Opinion ID: 1756151
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Premature Action and Contempt

Text: The intervenors have requested a finding of contempt each time they have reopened this case since Lake View III . However, they have never pressed the issue and in oral argument have consistently stated that they were not asking that we hold the legislative and executive branches in contempt. I would suggest that the intervenors recognize they have not met their burden of proof even if contempt were applicable. It is clear that information on the consequences of actions taken by the General Assembly in 2003 and 2005 is incomplete, and accurate information will not be available for some time. The intervenors encourage us in a footnote to their Motion for Action not to consider the reports of improvements in test scores and ranking in teacher pay because the information was not available at the time of the hearings before the special masters. Similarly, in oral argument it was noted that very significant sums of money are currently held by the schools districts that have not yet been used. It also appears that increased funding to school districts has resulted in significant increases in sums of money simply being held by the districts rather than being spent on the children. For example, one State's expert testified before the special masters that the increase in funding, 18% of the total budget, resulted in funds that cannot be spent in the first year without waste. Our constitution requires an efficient system of public schools. If, as the intervenors claim, all this information was not existent at the time of the hearings before the special masters, then obviously it was not available prior to the 2005 legislative session, nor available during the 2005 legislative session. If that information was not available, then the intervenors did not meet their burden of proof. What this shows is that confusion results when a branch of government steps outside its authority and undertakes to perform the duties of another branch. All this also exemplifies how this court has also erred in attempting to decide the constitutionality of legislation that has not been fully implemented and subjected to trial in the circuit court. In the end, this case has degenerated to an argument about money instead of whether the schools meet constitutional requirements. Further, at the very least, even under the theory espoused by the majority, the hearings before the special masters were premature. Waste is what has come of this action. This outcome was predictable because this court is not a legislative body possessing the tremendous amounts of information needed to make legislative decisions and is not capable of carrying out the needed analysis of such masses of information. Yet this court has attempted to make itself a legislative body, issuing directives and orders to the General Assembly regarding acts it was to undertake and legislation it was to pass. The directives and orders of this court in this case all concern policy. Policy is decided by the legislative body. Courts of justice are properly excluded from all considerations of policy, and therefore are very unfit instruments to control the action of that branch of government. The Cherokee Nation v. Georgia, 30 U.S.(5 Pet.) 1, 30, 8 L.Ed. 25 (1831). This case has received special treatment, and it should be kept in mind that others will expect the same treatment in separation-of-powers cases that have nothing to do with the schools. It is time to reaffirm that this court may not order, monitor, direct, examine, evaluate, oversee, critique, or compel action by our coordinate branches of government. We must restore the dignity and comity we should have between branches of government and make sure that the checks and balances that have provided stability in our representative form of government are not lost. No one on this court disagrees that the children of Arkansas should be provided the opportunity to obtain the best possible education. That is unquestionably the desire of every member of this court. No less than any member of this court, I desire that the schools of this state be fixed immediately. We should not destroy the separation-of-powers doctrine for the sake of expediency and obtaining a desired result. The majority is in error. There is a better way. The constitutional way of allowing the legislative branch to carry out its duties unimpaired by this court may be a slower way, but is it the right way. City of Hot Springs v. Creviston, 288 Ark. 286, 705 S.W.2d 415 (1986). GUNTER, J., joins.