Topeka ? A Shawnee County District judge has given the Legislature until July 1, 2004, to fix what he has determined to be “constitutional flaws” in the state’s school finance formula.

Judge Terry Bullock said the deadline would give the Legislature and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius time to address concerns about how Kansas distributes more than $2.6 billion in aid to schools (including approximately $30 million to Lawrence’s school district) and, in particular, how the distribution pertains to closing the achievement gap.

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“To be blunt and specific, as the school officials who testified were, the current funding scheme is irrational, that is, those schools with the most expensive children receive the least,” Bullock wrote.

The state constitution requires the Legislature to “make suitable provision for finance of the educational interests of the state.” The formula fails to do so for all students, Bullock found, but poor and vulnerable students are the most dramatically affected by the funding disparities.

Bullock said that because of the constitutional issues at hand, the Legislature’s intent when the finance formula was enacted wasn’t a consideration.

“This case involves the fundamental law of our land and this court has no discretion whatsoever in whether it will be enforced and preserved,” he wrote. “There is no such thing as ‘a little bit pregnant’ and there is no such thing as ‘slightly unconstitutional.”‘

The decision was a preliminary order, meaning it cannot be appealed until after the July 1 deadline. If the flaws are fixed to his satisfaction, Bullock said he would dismiss the case. If no changes are made, Bullock said he would “enforce our Constitution if the other branches of government fail to do so.”

Bullock’s ruling followed eight days of testimony challenging the state’s finance formula, which was revised in 1992.

The lawsuit was filed in 1999 on behalf of parents and administrators in Salina and Dodge City. Their attorneys argued that districts with higher concentrations of poor students, minority students and students with limited English skills struggled to meet those students’ needs.

Attorneys for the state had argued that districts were able to find resources to address student achievement, contending it was more important how money was spent than how much each district received.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the state were reviewing the ruling and not immediately available for comment Tuesday.

Kansas spends $3,863 per pupil on education. But the state provides extra money in some cases — for example, for every student who receives a free lunch, or for each student in a small school district. The amount districts actually receive can vary by as much as $10,000 per pupil.

Alan Rupe, attorney for the plaintiffs, asked Bullock to order the state to spend an additional $852 million annually, the amount recommended by Denver consultants Augenblick & Myers, who said the additional money represented the true cost of providing a suitable education for all students.

Legislators commissioned the Augenblick & Myers study but have largely ignored it since is release in May 2001 because of the cost of following its recommendations.

Since 1992, legislators have never voted to increase the base in state aid per pupil by more than $50 in a single year. To satisfy Rupe’s request, the state would have to increase aid by $787 per pupil.

Sebelius, the State Board of Education and numerous advocacy groups have endorsed the recommendation as a goal — and a means for improving education and complying with the federal No Child Left Behind reform law.

Sebelius plans to make recommendations in January, while a bipartisan legislative panel is reviewing the state’s school funding formula, with a report due by Dec. 31, 2004.