Topeka ? Legislators won’t get a speaking part in the school finance drama unfolding this month before the Kansas Supreme Court.

The court on Monday rejected a request by GOP lawmakers to appear in person to defend the Legislature’s school finance package, limiting a May 11 hearing to attorneys for the state, the State Board of Education and school districts.

The two-page order said that neither the House nor the Senate was a named party in the case, but it added that legislators could file a brief with the court by Thursday. That’s also the deadline set for written arguments from school districts suing the state over school funding and education organizations.

GOP leaders asked the court to allow Sen. John Vratil, R-Leawood, and Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, to explain the Legislature’s intent behind the package. Democrats filed a motion, which was also denied, seeking the same access for Rep. Marti Crow, D-Leavenworth.

Vratil said he was disappointed and added, “All I can conclude is that the court doesn’t want to hear from the Legislature.”

O’Neal said he was inclined to file a brief but was struck that the court specified legislators weren’t a party to the lawsuit.

“We probably should have been the only party,” O’Neal said.

In addition, the court appeared to deny a request by attorneys hired by Atty. Gen. Phill Kline to limit the scope of arguments by state board attorney Dan Biles. Those attorneys asked the court Friday to keep Biles from making arguments critical of the Legislature’s plan.

The justices will allow the state’s attorneys one hour and Biles 15 minutes. The court gave 75 minutes to Alan Rupe, a Wichita attorney representing the plaintiff Salina and Dodge City school districts. Previously, the court had set aside 30 minutes for the state, 30 minutes for Biles and an hour for Rupe.

Attorneys for the state had sought to limit Biles’ remarks or force him to argue alongside Rupe, claiming a brief Biles filed earlier in the case suggested the state board no longer intended to defend the school package and had changed sides.

“If nothing else, it moots the attorney general’s argument that my time should come out of the plaintiff’s time rather than the state’s time,” Biles said. “This is what the state board asked for.”

The school districts filed the lawsuit claiming the state’s scheme for distributing $2.7 billion was unconstitutional because of the way funds were spent on programs for poor and minority students. Shawnee County District Court Judge Terry Bullock ruled for the plaintiffs in December 2003.

Justices heard the appeal and issued a ruling in January ordering legislators to provide additional money and distribute it more fairly. Legislators beat an April 12 deadline set by the court with a package that increases school funding by $142 million, relying on existing state revenues and allowing local school districts to raise more property taxes.

A request from students in the Shawnee Mission district in Johnson County to submit written arguments was accepted. The court had previously denied the request. The students asked to give their opinion how the changes in the funding formula would affect their education.