In December, the Arkansas General Assembly will convene in a special session to develop plan for reforming education (and finding the funds to implement the plan) in response to a 2002 Arkansas Supreme Court mandate in the Lake View...

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF) believes that any plan for raising new revenue to pay for education reform should be based on core beliefs and guiding principles. This plan should be realistic, allow the state to provide...

As Governor Huckabee and the Arkansas General Assembly grapple with how to reform the public education system, they will eventually have to make major decisions about how to pay for these reforms. Paying for education reform will require large...

State agencies came to the table in January 2003 with budgets that were already cut by $362 million. They sought approval for budgets that were higher than the current FY2003, but still lower than the approved budget from the...

Estimates show an Arkansas lottery would generate $169 million in sales. Only 33 percent of this amount, about $55 million annually, would be available as tax revenue for the state treasury. The creation of a lottery would decrease state...

Arkansas’ state tax revenues took a nosedive during state fiscal year 2002. Net available general revenues for SFY 2002 were down 2.3 percent from SFY 2001, and were 6.2 percent less than originally forecast for the year. The shortfalls...

In May 2001, Judge Collins Kilgore issued a historic ruling in the Lake View School District case – the state’s current school-funding formula is unfair to poorer school districts and provides inadequate funding for education. The case is expected...

Eliminating state and local sales taxes on food would reduce funding for programs serving vulnerable children and families. The combined loss in local, state, and federal funding would be at least $631 million annually. Arkansas would lose at least...