Senate Bill 7, the controversial legislation that repeals the old school finance formula and replaces it for two years with a system of block grants to school districts, officially became law Thursday when it was published in the Kansas Register.

For the time being, at least, school districts will immediately start to be funded under a different formula. Some, including the Lawrence school district, will start receiving less money than they had expected when they adopted their budgets last August. But it remains to be seen how long state courts will allow that to continue.

Soon after the bill passed both chambers, plaintiffs in the long-running school finance lawsuit filed a motion with the district court panel hearing the case, asking for a temporary order to block it from being implemented. They also asked the court to hear evidence at the next scheduled hearing May 7 to decide whether the law should be permanently enjoined.

The court has not yet acted on that motion. John Robb, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in an email Thursday that he is waiting just like everyone else to hear something from the court.