Gov. Mike Beebe signed two public school funding increases totaling $121.7 million into law Wednesday, a move that parties in the Lake View case say could help bring the long-running school funding case to a close.... Each bill was approved unanimously in the House and Senate.... HB 1632 is the permanent funding bill which will raise per-student state funding to $5,719 next fiscal year and to $5,788 the year after. It also increases the state's minimum salary schedule for teachers by 1 percent the first year and 1.2 percent the second.... HB 1633 would enhance per-student spending to $5,770 next year and to $5,876 the year after....  Last week, the governor signed into law a two-year $5.2 billion Public School Fund budget that includes the per-student funding increases.... The state has been under a mandate to improve public school funding since a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling declared the state's public education funding unconstitutionally inadequate and inequitable.... Attorneys for school districts that challenged state school spending have said the increases Beebe signed into law Wednesday appear to be adequate but that facilities funding still remains an issue.

Doug Thompson, Arkansas News Bureau, March 15.