After looking at the legislative hurdles involved in seeking a countywide sales tax to help public schools, Lawrence school officials now are shifting their focus to a city sales tax that would benefit only Lawrence schools.

Lawrence Supt. Randy Weseman calls the city tax “a leaner way to do it.” Other proponents of a local sales tax for schools see the city tax as a quicker, easier process to get more money into the school budget.

But the other school districts in Douglas County, predictably, are calling foul, and their reasoning points out one of the drawbacks to using local sales taxes to fund public schools.

A half-cent city sales tax would raise about $5.2 million for Lawrence schools. The problem is that much of the sales tax collected on purchases in Lawrence is paid by people who live outside the city, including many residents of Baldwin and Eudora. Is it fair for Lawrence to support its schools but not others in the county with those funds?

Of course, the same point could be made about sales taxes in any community that is a shopping destination. Think of all the Douglas County money that will go to support Johnson County schools if the courts uphold a quarter-cent sales tax for schools that already has been approved by voters.

Such inequities are what the state’s school finance formula is intended to correct by collecting and distributing school funding on a statewide basis. The formula, which currently is being challenged in Shawnee County District Court, isn’t perfect, but other methods, such as local sales taxes, also raise fairness issues.

It’s a complicated puzzle that state lawmakers need to consider and address.