Special Session Year End Wrap Up
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
Governor Huckabee signed into law a
temporary change to Arkansas` school-funding formula. But Huckabee was disappointed with the Legislature for not coming up with a permanent fix and meeting the New Year deadline to overhaul the state`s public education system.
Huckabee said he and legislators have nothing to celebrate after
missing the court deadline.
He said (quote) "We can gloss it over any way we want to, but
we had 13 months to come up with a solution by January First."
The governor was referring to a November 2002 state Supreme Court ruling that the school-funding formula was unconstitutional and the state must address the problem by January First, 2004.
But House Speaker Herschel Cleveland of Paris blamed Huckabee for missing the deadline because the governor didn`t call the session until December Eighth.
The temporary fix approved yesterday includes a five million-dollar plan to benefit poor children in school districts statewide. The plan is designed to get schools through June 30th.
