In November of 2002, the Arkansas Supreme Court announced in the Lake View Decision that the state’s educational facilities are inadequate and unequal and therefore, in violation of the state constitutional guarantees of free, adequate, efficient, and substantially equal public education for the children of Arkansas. The General Assembly has the ultimate responsibility to determine facility adequacy and respond to issues throughout the state. In recognition of the necessity for a statewide school facility study and new facility standards, the “Joint Committee on Educational Facilities” was formed in April of 2003.

The Joint Committee on Educational Facilities is responsible for:

• Recommending what constitutes an adequate school facility for elementary, middle, and high school education.
  
• Recommending a method of providing substantially equal facilities and equipment for all schools in Arkansas.
  
• Establishing a process to conduct a review and assessment of all public school facilities in the State.
  
• Recommending policies and criteria to determine renovation, replacement, or discontinuation of inadequate buildings.
  
• Recommending the cost of an adequate school facility in Arkansas.
  
• Recommending a method of funding the cost of an adequate and substantially equal school facility.
  
• Recommending a method to assess, evaluate, and monitor the school facilities across the state to ensure the adequate and substantially equal facilities are, and will continue to be provided for Arkansas’ school children.

The Joint Committee membership is comprised of six members of the State Senate and six members of the House of Representatives.

The Task Force, which reports to the Joint Committee on Educational Facilities, is comprised of volunteers representing the following areas:

• The Legislature
  
• Independent School Districts
  
• State Code Enforcement
  
• State Government Agencies
  
• Private Industry
  
• Design/Engineering/Construction

Archival Documents

• Task Force Final State Report
• Report on the Educational Framework Session
• White Paper 1 - Background on the Educational Facilities
• White Paper 2 - Anatomy of an Assessment 
• White Paper 3 - Prototypical Building Designs 
• White Paper 4 - Tutorial of Final Report 
• White Paper 5 - Minimum Requirements for Adequacy and Equality of Educational Facilities 
• White Paper 6 - An Assessment of An Assessment