Topeka ? A three-judge panel in Topeka issued an order Friday suggesting it might block any new school funding plan from taking effect while the ongoing school finance lawsuit is pending.

The order was issued the same day the Kansas House narrowly passed a bill making sweeping changes to how the state funds public schools.

“Further, be advised that upon motion of the Plaintiffs or the State or upon the Court’s own motion, with or without notice, the Court may agree or elect to impose such temporary orders to protect the status quo and to assure the availability of relief, if any, that might be accorded should the Court deem relief warranted,” the order stated.

The order also directs the plaintiffs add the Director of Accounts and Reports, the Revisor of Statutes, the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer as additional defendants in the case.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt said the order came as a surprise.

“Today’s order from the panel was unexpected and unusual to say the least,” Schmidt said in a statement released late Friday. “After the instructions from the Supreme Court last March and the Legislature’s prompt response, we had thought and hoped this dispute was headed for a swift and final resolution. But today’s order from the panel introduces further delays and injects a host of additional constitutional and legal issues. The path to resolution is now less clear than ever before. We are studying the order carefully to determine the appropriate next steps.”

John Robb, an attorney for the plaintiffs in the case, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The panel is presiding over an ongoing lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of current funding levels for public schools.

In January 2013, the panel ruled that funding levels in place at that time were unconstitutionally low, and it ordered the Legislature to add about $480 million a year in base per-pupil funding for schools.

The Kansas Supreme Court later set that ruling aside and remanded the case to the panel. The Supreme Court said the panel should judge the adequacy of funding based on student outcomes, not on the estimated cost of providing services.

In December, though, the panel reaffirmed its earlier ruling and wrote a lengthy opinion detailing the number of students in Kansas who are less than proficient for their grade levels in reading and math.

Currently, funding is based on a per-pupil formula, with different weightings assigned to certain categories of students, such as low-income or bilingual students, to reflect the higher cost of teaching those children.

The bill that passed the House Friday scraps that system and provides “block grants” to each of the state’s 286 school districts, which they would be allowed to spend as they see fit.

Although the bill provides some additional funding for schools, critics point out that most of it is for increased contributions to the state’s troubled pension system, and not for additional classroom resources.

The December decision is expected to be appealed to the Supreme Court. Both the state and the plaintiffs have asked the court to reconsider its December ruling and clarify the reasons behind it.

Meanwhile, the Shawnee Mission school district has filed a motion to intervene in the case, arguing that neither the state nor the plaintiffs are representing that district’s interests.

As part of its order Friday, the court gave Shawnee Mission limited permission to intervene, but only on the issues still before the court.

The next hearing in the case is set for 10:30 a.m. May 7.