W.Va. Finance Lawsuit Moving To Resolution After Decades in Court

By Bess Keller

West Virginia's 25-year-old school funding lawsuit has moved closer to resolution, with the parties agreeing to tweak a system that has come a long way—but perhaps not far enough—toward setting the bar for a constitutionally adequate education.

Under a court-ordered agreement reached last month, the state must evaluate and report on individual schools' specific needs, including facilities, personnel, curriculum, equipment, and materials.

Such resources have been at the heart of the suit since it was brought against the governor and other state officials by several parents of Lincoln County public school students in 1975, and state Circuit Judge Arthur M. Recht ruled in their favor seven years later. The parents charged that their children were receiving an inferior and inadequate education because of the condition...