Collins Kilgore Announces Bid For Supreme Court

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Collins Kilgore, author of a key ruling that led to the state`s current education upheaval, officially announced his candidate for a seat on the Arkansas Supreme Court today. Kilgore announced in May that he intended to run for Position Four after Justice Ray Thornton announced plans to retire. Jim Gunter, a district circuit judge in southwest Arkansas, is also running for the seat as is Jeffrey Weber, an assistant attorney general in the criminal division of the office of Attorney General Mike Beebe. In 2000, Kilgore presided over a Pulaski County Chancery Court hearing on the state`s compliance with a 1994 order to address disparities in educational funding between rich and poor school districts. The Lake View School District sued the state in 1992. Kilgore declared the funding system inequitable and inadequate on May 25, 2001. The high court unanimously affirmed his decision in November 2002 and ordered the state to develop remedies. Kilgore said the Lake View ruling was the most significant of his judicial career and that his work on the case prompted him to run for a seat on the state`s highest court. Voters will decide on Thornton`s replacement in the May 18th primary election any runoffs will be determined in the November general election.