Associated Press
Thursday, December 12, 2002; Page A25

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Dec. 11 -- The Ohio Supreme Court today declared the state's school funding system unconstitutional for the third time in 11 years and ordered lawmakers to fix inequities between rich and poor districts.

In each ruling, the justices have said the state's method of funding schools, which relies heavily on property taxes, was unconstitutional because it favored rich districts over poor ones.

Today's ruling ordered lawmakers to overhaul the system but didn't give them a deadline, retain jurisdiction or authorize a lower-court monitor.

Justice Paul E. Pfeifer, writing for the majority in the 4-3 ruling, said that while the Legislature had increased spending on public schools, it had not met the court's original order to change the way the state funds them.

"Today we reiterate that that is what is needed, not further nibbling at the edges," he wrote. "We are not unmindful of the difficulties facing the state, but those difficulties do not trump the Constitution."

State officials have estimated the cost of meeting the court's requirements would reach $1.2 billion a year for the state's 1.8 million children in public schools. Gov. Bob Taft (R) had asked the court to reconsider given that Ohio was facing billion-dollar budget deficits.

The state has increased funding for primary and secondary schools by 81 percent since 1992, from $3.6 billion to $6.5 billion this year.

Taft did not propose a specific response to the high court's ruling.

"I think everyone is reading into this decision what they would like to hear, and it is a very, very complicated decision," he said.

Because the court dropped the case, it appears there is no way to ensure the Legislature will heed the order, said Richard G. Salmon, a professor of education policy at Virginia Tech.

"There doesn't seem to be much muscle," he said.

Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer said in a dissenting opinion that the ruling left many unanswered questions for the Legislature and offered no guidance about how to create a sound funding system.

However, Moyer signed an order today that said the state must comply with the previous two rulings to fix the system because it is unconstitutional.

Officials with the coalition of 500 schools that filed the lawsuit said they expect lawmakers to start creating a new system immediately.

"They said a thorough and efficient system -- period -- whether the state has lots of money or little money, whether we have good economic or poor economic times," said William Phillis, the coalition's executive director.

The case was filed in 1991 in the name of Nathan DeRolph, who was a schoolboy at the time and now is married and a father. Among other things, the lawsuit said DeRolph once sat on a floor to take a test because his southeast Ohio school lacked chairs.