This paper examines recent efforts in Arkansas to nullify property taxes. It describes how anti-tax citizens, whose push for a constitutional amendment in 1998 was thwarted by the state supreme court, have vowed to collect enough signatures to place the amendment on the 2000 ballot. The proposed amendment will abolish ad valorem taxes upon real…

State legislation that has contributed to the reduction of Arkansas' tax base is described in this paper. Amendment 59, adopted in 1980, has reduced the state tax base by millions of dollars. At the end of 1992, the majority of school districts have equalized their real, personal, and carrier and utility property. Act 34, the current foundation…

Instead of adopting an entirely new school finance system to replace an inequitable system threatened by lawsuits, the Arkansas legislature has chosen to repair Act 34 of 1983. Two major changes enacted in 1993 (recalculation of state aid for districts experiencing growth and a change in a district's real property charges when calculating state…

Three papers are presented from a conference on governmental and economic affairs held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. In "Federal Legislation and Higher Education," John P. Mallan pointed out that the major portion of funds is channeled through student aid programs, and research and development funds are concentrated in a…

Findings of a study on higher education financing in the states are summarized with specific reference for the states covered by the 1977 Adams versus Richardson decision. The study, "Higher Education Financing in the Fifty States: Interstate Comparisons" (Marilyn McCoy, D. Kent Halstead), was jointly issued by the National Center for…

In 1995, Arkansas enacted two new bills that changed the way in which schools were financed. Act 916 required all school districts to levy a 25-mill tax based on an assessment ratio of 20 percent of use value on all property for maintenance and operation. The act also revised biennial appropriations for the State Department of Education,…

Arkansas' new finance law, Act 917, is difficult to understand because it has not been logically organized. This paper explains in detail the following provisions of the law: average daily membership (ADM) computation; local share; minimum and maximum millage; state support (including how priorities are set and the forms of state aid not covered,…

The court decision in the case of "Alma v. Dupree," finding the Arkansas School Finance System unconstitutional, ordered the State of Arkansas to establish a valid school finance system. Subsequently, the State's General Assembly created a 15-member commission to develop a plan for implementing an adequate and equitable school finance…

Of the 255 Arkansas school districts responding to a questionnaire, 67 percent received resource support from the private sector. Contributed services were reported by 48 percent of the districts receiving support, monetary contributions by 46 percent, equipment and supplies by 40 percent, and buildings and land by 6 percent. Corporations provided…