NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- Three Indiana school districts filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the state claiming that the way it funds schools is flawed.

Hamilton Southeastern and Franklin Township schools joined the Middlebury Community Schools district in Elkhart County in the filing, which contends that the state's methods of determining funding are unconstitutional.

Analysis: Capitol WatchBlog

Hamilton Southeastern Superintendent Brian Smith said the district gets about half the money per student that some other districts get. The districts contend that the funding formula unfairly penalizes districts with growing enrollments, aiding those with declining enrollments.

Hamilton Southeastern got $5,056.66 in funding per student in 2009, while Franklin Township received $5,189.79 and Middlebury got $5,098.77.

By contrast, Indianapolis Public Schools received $7,822.02 per student in 2009 and the Gary Community School Corp. received $8,881.27.

"This is not about the state shortfall. This is about how dollars are distributed with the monies that are available," Smith said.

"The result of that is … the students of Middlebury Community Schools are being left behind," said Superintendent Jim Conner.

Franklin Township school officials said they joined the suit because they think the district has been punished and has lost out on tens of millions of dollars it should have received.

"We've done everything we can to try and balance our general fund budget in a way that doesn't impact learning for our children, but it's becoming increasingly difficult," said Franklin Township Schools Superintendent Walter Bourke.

The lawsuit will cost the districts more than $70,000 before a trial phase, and it could take up to three years to battle. School officials said they hope the Legislature will enact changes before the case goes to trial.

Rank and file Republican legislators whose districts include Hamilton Southeastern are solidly behind the lawsuit, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

"Southeastern schools cannot continue to lose revenue, and so if this is the way they have to go about it, it's the way they have to do it," said Rep. Kathy Richardson, R-Noblesville.

"It's unfortunate that they have to do that, but under Democrat leadership in the House, we've kowtowed to the teachers union, and we've cheated the growing enrollment schools," said Rep. Gerald Torr, R-Carmel.

But leadership Republicans most closely involved in writing the school funding formula are cool to the lawsuit, even those who represent that part of Hamilton County.

Minority Leader Brian Bosma said he's disappointed the schools went to court.

"We did significantly increase funding for growing schools in this last special session. It's what many Republicans hung out for," he said.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, said it appears the schools are suing just because they're unhappy with the money, not because of any legitimate legal grounds.

"I hope they're not wasting their money," he said. "I'm not sure that they have a legitimate complaint in this situation."

Hamilton Southeastern is picking up most of the cost, using money from the sale of some school property.

Franklin Township and Middlebury expect to pay their share out of their general funds, which are already strapped.

State Attorney General Greg Zoeller said it is a waste of taxpayer money to have a lawsuit over what is a decision for the Legislature.

6News' political contributor Abdul-Hakim Shabazz said he thinks the suit is ridiculous.

"School districts are using taxpayer dollars to sue the taxpayers in order to get more of the taxpayers' money," he said.