Lawyers for the Deer/Mount Judea School District submitted a motion Thursday asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to expedite its decision on whether four other school districts should be allowed to join its lawsuit against the state.
In the litigation, the small Newton County school district argues that the funding system for education is unconstitutional. Deer/Mount Judea, which based its lawsuit specifically on the state's funding formula for district transportation in isolated school districts, opposed allowing the other four school districts to join the lawsuit.
Alma, Fort Smith, Greenwood and Van Buren school districts, which range from 3,300 students to 14,700 students, appealed directly to the Supreme Court in June after Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza turned down their request to join the lawsuit. Piazza agreed in his ruling that the case should keep its focus on the 360-student Deer/Mount Judea district's issues.
Metro on 09/12/2014