Topeka ? A trial challenging the state’s $2.6 billion school finance system will probably take less than two weeks, attorneys in the case said Monday.

The attorneys and Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock met for about 45 minutes to hash out several pending issues before the trial starts next Monday.

Minority students in Dodge City and Salina have alleged the state is not spending enough on public schools and that the formula for allocating funds is discriminatory because schools that are mostly white receive disproportionately more money than schools with high minority populations.

During the pretrial conference, Alan Rupe of Wichita, an attorney for the minority student plaintiffs, said his portion of the case would take about five to six days.

Dan Biles, an attorney representing the State Board of Education, and Kenneth Weltz, an attorney representing the state, said their portion of the trial would take about 2 1/2 days.

Bullock asked the two sides to come to an agreement on some basic facts in the case before the trial started, but the attorneys said they had been unable to do so.

“I regret that,” Bullock said. “I guess we are just going to have to do this the hard way.” In an effort to save time, he asked the two sides to try again.

The two sides also must give each other their lists of witnesses and the order they will be called.

Neither side has completed a final list, but in earlier court filings, the plaintiffs indicated they would call to trial Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, former Gov. Bill Graves, Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and several legislators and state school board members.

The state has said its witnesses would include a handful of school finance experts.

The Lawrence school district is not a specific party in the lawsuit, although critics of the state’s school finance plan have said the Lawrence district’s recent proposal to levy a sales tax for schools would result in further inequities in school funding.