Ohio school funding case belongs to this high court

Justices of the Ohio Supreme Court should join their chief, Thomas Moyer, in striking a blow for an apolitical judiciary -- of course we're aware of the big lie, namely that judicial contests in Ohio lose their partisan sheen in the general election -- by resolving the 11-year-old school-funding case before January. Why January? Because that's when Maureen O'Connor, currently Ohio's lieutenant governor, will take a seat on the Supreme Court, replacing Justice Andrew Douglas, who is being forced to retire because of age.
During the election, O'Connor was touted by special interest groups as being the swing vote in the highly controversial school-funding case. Douglas and three other justices have formed the majority in ruling that Ohio's current system of funding public primary and secondary education is unconstitutional because it depends on revenue from property taxes. The existence of rich and poor school districts means that not all Ohio's children receive a thorough and efficient education, as required by the constitution, the Supreme Court has ruled.
In September 2001, the 4-3 majority let it be known that the state had to increase spending for K-12 in order for the system to pass constitutional muster. However, when the price tag hit $1.2 billion a year, Gov. Bob Taft and the Ohio General Assembly asked the court to reconsider. They argued that the billions of dollars Ohio is spending on school construction projects and other instruction-related initiatives should be taken into consideration by the justices.
Objective?
O'Connor's supporters contended that she would be partial to such an argument -- even though the lieutenant governor insisted publicly that she had not made up her mind and would have to closely review the school-funding case file before she took a position.
But given that the Nov. 5 general election for the supreme court was so highly charged politically, we agree with Chief Justice Moyer that this case should be resolved before the end of the year.
"I look at it institutionally," Moyer told the Associated Press in the wake of last Tuesday's election. "Sometimes things certainly do not work out the way sometimes you want, and DeRolph is one of those issues." Nathan DeRolph was a Perry County schoolboy who once sat on a floor to take a test because his school lacked chairs. The 1991 school-funding case bears his name.
While Justice-elect O'Connor insists that she hasn't made up her mind, the justice she is succeeding, Douglas, has been unwavering in his position that the Ohio General Assembly and the governor must do something to close the revenue gap between rich and poor school districts.
This case is too important to be allowed to languish indefinitely. The seven members of the Ohio Supreme Court know the case intimately and, therefore, have the responsibility to get it off the books.