May 27 (Reuters) - The Kansas Supreme Court on Friday again struck down the state’s proposed school funding system and provided lawmakers a deadline of June 30 to fix disparities between rich and poor districts or else prompt a shutdown of the state’s schools.

The state’s high court rejected the system in February, saying it was inequitable and came up millions of dollars short in funding for schools in poor districts.

The Republican-controlled state legislature passed a new bill in April to fix issues identified by the court. The court said on Friday that the bill corrects part of the problem in the original legislation but failed to adequately address all the inequities.

The 47-page opinion said if the funding system were not sufficiently overhauled before June 30, there would be no constitutional finance system in place for the state’s schools to operate under.

“The inability of Kansas schools to operate would not be because this court would have ordered them closed,” the 47-page opinion said. “Rather, it would be because this court would have performed its sworn duty to the people of Kansas under their constitution to review the legislature’s enactments and to ensure the legislature’s compliance with its own duty.”

Republican Governor Sam Brownback’s office put out a statement on Friday evening calling the ruling unfortunate. “The court is engaging in political brinkmanship with this ruling, and the cost will be borne by our children,” the statement said.

Alan Rupe, an attorney representing four public school districts that sued the state, said in an emailed statement: “Plaintiffs remain optimistic that the legislature will take this last, last chance offered by the court to put Kansas’ school children back on a path toward equitable school funding.”

The state budget is feeling the effects from action taken by Brownback and the legislature in recent years to cut corporate and other income taxes with the hopes of helping the state compete with bordering Missouri and other states for business development and jobs.

The state’s reliance on one-time revenue measures to plug budget holes led Moody’s Investors Service to place a negative outlook on Kansas’ Aa2 credit rating and Standard & Poor’s to warn it could downgrade its AA rating in recent weeks. (Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)