Kanawha school board President Becky Jordon said passionate pleas from colleagues Bill Raglin and Pete Thaw convinced her that a return to court would help resolve debate over funding the county's public library system.

"Those two have the most history with this," Jordon said. "I felt, why not? Why not try to get rid of this inequity?"

School board members voted 4-1 Thursday to return to circuit court over the school system's annual allotment to the Kanawha County Public Library, which makes up about one-third of the library's budget.     

Jordon, Raglin, Thaw and new board member Robin Rector voted for the move. Board member Jim Crawford was the only one to vote against it.

Raglin and Thaw's main argument is that a 1957 special act of the Legislature has always been unfair to Kanawha and other West Virginia counties. Raglin said Thursday that the special act is prejudiced, applies to only a few counties and has "penalized us for the last 50 years."

In 2006, Supreme Court justices told the Legislature to find a solution. Last year, state lawmakers decided they would free up more in regular levy funds - known as local share - for each county to spend.

Raglin, Thaw and other Kanawha school officials said the Legislature did not fix an inequity. They said because lawmakers freed up more local money for all 55 counties, and did not address only those that pay for libraries, they still shortchanged Kanawha's students.

"We got no resolution, and that's why I made this motion," Thaw said at Thursday's meeting.

Jordon said she was also swayed after local legislators promised to resolve the situation in September, a solution that board members believe never panned out. At the time, school board members withheld $2.3 million from the library, a decision they soon reversed. 

School board members first sued in 2003, when a circuit judge ruled against them. The Supreme Court overturned that decision three years later and told lawmakers to fix the problem with the school aid formula.

Kanawha school board President Becky Jordon said passionate pleas from colleagues Bill Raglin and Pete Thaw convinced her that a return to court would help resolve debate over funding the county's public library system.

"Those two have the most history with this," Jordon said. "I felt, why not? Why not try to get rid of this inequity?"

School board members voted 4-1 Thursday to return to circuit court over the school system's annual allotment to the Kanawha County Public Library, which makes up about one-third of the library's budget.     

Jordon, Raglin, Thaw and new board member Robin Rector voted for the move. Board member Jim Crawford was the only one to vote against it.

Raglin and Thaw's main argument is that a 1957 special act of the Legislature has always been unfair to Kanawha and other West Virginia counties. Raglin said Thursday that the special act is prejudiced, applies to only a few counties and has "penalized us for the last 50 years."

In 2006, Supreme Court justices told the Legislature to find a solution. Last year, state lawmakers decided they would free up more in regular levy funds - known as local share - for each county to spend.

Raglin, Thaw and other Kanawha school officials said the Legislature did not fix an inequity. They said because lawmakers freed up more local money for all 55 counties, and did not address only those that pay for libraries, they still shortchanged Kanawha's students.

"We got no resolution, and that's why I made this motion," Thaw said at Thursday's meeting.

Jordon said she was also swayed after local legislators promised to resolve the situation in September, a solution that board members believe never panned out. At the time, school board members withheld $2.3 million from the library, a decision they soon reversed. 

School board members first sued in 2003, when a circuit judge ruled against them. The Supreme Court overturned that decision three years later and told lawmakers to fix the problem with the school aid formula.

The state determines how much money a county school board can afford to spend on education from its own local property tax collections. In March 2007, the state set that amount, called "local share," at 94 percent of a school board's expected tax collections. The state freed up more in local share this year, as it set the bar at 90 percent of a board's expected tax collections. As a result, state aid is now based on that 90 percent.

In counties with a library levy, such as Kanawha, the public libraries' share of tax collections now comes out of the other 10 percent.

"I think this is smart money to spend," Rector said Thursday. "Now's the time to get the question out there."

She reasons that Kanawha residents would not vote on a new excess levy for another six years. Voters approved a new excess levy during the May 13 primary election. Library funding could be shifted to a future excess levy ballot, and the years between excess levy elections would be the best time to clarify the issue in the courts, she said.

Crawford promised during the spring school board campaign that he would not vote to renew the library-funding lawsuit. Crawford said Monday that he believes the Legislature fixed the funding inequity when they freed up more local money.

"And I can't go back on that," he said. "I'm not going to be critical of the other board members on this issue. That's their feeling."

Crawford has also said that Kanawha County taxpayers will fund the library one way or another.

Alan Engelbert said Monday he's not yet spoken with the library board of directors about how to respond to an impending court case.

"Obviously we're very interested in how this thing proceeds and we'll respond accordingly when we have a little more information," he said.

Reach Davin White at davinwh...@wvgazette.com or 348-1254.