Matthew Albright is The News Journal's engagement editor. Contact him at malbright@delawareonline.com.

For decades, Delaware leaders have long known that our property tax system is unfair and obsolete. They have also known for years now that our school funding system is broken, leaving low-income and minority students languishing.

Yet, over and over, governors, General Assemblies and county councils have refused to fix either problem, even when given the opportunity.

Now, the possibility looms that a judge could force elected officials to grapple with problems they've long ignored.

Last year, Delawareans for Educational Opportunity and the state chapter of the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming that Delaware's school funding system is so outrageously unfair to low-income families that it violates the state constitution. If those stakes weren't already high enough, Vice Chancellor Travis Laster raised them recently when he announced he was splitting the lawsuit into two cases: First he would address the lack of property tax re-assessments, then he would tackle the larger issue of school funding inequity.

That means Laster is wading into two of the thorniest political problems in Delaware.

Property tax reassessments are often referred to as the "third rail of Delaware politics." Unbelievably, New Castle County hasn't systemically reassessed properties since 1983; Kent hasn't done it since 1977, and Sussex hasn't done it since 1974.

You don't have to be a CPA to understand how dumb this is. Since property values have soared over the past 30-plus years, some people are paying property taxes that are nowhere near as high as their property is actually worth. Some properties have lost value, so their owners are paying way more than they deserve.

Some Wilmington residents are paying McMansion property taxes on what are now nearly slums. Some Rehoboth residents are paying bungalow taxes on palatial beach houses.

This is obviously, inexcusably unfair. Imagine if Delaware charged income taxes based on what residents' salaries were 40 years ago. Or implemented a sales tax, but based it off of what stuff cost 30 years ago.

It's ludicrous, and everybody knows it.

Still, governors, General Assemblies and county councils hardly ever even mention the possibility of reassessing property taxes. That's because reassessments would cause some people to face dramatically higher property tax burdens.

A lot of those people would be wealthy and influential. And those people will be very, very angry with whichever politician is bold enough to go for a reassessment.

So county and state leaders simply ignore the flagrant absurdity of 40-year obsolete property values. On this issue, their heads are buried deep enough to strike oil.

The second issue Laster plans to tackle is more complicated, but equally outrageous. At the risk of oversimplifying things: High-poverty schools face far more difficult challenges than other schools, yet Delaware doesn't give them much more resources to handle those challenges. In fact, our teacher pay system actively encourages experienced teachers to leave high-poverty schools.

Again, nobody who is serious about education would say this system makes sense. Advocates have been trying for decades to fix it, but the General Assembly has repeatedly failed to act.

So a system that everybody knows is broken remains broken, year after frustrating year.

I have to say, part of me is really hoping that Laster blows his mighty judicial horn, and the walls of political gridlock come a-tumblin' down. It is absolutely maddening to watch these problems go unaddressed.

Part of me thinks that some politicians are secretly also rooting for Laster to crack the whip. If he does, they can tell angry constituents "Look, we don't want to do this, but the mean ole' judge is forcing our hands."

But as cathartic as it would be to watch a judge force change at gavel-point, it's definitely not the best route for Delaware.

On a practical level, sweeping court-ordered changes don't always last in the absence of political consensus. Take desegregation: It wasn't long after the court order ended that schools started resegregating.

On an idealistic level, I'd like to think that our democracy works. I'd like to think the political process is up to the task of fixing even difficult problems. It would be better if a governor or the General Assembly or county leaders stood up and said, "We know it's going to be difficult, and we know some people are not going to like this, but fixing these problems is the right thing to do."

But then again, maybe that's naive. Maybe New Castle County Councilman Jea Street was right when he described school reform this way: Delaware only does the right thing when it's faced with "federal intervention, court intervention, or perhaps divine intervention."