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The Nebraska Schools Trust lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Nebraska's school finance system remains alive.
The Nebraska Schools Trust is comprised of he Omaha Public Schools, Grand Island School district, Lexington school district and South Sioux City school district.
Superintendent Steve Joel said he learned Thursday night that Douglas County District Judge Patricia Lamberty had not dismissed the lawsuit.
Lamberty said the fact that the state of Nebraska tracks student performance by race or ethnicity means that the lawsuit should proceed.
The annual Nebraska State Report Card reports student achievement by race, by poverty as measured by students who receive free or reduced price school lunches and by students who are classified as English language learners.
Lamberty had earlier dismissed parts of the case brought by the Nebraska Schools Trust.
In 2007, the Nebraska Supreme Court upheld the dismissal of a separate school finance lawsuit brought by the state's smaller schools. The court said the amount of education funding for schools was a political question left to the Legislature.
Last fall, the Nebraska Schools Trust offered to slow down its lawsuit in hopes that the issue could be settled during the current legislative session. However, Gov. Dave Heineman and other state officials turned down that offer. Instead, the state of Nebraska sought to have the lawsuit dismissed completely.
Now, the trial on the lawsuit should begin this September.
The Nebraska Schools Trust filed its lawsuit on June 30, 2003.
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