LITTLE ROCK — Attorney General Dustin McDaniel is asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to reconsider its ruling that school districts that collect more in property tax revenues than state-mandated school funding levels can keep the money.
McDaniel on Monday filed a petition to rehear the case that led justices last month to rule that state education officials cannot withhold excess money from the Eureka Springs and Fountain Lake school districts. McDaniel said the ruling throws into question past rulings directing the state to provide a substantially equal education for its students.
He also questioned in the filing the court’s ruling that the state-mandated minimum property tax rate is not a state tax.
Gov. Mike Beebe and other top officials in the state have said the 4-3 ruling threatens years of school funding reforms.