The plaintiffs' costs have been divided among the many school districts involved in the case.
"I think it's been a very good investment for our district and for all the districts," said Sweetwater County School District 2 superintendent Barb Van Metre. She said her district has spent about $50,000 per year on the case, out of a total $26 million annual budget.
Critics, however, say those millions would have been better spent educating students. They complain that neither the districts nor the state have much incentive to settle the lawsuit.
O'Donnell said part of the reason the case has been so expensive is that the school financing formulas are so complex. A proposed settlement in 1999, which would have resolved the question of payments to small schools, was thrown out because it wasn't cost-based.
"So this case is more difficult to settle," O'Donnell said. "Anything has to be demonstrably cost-based. And that's not easy."
Gary McDowell, director of the Wyoming Education Association, which has sided with the school districts, agreed.
"I think it comes down to defining what's the basket of goods and services," McDowell said. "it was such a comprehensive decision, it must be cost based, and that requires research and data."
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