Topeka ? Two heavyweights in the fight against a school finance lawsuit urged the State Board of Education on Tuesday to lower its school accreditation standards.

Atty. Gen. Phill Kline and state Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, told the board that maintaining the current standard that all students will be grade-level proficient in reading and math by 2014 was unrealistic and could invite further court actions against the school system.

“We are setting ourselves up for failure,” Vratil said.

But board member Bill Wagnon, a Democrat from Topeka, told Vratil he would give him a list of Kansas’ 450,000 public school students.

“Which one do you want me to leave behind? You need to tell me,” Wagnon said.

The discussion was steeped in the debate of Kansas’ current school finance litigation and the federal No Child Left Behind law.

The Kansas Supreme Court earlier this year declared the school finance system unconstitutional because it was under-funded and inequitable. The federal law requires schools make progress toward 100 percent proficiency in math and reading or face sanctions.

The Legislature responded to the court order by increasing school funding by $290 million, or about 10 percent. The court has maintained jurisdiction in the case, ordering a study that could peg future school funding increases to achieving high standards for all students.

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Kline said the court’s signal to link funding to student performance was a departure that could control how the board and Legislature appropriate school funding.

But board member Sue Gamble, a Republican from Shawnee, said even though the standard may be impossible to reach, any backsliding could hurt students in the modern economy.

Many of the state standards have been put in place to mirror the federal No Child Left Behind law.

But Vratil predicted that law “will implode and go away” because of the unrealistic standards.

Board Chairman Steve Abrams, a Republican from Arkansas City, said he sympathized with the message from Vratil and Kline.

“One hundred percent proficiency is statistically impossible,” he said. Although the board took no action, Abrams said it may discuss the issue further.

Earlier, Kathy Cook, executive director of Kansas Families United for Public Education, urged the board to disregard the testimony.

“Senator Vratil and Attorney General Kline seem to think it’s too expensive to hold our schools accountable. Personally, I believe it’s too expensive in the long run not to hold our schools accountable,” she said.