The Arkansas Supreme Court will not hasten its decision on whether the Deer/Mount Judea School District will have its lawsuit against the state combined with suits from four other school districts.
The Newton County school district, with a student population of less than 400, sued the state, claiming that the state's funding formula for districts was unconstitutional and when four larger districts tried to join suit with Deer/Mount Judea in February, it objected.
On Sept. 11, the small district requested that the Supreme Court expedite its decision on whether to permit the Fort Smith, Greenwood, Van Buren and Alma school districts to join the suit.
On Thursday, the court declined to expedite its ruling on the request.
The larger districts appealed to the Supreme Court in June after their request to join the suit was turned down in a lower court where the judge ruled that Deer/Mount Judea's size and circumstances were not comparable to the larger complainants.
Metro on 09/21/2014