ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A lawsuit involving state government will not interrupt funding of Alaska’s public schools, officials said.

Assistant Attorney General Maria Bahr said schools are scheduled to receive their first monthly payments within the next week, The Anchorage Daily News reported Wednesday.

The Alaska Legislature filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy for not distributing K-12 school funding for the fiscal year that started July 1.

Attorneys for Dunleavy and the Legislature filed a joint motion Tuesday asking a judge to order funding to continue during the lawsuit.

Last month Dunleavy vetoed 182 line items equaling $444 million in cuts to the state operating budget.

The monthly school payments for 2019-20 will not include a one-time grant approved by the Legislature of $30 million above the 2018-19 budget.

The Dunleavy administration contends the Legislature’s 2019-20 funding appropriation is unconstitutional and violates the annual budgeting process mandated by the state constitution.

The funding for 2019-20 is legal and the governor is failing to follow a constitutional appropriation, lawmakers countered.

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Information from: Anchorage Daily News, http://www.adn.com