AKRON — Four Ohio Supreme Court justices are prepared to reconsider a Sept. 6 decision that ordered the state to spend more on schools, the Akron Beacon Journal reported Friday.

        Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and Justices Andrew Douglas, Evelyn Stratton and Deborah Cook now favor reconsideration, although there is no agreement on how the school-funding case should be settled, the newspaper said, citing state and court sources it did not identify.

        Court spokesman Jay Wuebbold said Friday he had no comment on the newspaper's report.

        The Supreme Court ordered Ohio to spend more money on schools to make the state's system constitutional.

        Gov. Bob Taft decided to ask the court to reconsider a portion of the ruling after the estimated cost of the additional spending hit $1.2 billion annually.

        Mr. Taft wouldn't comment on the report, but said Friday he remained hopeful the court would reconsider its Sept. 6 ruling.

        A revised spending figure would be about $450 million annually, but that would be on top of the record $14 billion the state is spending on education this year and next.

        Mr. Taft said the slumping economy and the financial effect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have left the state with even less money than estimated this year.

        The issue before the court is the way the state calculated the amount it spends on each schoolchild annually.

        The Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, a group of about 500 school districts, asked the court to deny the state's request to reconsider the ruling. It said the recent ruling was a compromise that backed away from two previous court decisions declaring the state's system for paying for education unconstitutional.

        The coalition sued Ohio in 1991 on behalf of Perry County schoolboy Nathan DeRolph and others. It said that Ohio's system creates disparities between rich and poor districts by relying too much on local property taxes.

        Chief Justice Moyer wants state officials and the coalition to ask the court for a settlement conference, state and court officials close to the case told the Beacon Journal.

        Justice Paul Pfeifer said the case is ripe for a settlement.

        “As a judge, it is my duty to recognize that, and it is my duty to encourage the principals involved and (to encourage) my colleagues to recognize that,” Justice Pfeifer said.

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