Arkansas lawmakers will have to decide whether offering teachers the same health insurance plan as other state workers is required under a Supreme Court decision on school funding.

It's a decision that could add hundreds of million of dollars to a state budget already being drafted.

Legislators on the House and Senate's education committees agreed Thursday to a set of recommendations that would increase state funding between $34.4 million and $58.8 million per year during the next biennium. The latest recommendations come more than a year after the state Supreme Court ended the long-running Lake View school-funding case, ruling that the state had adequately funded its schools.

But the panel said more study was needed on issues such as rising health insurance costs and districts struggling with high fuel prices.



(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Email To A Friend