The Associated Press

COLUMBUS - Ohio is not alone in having problems with the way it distributes money to schools.

All but five of the 50 states have faced lawsuits challenging their school funding systems. Some states, such as New Jersey, have been fighting over school funding in the courts nearly two decades longer than Ohio's dispute, which began in 1991.

"Ohio certainly isn't alone in having a tough time resolving the problem," said Mary Fulton, a policy analyst with the Education Commission of the States, a Denver organization that advises states on education policy.

Ohio has tried to reduce the gap between wealthy and poor districts by paying schools a base amount per student, but the gap is still there. The Ohio Supreme Court found the state system unconstitutional for a third time in a ruling released on Dec. 11.

Ohio and most other states faced with funding problems have tinkered with the way the state pays for schools once a court ordered a change.

Kentucky is one of a few that have made a wholesale change.

In 1989, Kentucky's high court ruled that the state's education system was unconstitutional.

The Kentucky General Assembly set seven learning goals for children and designed the Kentucky Education Reform Act.

Lisa Gross, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, said a lawsuit by 66 rural school districts forced the state to redistribute funding to close the gap between rich and poor districts using an equity-based formula.

She said the result has been better pay for teachers, more supplies for schools and a lower dropout rate.

Modern-day decisions on the ways states pay for schools began in 1971 when the California Supreme Court declared the state's system unconstitutional.