LITTLE ROCK—Lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed increasing school funding by as much as $58.8 million a year but left several questions unanswered on how much to pay for high fuel costs, teacher salaries and health insurance.

The House and Senate Education committees adopted a report that would increase state funding between $34.4 million and $58.8 million per year during the next biennium.

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

The decision came a day after the head of the Senate panel complained that the report studying what it cost to fund schools adequately lacked many key details. Sen. Jim Argue, D-Little Rock, said Wednesday he’s now more comfortable with the recommendations because the teacher raises will be affected by whatever is proposed regarding health insurance and transportation.

“We can’t base our school funding on available funds, but we can make choices within an acceptable range,” Argue said.

Rep. Mike Kenney, head of the House Education Committee, said recommending ranges in increases on some items such as teacher salaries gives the Legislature more flexibility when it returns for the regular session in January.

“These aren’t easy things to answer necessarily,” said Kenney, R-Siloam Springs.

The panel removed a recommendation that the state set aside $24 million annually for school districts struggling with high fuel costs and instead said that lawmakers should study the issue and come back with a recommendation by Nov. 1. The panel also set a Nov. 1 deadline for recommendations on dealing with rising teacher health insurance costs.

The state may need to contribute an additional $54 million during the next two-year budget to help pay for teacher insurance, according to Sharon Dickerson, executive director of the employee benefits division of the Department of Finance and Administration.

The report recommended that lawmakers give teachers a cost-of-living raise between 1.6 percent and 2.8 percent.

It recommended the same range of cost-of-living increases in extra duty funds, supervisory aides, substitute teachers and central office administration.

The report adopted Wednesday also doesn’t offer a final recommendation on categorical funding for items such as high poverty students and English language learners.

A 2004 law requires a legislative committee to study the state’s school system and make funding recommendations before the regular session. Sen. Shane Broadway, the sponsor of that law, said he’s considering changing the Sept. 1 deadline specified in that law to give lawmakers more time to come up with specific recommendations.

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.

Broadway, D-Bryant, said recommending ranges of funding increases make sense because it doesn’t bind the committee to a specific funding figure that may not be adopted during next year’s session.

“Somebody could come back and say, you did this, but your own adequacy committee which you appointed and put into law, recommended this,” Broadway said after the hearing. “We’ve been out of litigation for one year, and we don’t want to get back into it anytime soon.”