Furnas v. Kimbrell

Two School Districts filed suit against the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) asking for a mandatory injunction requiring the ADE to release all federal and state funds that they were due. The circuit court granted partial summary judgment for the School Districts. The School Districts subsequently moved to have the ADE found in contempt due to the ADE’s refusal to release all amounts they alleged they were due. The circuit court declined to hold the ADE in contempt. The School Districts appealed, and the Supreme Court remanded the case. On remand, the School Districts filed a motion requesting that the circuit court order the ADE to release to them ninety-eight percent guaranteed Uniform Rate of Tax (URT) adjustment funds that had been released by the ADE in all prior school years and which the ADE had illegally “set off” against “excess URT funds” for certain school years. The circuit court denied relief. The School Districts appealed. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the first appeal did not address the issue of the ninety-eight percent guaranteed URT adjustment funding, and therefore, the circuit court did not err in finding that it lacked the authority to order that those funds be disbursed by the ADE. View "Furnas v. Kimbrell" on Justia Law