After the historic special legislative session of 2003-2004 in response to the Lake View
School funding lawsuit, the 2005 Legislative Session was slated to be a continuation of
the state’s education adequacy reform efforts. However, this session was different from
the earlier special session in several key respects. Unlike the special session of 2003 in
which there was general agreement that a large tax increase would have to be enacted to
fund education (actually the largest tax increase ever), it was clear that legislators were not
willing to consider any major tax increases this time. Their commitment to not raise
taxes helped shape the legislature’s initial priorities and was the key factor in the decisions
they made during the session.