COLUMBUS- Taxpayers face a $6.5 million tab for attorneys hired to argue both sides of a lawsuit that prompted the Ohio Supreme Court to declare the state's school-funding system unconstitutional.
Bricker & Eckler, a Columbus firm representing schools that successfully sued the state, submitted a request Friday for $5 million charged since the suit was filed in 1991.
"(T)here has not been a single lawsuit in the history of this state with a more far-reaching or more significant result obtained," wrote Nicholas A. Pittner, the firm's lead attorney in the case.
Attorney General Betty Montgomery's office, meanwhile, said the state has spent at least $1.5 million on private attorneys to defend the system. That doesn't include lawyers on her payroll.
The legal fees escalated as the state fought 553 of Ohio's 611 school districts to the Ohio Supreme Court. The battle essentially pitted taxpayers against themselves, meaning they will pay costs incurred by both sides.
The money spent on legal fees could have bought 126,000 textbooks or 2,500 computers for schoolchildren.
The combined fees represent about three times as much money as Cincinnati Public Schools spent on substitute teachers last year ($2.1 million) and nearly three times as much as was spent on teacher training last year ($2.3 million).
In a 39-page brief filed with Perry County Common Pleas Judge Linton D. Lewis Jr., Bricker & Eckler said the amount requested is reasonable given the time involved.
If approved, the payment would be the largest of its kind in modern Ohio history, said Deputy Attorney General Mark Weaver. State officials plan to review every bill.
"Five million dollars is a lot of money, and it's well out of proportion to what the state paid to litigate the same case," Mr. Weaver said.
Judge Lewis first declared the school-funding system unconstitutional in 1994. A court of appeals disagreed, so the schools took their case to the state's high court.
In March, the Supreme Court ordered a complete overhaul of the way Ohio finances public schools. State leaders have until March 24 to fix the system.
Dana DiFilippo contributed to this report.
