The Kansas Supreme Court is providing a great service by allowing arguments in Monday’s school finance case to be broadcast across the state.

Regardless of how many people actually tune in, the Kansas Supreme Court deserves praise for its decision to televise Monday’s arguments about the constitutionality of the state’s school finance formula.

A court spokesman announced this week that people would be able to use their computers to tune in the arguments starting at 1:30 p.m. either on the court’s Web site, www.kscourts.org or through the Kansas Board of Regents Kan-Ed Live! site at www.kanedlive.org. Both sites also plan to archive the arguments so they can be played later. Sunflower Broadband also will replay the arguments for local viewers at 6:30 p.m. Monday night.

The 1999 lawsuit that triggered the appeal was brought by parents and administrators in Dodge City and Salina, but there clearly is statewide interest in this decision. In December Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock found that the state’s school finance formula, on which distributions of all state money for public K-12 schools in based, is flawed and unconstitutional. The state supreme court’s ruling on this matter will have a profound impact on how schools in Kansas are funded both in terms of total funding and how those funds are split among districts of various sizes and compositions.

Congratulations to the supreme court officials for recognizing that everyone in the state should have access to this court proceeding and the information that will be presented there. We agree with the assessment of Dan Biles, an attorney for the State Board of Education: “Isn’t it cool that our court feels it important to be so open?”

Absolutely.