State Sen. John Land will be the first witness on the stand Monday when South Carolina’s school-funding fairness trial resumes.

The Clarendon Democrat, one of the Legislature’s most senior members, has only to walk across the street from his law office in Manning to testify.

While Land would not discuss details about what he plans to say, he characterized the trial as equivalent to the landmark school desegregation ruling in 1954, Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, Kan.

“From a state education standpoint, this case has enormous implications,” Land said. “Depending on what the judge rules — either way — it will have tremendous impact on South Carolina.”

Witnesses for rural school districts will continue adding testimony to bolster their claim that state government does an inadequate job helping poor communities pay for public education.

The state contends it responds to problems at local schools. The General Assembly passed the 1998 school reform law with pledges to provide extra money for after-school instruction and summer school. It also offers substantial pay raises for veteran teachers and principals who volunteer as mentors in districts with large numbers of students who receive low standardized test grades.

If the rural districts win, lawmakers likely will be forced to make major changes in how the state underwrites support for its 85 school systems. That could mean less money for other state agencies, or an increase in taxes and fees — or possibly both.

“I’m committed to the belief that without the courts stepping in and defining what is ‘equity’ in our education system, the General Assembly will never step up to the plate and do what is required of it — and that is to fund every child’s education to the same standard,” Land said.

The rural schools have presented about half their case. Their attorney, Carl Epps, said he hopes the trial will end before the General Assembly adjourns in early June.

“Every year we waste arguing this (case), we waste a class of children,” Epps said.

Bobby Stepp, the attorney defending the state, said the districts have failed to prove that children in rural schools aren’t provided an opportunity to receive a minimally adequate education.

“Most of the evidence presented so far is not about the legal issues we’re trying,” Stepp said. “It’s evidence about questions beyond the jurisdiction of the court.”

In Stepp’s view, the evidence he’s seen attempts to link poverty with race.

“This case is not a racial discrimination case. It never has been. It’s not a discrimination case of urban (schools) versus rural (schools),” Stepp said.

“It would be a good thing to do more for education,” Stepp said, “but it’s not an issue this court can answer.”

Stepp contends that the funding distribution system is fair to all districts. Responsibility for spending that aid rests with the local jurisdictions.

Schedule conflicts and a shortage of judges and courtrooms forced the trial, which began July 28, into repeated recesses during the latter half of 2003. The last witness on the stand during the first phase testified Oct. 10, 2003.

Circuit Court Judge Thomas W. Cooper Jr. has scheduled five more weeks of testimony — two weeks in January and three more in February. But the trial will probably require even more time. Neither side could say when it might end.

Clarendon County’s courthouse is the preferred site for the trial because it is in Cooper’s assigned area — the 3rd Judicial Circuit — and has been fitted to accommodate computers for presenting evidence.

During the first seven weeks of testimony, educators from four rural districts told of the challenges they face working with large numbers of low-income children who struggle to read. National experts said their research shows a correlation between poverty and low academic achievement.

Epps filed the lawsuit in 1993 on behalf of three-dozen school districts, most along the I-95 corridor. He’s shepherded the suit through the court system over the past 10 years.

“Our plan all along was to prove overwhelmingly that these children were not being provided a minimally adequate education or a chance to be successful in life,” Epps said. “These children are not being given what they need.”

“How many times do they have to be told we’re shortchanging a significant number of our citizens?” Epps said.

Reach Robinson at (803) 771-8482 or brobinson@thestate.com.