A judge Friday slapped down an attempt by the State Board of Education to appeal his decision that the school finance system was unconstitional.

“JUST GO FIX IT!” Shawnee County District Court Judge Terry Bullock wrote in his order.

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In a stinging memorandum, Bullock decried legal and political maneuvering around his Dec. 2 order that found blantant violations of the state and federal constitutions in Kansas’ method of funding public schools. Bullock ruled the level of school funding was inadequate and the method of distributing those funds discriminated against minority students.

In a preliminary court order, Bullock gave Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the Legislature until July 1 to correct the system.

Dan Biles, an attorney, representing the State Board of Education, asked Bullock to allow the board to appeal that preliminary order to the Kansas Supreme Court.

Getting a state Supreme Court ruling, Biles argued, would resolve the case sooner because the state would probably appeal Bullock’s order anyway once the July 1 deadline passed.

But Bullock called the argument “patently disingenuous.” Bullock said his current order gives lawmakers time to make changes in the next legislative session instead of waiting for a Supreme Court decision and then addressing those issues, which could take until 2007.

“With more than 437,000 students presently enrolled in Kansas schools, imagine how many thousands more Kansas children will be cast upon the dust heap of history by a State Board of Education and a Commissioner of Education who wish to delay for at least four more years (beyond the nearly five years this case has already pended) the fulfillment of the constitutional duty to provide our children their educational due,” Bullock wrote.

For more on this story, see the 6News report at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. and pick up a copy of Saturday’s Journal-World.