Lawrence Journal-World opinion section

There’s a certain irony in the expectation that, when Kansas legislators return to Topeka today for their ceremonial adjournment ceremony, they will consider a resolution related to the use of public school rest rooms but take no action toward responding to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that could effectively close those schools on July 1.

Late on Friday, the court issued a ruling rejecting the Legislature’s plan to fund schools for the coming year. The court said legislators had failed to fix the constitutional problems with the school finance formula and renewed its earlier commitment to keeping that formula from being implemented for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1. Without a valid formula, funding would be cut off and schools would be unable to operate.

Who’s to blame for that circumstance is a matter of opinion. In its ruling, the court maintained that “the inability of Kansas schools to operate would not be because this court would have ordered them closed. Rather it would be because this court would have performed its sworn duty to … ensure the legislature’s compliance with its own duty under Article 6.”

Gov. Sam Brownback, however, took direct aim at the Supreme Court, which, he said, “is engaging in political brinkmanship with this ruling and the cost will be borne by our children.” An argument could be made, of course, that legislators engaged in their own “political brinkmanship” by passing a finance plan that they knew the court was unlikely to find constitutional.

Much of the state’s case in this matter seemed to rest on arguments that the Legislature was acting in “good faith” and that the current formula was a temporary solution that should be allowed while the Legislature worked on a new, more permanent formula. That argument seemed to hold little weight with justices who noted that the funding situation hadn’t changed much during more than five years of litigation over its constitutionality.

So here we are. For various reasons, legislators are expected to adjourn their session without dealing with school finance and return for a special session later this month. They have a little time to come up with a solution, but not much. Given the state’s financial problems, finding money to help aid in that solution will be difficult, but perhaps necessary.

The governor is right about one thing: The state’s public schools are on the “brink.” Lawmakers can either spend their time blaming the court for a ruling that should have come as no surprise, or they can get to work to come up with a solution to keep Kansas schools open.