COLUMBUS — The governor's office on Thursday said it could cost as much as $1.2 billion annually to meet an Ohio Supreme Court order to spend more on schools.

        The estimate means Gov. Bob Taft and Republican lawmakers agree about the cost of last week's ruling in the state's 10-year-old school-funding lawsuit.

        “Everybody looks to be in about the same ballpark,” said Taft spokeswoman Mary Anne Sharkey.

        Mr. Taft, Senate President Richard Finan, House Speaker Larry Householder and Attorney General Betty Montgomery — all Republicans — met Thursday in the governor's office to discuss whether to ask the court to reconsider its decision. No decision was made.

        Mr. Finan said the final decision won't be made until Monday, the filing deadline. He said state leaders are worried about unintended consequences of returning to court.

        “When you file for reconsideration, even though you say, "I want you to look at X and Y,' the court could open Pandora's box,” Mr. Finan said.

        The court on Sept. 6 ruled 4-3 that if the state spends more money on schools, the school-funding system could be considered constitutional.

        The same day, Mr. Finan said the cost could be $1.2 billion. Chief Justice Thomas Moyer said he believed the figure was $300 million to $400 million annually.

        The coalition of schools that sued Ohio over its education system predicted at first that the cost would be $400 million annually. On Wednesday, the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding said it now agreed with Mr. Finan.

        Rep. Jim Trakas of Independence, a top House Republican, said the difference between the court's figures and lawmakers' represented “two very large gaps of financial understanding of the decision. It's a gulf so deep that it cannot be bridged.”

        Ms. Sharkey said Thursday that finding $1.2 billion would be difficult without “inflicting a lot of pain” on state agencies and departments already facing a tight 2002-03 budget.

        To find extra money, Mr. Taft has ruled out a major tax increase but not closing selected tax loopholes as he did during last spring's budget deliberations.

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