The General Assembly finds that:
(1) Arkansas Constitution, Article 14, § 1, requires the State of Arkansas to provide a general, suitable, and efficient system of free public schools to the children of the state;
(2) Under the decision of the Supreme Court in Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, 351 Ark. 31 (2002), it is the absolute duty of the State of Arkansas to provide all public school children with a substantially equal opportunity for an adequate education;
(3) It is the state's responsibility to provide the statutory framework necessary to ensure that all students in the public schools of this state have a substantially equal opportunity to achieve and demonstrate academic readiness, individual academic growth, and competencies through the application of knowledge and skills in core subjects, consistent with state academic standards through a student-focused learning system;
(4)
(A) In Lake View School District No. 25 v. Huckabee, the Supreme Court explicitly addressed the relationship between local control versus the state's responsibility when, in quoting DuPree v. Alma School District No. 30, 279 Ark. 340 (1983), it opined, “[i]f local government fails, the state government must compel it to act, and if the local government cannot carry the burden, the state must itself meet its continuing obligation”.
(B) An accountability system that provides increasing levels of state assistance would help the local government or the local public school district board of directors to meet this burden, while allowing state intervention to occur if the local government chronically fails to meet the burden in spite of the state assistance;
(5) Arkansas public schools and school districts would benefit from an accountability system that:
(A) Uses multiple measures of student academic achievement and growth; and
(B) Allows flexibility for public schools and school districts to utilize local decision-making while maintaining quality in education;
(6) A comprehensive accountability system would empower the state and public school districts to assess the effectiveness of student-focused education using multiple factors, measures, and indicators of student achievement and school quality, rather than relying solely on an annual statewide assessment; and
(7)
(A) The State of Arkansas cannot be the sole guarantor of each individual student's success.
(B) Parents, students, families, educational institutions, and communities, as collaborative partners in education, play an important role in the success of individual students.