Legislative budget writers–straining to make ends meet for K-12 education while facing a possible $110 million state budget cut to  schools–are pondering the effect that a potentially landmark lawsuit will have on the legislature’s say-so over school funding.

“I think the Supreme Court has indicated that it might eventually hold us to our own standards,” Joint Budget Committee Chair Jack Pommer, D–Boulder, said today during a committee briefing with the Colorado Dept of Education.

Pommer, elaborating further, chided previous legislative decisions that he said promoted higher standards in education without considering the needs or abilities of school districts.

“We’ve had a habit of passing standards and then saying it was up to other people to get students to meet those standards,” Pommer said. “The Supreme Court ruling — in letting the Lobato lawsuit go through – (is) pretty clear that in judging whether the schools are thorough, they can hold the state and legislature accountable for meeting its own standards.”

At issue is a lawsuit arguing that school-funding in Colorado does not adequately provide for disabled, poor or minority students and those who don’t speak English. The suit was resurrected recently by the Colorado Supreme Court after being dismissed in District Court, which had found that the legislature determines adequate funding, not the courts. The Supreme Court ruled that the lower court must hear the case after all, and lawmakers now are trying to anticipate the outcome.

Addressing what some say is inadequate funding, Sen Evie Hudak, D-Aravada, who attended the budget committee hearing, lamented the effect that she said voter-enacted constitutional amendments have had over years on funding to public schools in Colorado.

“The total of $2.97 billion that our state is not collecting from local property taxes because of the interaction of (the) Gallagher (Amendment) and (the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights) … I think that it’s a very significant number that people need to know about,” said Hudak, adding, “Maybe the voters didn’t think through how these two would interact.”

However, Republican Rep. Frank McNulty, of Highlands Ranch, waved off Hudak’s assertion.

“Unless you’re suggesting that property taxes ought to be increased, this is a relatively academic discussion … I don’t think that working families and small businesses are in a position right now to see their property taxes increased.”