CHEYENNE - The legal fight over millions of dollars in excess money that went to mineral-rich school districts is on a fast track to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

The state has put on hold its lawsuit again the five "recapture" school districts, as well as an administrative hearing on whether the districts must turn over $44 million in local taxes to the state school foundation program, said Michael O'Donnell, attorney with the school litigation section in the attorney general's office.

The state will consolidate its case filed in Laramie County District Court with the school districts' lawsuit filed in Sublette County District Court and will get the issue before the Supreme Court.

"Nothing is really changed," O'Donnell said. "We don't need to be in two separate courts."

He said he proposed the consolidation to the attorneys for the school districts after Laramie County District Judge Peter Arnold on July 27 denied the state Department of Education's petition for a temporary injunction to prevent the districts from spending the excess money while the case went through the courts.

O'Donnell noted that the districts and the department filed their lawsuits within a day of each other in Sublette County and Laramie County, respectively, with neither side knowing what the other side planned to do.

At issue is the legal interpretation of Constitutional Amendment B, which was adopted by voters in November.

The amendment requires the five districts - in Pinedale, Big Piney, Gillette, Shoshoni and Kemmerer - to turn over 100 percent of their property tax revenue to the state for redistribution to all the public schools. The existing law allowed the districts to keep 25 percent of the excess money above the state average.

The state contends the constitutional amendment went into effect in November when the election results were certified by the state canvassing board.

The school districts argue the amendment never went into effect because the language was a permissive "may" and the Legislature failed to pass enabling legislation last winter. They say the state is violating the districts' constitutional rights by trying to apply it "retroactively," said the lawsuit filed in 9th District Court by Sublette County School Districts 1 and 9 against Superintendent of Public Instruction Jim McBride.

The lawsuit contends that the state's actions are impairing the districts' ability to fulfill their contracts.

"The parties have agreed to move forward with the litigation in Sublette County, not Laramie County, and to request the District Court to certify the constitutional question to the Supreme Court," said Tracy Copenhaver of Powell, attorney for Sublette County School District 1.

"When the Legislature chose to leave the existing law in place, they should have expected people would follow the existing law when it is the law," Copenhaver said Monday.

"These districts have to follow the law, and so does the state," he added.

The injunction McBride sought couldn't be done equitably because it attempted to recoup money a month after the districts' budgets were adopted and funds were spent, Copenhaver said.

The districts' lawsuit also noted that the Legislative Service Office fiscal note to the proposed constitutional amendment said it was contingent on the Legislature passing enabling legislation during the 2007 session.

Capital bureau reporter Joan Barron can be reached at (307) 632-1244 or at joan.barron@casperstartribune.net.