Lawyers representing the state began their defense of Arkansas' public-school financing system Wednesday, trying to fend off a challenge from a small rural district that claims its students have been illegally short-changed by the way the Legislature pays for education.
Former education Commissioners Tony Wood and Tom Kimbrell were two of the seven witnesses the Arkansas attorney general's office, representing state interests, called to the stand to explain the various funding programs used by legislators to live up to their mandate under the state constitution that guarantees every child an opportunity to obtain an adequate education.
Proceedings before Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza resume at 10:30 a.m. today.
Attorneys for the Deer/Mount Judea district, which is suing over the funding issue, rested their case Tuesday after calling four witnesses, three of them current or former legislators, over two days.
The school district's chief witness was Norman Hill, a financial consultant for financially stressed schools, who also is a graduate of the Mount Judea high school.
The Newton County district's final witness was state Rep. Reginald Murdock, who testified as part of the district's attempt to prove the General Assembly has gone back to paying for public schools in a manner the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled to be illegal.
The high court ruled in 2007 that to live up to the state's constitutional guarantee, lawmakers would have to plan education spending based on how much the schools need, not on how much money they want to spend on them.
Deer/Mount Judea maintains legislators have routinely disregarded their obligations to the district's 355 children on issues of teacher pay, busing costs and student achievement.
Piazza previously dismissed the lawsuit in an April 2011 finding the issues raised by the district had been decided in 2007 by the Supreme Court's ruling in the lawsuit brought by the now-defunct Lake View School District, in which Deer/Mount Judea was a party.
But the high court returned the litigation to Piazza in October 2013, ruling the new lawsuit raised issues not settled in the Lake View decision.
To make the district's point about how the Legislature budgets for education, Clay Fendley, a Deer/Mount Judea attorney, questioned Murdock, a member of the House Education Committee, about an exchange he and fellow Rep. Bruce Cozart had during a discussion about whether to recommend the Legislature spend an extra $3 million on school transportation.
Cozart, a Hot Springs Republican, opposed the expenditure because he said, "we couldn't find the money. We didn't have the money," Murdock told the judge.
Murdock told the judge he considers transportation a necessary part of the adequate-education standard.
"In order to get the education, the child has to get there," the Marianna Democrat testified.
The judge allowed Murdock's testimony over the objections of the state's lawyers. Piazza told them he understood their opposition and somewhat agreed with it, but he was going to let Murdock testify to make sure the Supreme Court has a complete record of all of the arguments in the case and the evidence supporting them when the case is appealed.
Joe Cordi, senior assistant attorney general, questioned what the judge could really learn about the case from Murdock's testimony.
He's one of only 135 members of the two houses of the Legislature and can't be expected to know why any other member acted in any way, Cordi argued, saying that to allow one lawmaker to testify raised the possibility that all of them could be called to take the stand.
Aside from objecting to the judge allowing hearsay evidence -- what Cozart said during a discussion -- Cordi also argued that Murdock might have misunderstood Cozart's intentions, saying that Cozart might have been trying to raise the issue of how to find an additional funding source for transportation.
The state lawyers also argued that allowing Murdock to take the stand -- and the Monday testimony of state Sen. Joyce Elliot and former state Rep. Bill Abernathy, both Democrats -- violated the "speech and debate" clause of Article 5 of the Arkansas Constitution.
The clause establishes a legislative privilege that prohibits lawmakers from being forced to testify about how they performed their official duties. Assistant Attorney General Rosalyn Middleton said the legislative immunity also should be considered as a bar to legislators even testifying about official matters, even if they want to.
Court filings show both Cozart and state Sen. Eddie Cheatham, D-Magnolia, invoked their immunity against being called as witnesses.
NW News on 02/25/2016