A seemingly routine change in how charter-school finances are regulated is proving anything but. The proposal is reviving arguments — in court and out — as to how much leeway the state should have in setting charter-school funding.

A proposal before the state Board of Education this month would eliminate the state education commissioner’s discretionary ability to limit the tuitions that charter schools may draw from local districts.

By law, districts are required to pay a charter school where their students are enrolled at 90 percent of the district’s per-pupil costs. At issue, however, is whether districts would be entitled through the commissioner to request reductions in tuition if a charter is retaining inordinate surpluses.

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