This is one of the most important elections in decades for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and now, an important case involving public education funding is headed its way.

The scenario emerged when the lower Commonwealth Court threw out a lawsuit last week calling for an end to sharp inequities in what school districts spend to educate students.The Commonwealth Court found it is the General Assembly's job under the state constitution to determine education funding issues, not the judicial branch.The plaintiffs, including Panther Valley and two other districts in northeastern Pennsylvania, plan to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The appeal could possibly be considered later this year, but it's more likely to happen in 2016, observers said.The seven-member high court currently has two vacancies and that could mean there was some trepidation about having just five justices decide such a major case.Pennsylvania voters will solve that problem in November when they elect three justices to 10-year terms.This is apparently the first time that three Supreme Court seats are on the ballot in the same year. It's due to a combination of two justices resigning due to scandal and one mandatory retirement.Twelve candidates, including Justice Correale Stevens of Luzerne County, who currently is serving an interim term through appointment, have filed to run for those seats.Wilkes-Barre Area School District, Shenandoah Valley School District in Schuylkill County and Panther Valley School District in Carbon County are among the plaintiffs in the education funding lawsuit.It charges the funding disparities violate the state constitution and the state's equal protection clause.According to the suit, in 2012-13, Panther Valley's equalized millage rate of 27.8 the 27th highest of the commonwealth's 500 school districts raised revenue of approximately $5,646 locally per student.Property-rich Lower Merion School District, on the other hand, raised revenue of approximately $23,709 locally per student four times more than Panther Valley with an equalized millage rate of just 14.7, almost half of Panther Valley's.Although the state has made some effort to close that gap, contributing twice as much per student to Panther Valley as it did to Lower Merion, that still left Panther Valley with less than half of what it needed.The state Board of Education's own costing-out study showed that Panther Valley needed $13,427 per student based on 2005-06 costs."At a time when research and the national press have singled out Pennsylvania as the state with the most unequal funding in the country, we are disappointed that the Commonwealth Court did not address this claim in any meaningful way," said Maura McInerney, an attorney with the Education Law Center-PA. "We believe the Supreme Court will set the law right and recognize that courts have a clear duty to address both claims."Advocates urge voters to keep the education funding case in mind as they consider the crop of judicial candidates.That can be difficult, given rules against candidates commenting specifically on cases before the court, but voters can examine judicial records and ask questions at candidate forums.