The legislative subcommittee in charge of recommending state funding for K-12 schools decided yesterday to wait until November to suggest changes for the 2011-12 school year. Originally the group had voted to recommend a 2.5% increase ($69 million), but it withdrew that figure after members questioned whether such a large increase was necessary.

The Joint Adequacy Evaluation Oversight Subcommittee (JAEOS) voted to give itself until November 1 to submit recommendations to the state for K-12 funding increases. Their state-mandated deadline for the recommendations, however, was supposed to be today.

Members of the JAEOS said the delay was for the best, as it will give them more time to judge which direction the economy is going. "It just gives us more information going in," said state Senator Johnny Key (R-Mountain Home), "and we can still have the recommendation made before the governor presents his forecast, balanced budget and all that later in November."

Governor Beebe supported the subcommittee's delay, saying, "That is the first money that gets paid [in the state budget for each fiscal year], and everything else has to take a back seat to that, so they just need to get it right. Whatever it is, they need to get it right. We're going to fund adequacy before anything else, and if that means that somebody else has to do without, then so be it. That's what the court calls for, that's what the statute calls for, so they need to be right."

Beebe was referring to a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling that orders the legislature to provide adequate funds for every student's education. The JAEOS has been set up by state statute as the legislature's means of determining how much money is needed.