LITTLE ROCK — Residents of the former Lake View School District - the school system that successfully challenged Arkansas' school funding system but later had to consolidate with a neighboring school district - lost a federal challenge to undo that 2004 merger.
A three-judge panel of the 8th U.S. circuit Court of Appeals at St. Louis on Tuesday upheld U.S. District Judge Bill Wilson Jr.'s decision to dismiss a lawsuit by the now-defunct Lake View school system in east Arkansas.
Former legislator Jimmie Wilson, no relation to the judge, filedthe lawsuit on behalf of a group called "Friends of Lake View." The lawsuit challenged the stateordered merger of Lake View to the Barton-Lexa School District.
The suit argued, in part, that the state merged the Lake View district in retaliation for its successful challenge of the constitutionality of the state's system of funding public schools.
And the suit tried to overturn Acts 59 and 60 of the 2003 special legislative session on education. Act 59 revamped the school-funding formula. Act 60 requires school districts to enroll a minimum of 350 students. LakeView's enrollment fell below that number.
"Friends of Lake View" argued that the state's 350-student mark was "arbitrary."
But the three-judge panel said Arkansas "has a legitimate governmental interest in consolidating school districts to achieve economies of scale and other efficiences" based on attendance.
The 8th Circuit three-judge panel was made up of Roger L. Wollman of Sioux Falls, S.D.; Michael J. Melloy of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Raymond W. Gruender of St. Louis. The 8th Circuit case number is 08-2161.
Arkansas, Pages 10 on 08/26/2009