COLUMBUS - Supreme Court Justice Alice Robie Resnick's re-election has once again put Republican lawmakers under pressure to find a better way to fund Ohio schools.

        The Toledo Democrat's victory at the polls Tuesday preserved a 4-3 high court majority that has angered business groups with a series of decisions that threw out lawsuit and worker compensation reforms.

Alice Robie Resnick

        That same high court majority has been a curse to Republicans who control the House, Senate and the governor's office. They face two 4-3 decisions Justice Resnick wrote that has them under orders to fix the state's inad equate school funding system.

        For months now, funding reform supporters and Democrats have said Republicans deliberately did nothing on the issue while business interests spent between $4 million to $8 million to defeat Justice Resnick.

        “The idea was, instead of fixing the (school funding) system, we'll get a court that would accept the existing system,” said Bill Phillis, leader of a coalition of schools and teachers that sued the state. “The clear message from the people of this state is, "Fix the system.'”

        Republican leaders said they have not been stalling on education funding reform. House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson, R-Reynoldsburg, said Justice Resnick's re-election changes nothing in their search for a solution.

        “I think the pressure was on us when we got our court response date of June of next year,” Ms. Davidson said. “The reason we added a week (of work) in December was to try to begin to address the issue.”

        Said Senate President Richard Finan, R-Evendale: “We had to get this done whether the Supreme Court changed or not.”

        Gov. Bob Taft said education funding always was one of his top priorities, even though he phoned supporters and urged them to give money to a group called Citizens for a Strong Ohio. Formed by the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, this nonprofit corporation could accept unlimited donations from anonymous contributors.

        “The challenges really remain the same,” Mr. Taft said. “The challenges are to adequately fund our schools, to provide good school buildings, (and) improve access to higher education.”

        Mr. Phillis, however, questioned how serious the governor is about finding the millions, perhaps billions, needed to fix Ohio's schools.

        “He lost some credibility with regard to the education community when he was out raising money for the group that was providing the attack ads,” Mr. Phillis said.

        “I think people in the education community will be a little less enthusiastic and maybe even trusting of the governor with regard to what's happened in the last month or so.”

        One outspoken lawmaker and school funding reform advocate, Sen. Mike Shoemaker, D-Bourne- ville, predicted Republican efforts to defeat Justice Resnick will backfire.

        “If you're going to take over the kingdom, you've got to kill the king. You can't wound him,” Mr. Shoemaker said. “Well, they've got a wounded queen on their hands now, and it will be interesting to see how they will address her.”

        Justice Resnick did not return calls seeking comment.

        In May, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the state's school funding system, though improved, is still unconstitutional. Writing for the 4-3 majority, Justice Resnick repeatedly scolded lawmakers for failing to reduce schools' reliance on local property taxes.

        The ruling gave the Legislature until June 2001 to find a solution. Though some observers said state income or sales taxes may have to be raised to solve the problem, Mr. Taft and fellow Republican leaders vowed that would not happen.

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