Suit challenging South Carolina school finance law headed for trial next year

A 1993 lawsuit challenging the way South Carolina doles out money to public schools is set for trial next year. A judge has set June 3, 2002, for the beginning of the trial. The case pits 37 rural school districts against state government. A state Supreme Court ruling in 1999 left unresolved the question of whether the funding formula money is fair. Consequently, the case was sent back to circuit court for a trial.