COLUMBUS — Nearly two months after it tried to end Ohio's decade-old school funding lawsuit, a divided state Supreme Court announced its work is not over.

        In a 4-3 decision Friday that reopens the case, the court said it would reconsider a controversial Sept. 6 ruling that threatened to force the state to spend an extra $1.2 billion a year on schools.

        Gov. Bob Taft, who had argued the court's plan was too expensive, quickly declared a victory.

        “We're pleased they are going to rehear the case,” the governor said at a University of Toledo conference. “That's what we asked for.”

        The announcement amounts to only a partial win. The court didn't say how it would alter its ruling, saying a second decision and opinion will follow.

        What's not clear is whether the court will limit itself or offer a completely new judgment.

        Adding to the confusion is the fact that two justices switched sides in the case.

        Justice Deborah Cook voted to reconsider the decision, along with Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer, Andrew Douglas and Evelyn Lundberg Stratton. Justice Cook previously argued that the Supreme Court had no authority to order the state to make specific changes to its school funding formula.

        Justice Paul E. Pfeifer joined with dissenting justices Alice Robie Resnick and Francis Sweeney.

        In a decision meant to close the lawsuit for good, the high court had declared the state's new funding system would be constitutional if the General Assembly increased funding for schools.

        Lawmakers and some of the justices were astonished when final estimates showed the state would have to spend $1.2 billion more per year to reach the high court's mark.

        Justice Moyer and Justice Lundberg Stratton later said the court believed the changes would cost about $400 million and blamed the mistake on inaccurate estimates provided as evidence.

        Mr. Taft asked the court to reconsider the changes it ordered to the funding formula and a second provision that demanded the improvements be made retroactive to July 1. The state is looking to save about $800 million a year.

        A coalition of schools suing the state urged the court to consider an entirely new ruling.

        “The only honorable approach for them is to get back to June 20, 2001, and reconsider the entire case,” said William Phillis, director of the Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding. The court heard arguments on June 20.

        The state has increased education funding over the past decade, spending a record $14 billion this year and next.

        The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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