Chapter 4: Arkansas

In 1983, the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled in Dupree v. Alma School District¹ that the state’s funding formula was unconstitutional. While this specific ruling did not address the level of financial support that was legally mandated, it made clear that the state of Arkansas’ duty is to distribute educational funds in an equitable manner. The Dupree ruling as well as the federal government’s A Nation at Risk² report gave definite momentum to then-Governor Bill Clinton’s education agenda during his second presidential term. The Education Standards Committee, which was headed by then-state first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, concentrated on achieving better teacher quality, a more rigorous curriculum, a longer school year, and smaller class sizes in the state of Arkansas. Governor Clinton connected school consolidation to these new standards and was able to raise the state sales tax by 1% to fund public P–12 education reforms.