COLUMBUS — A settlement in Ohio's decade-old school funding fight appears unlikely soon, according to officials on both sides of the lawsuit.

        House Speaker Larry Householder said he does not believe the state and a coalition of schools suing over Ohio's school funding system will reach a settlement by today's deadline. He said the coalition wasn't willing to compromise.

        “My feeling is that they're sort of going back to their original high bid — they want everything,” Mr. Householder said Tuesday.

        William Phillis, the coalition's executive director, said the court-ordered mediator left Columbus Tuesday with no meetings scheduled before today.

        The mediator, Madison, Wis.-based lawyer Howard Bellman, called the coalition's lawyer Nicholas Pittner before he left, Mr. Phillis said.

        “The gist of the conversation was he had done all he could in Ohio,” Mr. Phillis said.

        Mr. Bellman would not comment Wednesday. He said he would submit a brief final report today.

        Mr. Bellman said he would not seek an extension for the talks, Mr. Pittner said. “Given the time frame for the remaining mediation, I don't think there's going to be a settlement within that period,” Mr. Pittner said Wednesday.

        The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the talks in November to try to settle a lawsuit filed in 1991 by the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding, a group of about 500 schools. The suit argues that Ohio's school-funding system favors rich districts over poor.

        Negotiations began in December.

        The state has made at least two offers to the coalition, although neither side — including Mr. Householder — will discuss details.

        “I just don't think the mediation process has worked out to at least the point we had hoped that it would,” Mr. Householder said.

        He said the state offered something it “could afford to do and something that was responsible.”

        Attorney General Betty Montgomery, who represents Mr. Householder in the talks, will follow the mediator's lead, spokesman Joe Case said.

        “We've put our best foot forward in these discussions,” Mr. Case said.

        Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Phillis said he was disappointed by Mr. Householder's comments.

        “It would appear that there's an attempt to spin this in such a way as to demonize the coalition,” he said.

        Talks started after the state asked the Supreme Court to reconsider a September ruling that required the state to spend more money on schools. Doing so would make Ohio's school-funding system constitutional, the court ruled.

        The state asked for reconsideration after estimates of the additional spending hit $1.2 billion a year. The state argued that the court had used inaccurate data and that the number should be closer to $400 million.

        Mr. Householder said that if mediation fails, the state should ask the Supreme Court to accept a modified spending plan.

        The Supreme Court has ruled twice before in favor of the schools' coalition.

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