Topeka ? A bill designed to move a lawsuit over education funding more quickly to the Kansas Supreme Court is headed to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius after winning House approval Tuesday.

The House vote was 86-37. The Senate unanimously approved the measure last week.

Sebelius has said she will sign the bill, even though she wants legislators to tackle school finance issues this year and has proposed phasing in a $304 million increase in education spending during the next three years.

The bill creates a narrow category for direct appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court in cases where the state’s educational statutes have been declared unconstitutional.

Shawnee County District Judge Terry Bullock gave legislators until July 1 to fix the state’s school finance formula, which he found to be unconstitutional, and suggested the remedy would cost the state $1 billion. His December ruling came in a 1999 lawsuit filed by parents and administrators in the Salina and Dodge City school districts.

Bullock’s order was preliminary; the case cannot move to the Supreme Court until he issues a final order or unless he agrees to give up the case early, which he already has declined to do.