By Travis Gettys
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Three Northern Kentucky school districts have thrown their support behind a lawsuit alleging that Kentucky's system for funding education is inadequate and unfair.

Officials from Beechwood, Boone County and Fort Thomas schools filed a brief Tuesday in district court to endorse a suit brought against the state by a group of students and parents.

The plaintiffs, and their local supporters, are challenging what they see as inequities in the funding formula in 1990's Kentucky Education Reform Act.

Districts with increasing property value are penalized under the existing formula, said Fred Bassett, superintendent of Beechwood Schools.

"As the property value increases, the school funding decreases," said Larry Stinson, superintendent of Fort Thomas Schools. "We would like to think it was an unintentional glitch in the funding formula."

Problems with the reform act, known as KERA, have been apparent for several years, Bassett said, but lawmakers have been reluctant to change any part of the law.

"If anybody admitted there was a problem with KERA, the whole thing would unravel," Bassett said.

He suspects the administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher might be inclined to change the existing system, because the Republican might be willing to give up on legislation enacted by former Gov. Wallace Wilkinson, a Democrat.

A recent Department of Education report, which conceded tax issues in funding, was a "big step," Bassett said.

The funding formula is outlined with the assumption, he said, that if property values in a school district go up 10 percent, school funding will too.

However, under state law, property taxes cannot be increased by more than 4 percent without a voter referendum.

"As property assessments grow more than 4 percent, (districts) start to lose money," Bassett said.

"One of the reasons people move into the three communities sitting here is the quality of the schools," said Bryan Blavett, superintendent of Boone County Schools.

E-mail tgettys@enquirer.com