BATON ROUGE (AP) — Superintendent of Education John White says the state owes local school districts $30 million because the Louisiana Supreme Court threw out this year’s public school funding formula.

The Supreme Court ruled that lawmakers couldn’t fund a voucher program to send children to private school through the formula for public schools. The high court also said lawmakers didn’t follow the proper process to pass the formula, declaring the entire 2012-13 financing plan null and void.

White said Wednesday that means the state reverts to the formula for the 2011-12 school year. He says that changes several state funding calculations and will require $30 million more in payments to districts.

Of that, he said $12 million was paying local school districts back for a reduction in funding they took because of vouchers.

Superintendent of Education John White. (American Press Archives)