why the laws were changed.
Middleton said legislators can't be forced to answer questions about the lawmaking process because they are protected from disclosure by the state constitution's Speech and Debate Clause in Article 5. Legislative staff enjoy the same protection, she argued.
School district lawyers have subpoenaed State Sen. Eddie Cheatham, D-Magnolia, Education Commissioner Johnny Key and Richard Wilson with the Arkansas Bureau of Legislative Research, but none of them should be or can be compelled to give depositions that reveal their thought processes, she told the judge.
Middleton told the judge that Key, a former Republican state senator from Mountain Home who was appointed commissioner in March, can only be made to testify about his time heading the state education department, not about what he did as a member of the General Assembly, which included a stint as chairman of the Arkansas Senate Education Committee.
Another subpoenaed lawmaker, State Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, has waived her claim to privilege, Middleton said.
School attorney Clay Fendley said he wanted to question the subpoenaed officials under oath because the attorney general has not turned over material that discloses why lawmakers changed the funding laws challenged by the lawsuit.
The lawsuit's success hangs on the question of whether lawmakers had a good reason, a "rational basis," for making the changes, he said. The school district has to prove that the changes were made without a rational basis, and its lawyers are entitled to know the reasoning ahead of trial, he said.
Fendley argued that the constitutional protection for lawmakers shields them from lawsuits.
Middleton said she's preparing materials intended to answer the district's questions, but has had to proceed carefully in compiling the information so as not to intrude on the lawmakers' privilege.
With her promise that the information would be forthcoming, Piazza said he'd withhold a decision on her request to quash the plaintiff's subpoenas at least until she provides the materials to the school lawyers.
The case has been to the state Supreme Court three times for different issues, and Piazza said he wanted to get the litigation back to the high court for final resolution as soon as possible. Middleton said she had inherited the litigation this year with the January departure from the office of attorney Scott Richardson, who oversaw the 41/2-year-old case from the beginning. Middleton said she's the only lawyer assigned to the lawsuit and told the judge she couldn't fully be prepared for trial by Oct. 26, the start date set last February.
Metro on 07/24/2015