Kudos to Paul Woolverton, capital correspondent for the Fayetteville Observer, who noticed this eerie coincidence out of South Carolina:

MANNING, S.C. (AP) ? Lawyers arguing that the state?s method of funding public schools shortchanges poor, rural children repeatedly stumped the House?s chief budget writer on detailed questions about education spending.

Steve Morrison, one of the lawyers for schools districts suing the state, peppered House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bobby Harrell, a Charleston Republican, with dozens of questions Tuesday about how more than a third of the state?s 5.5 billion budget.

But repeatedly, Harrell responded with “I don?t know,” or “I?m not sure.”

About three dozen school districts had filed suit against the state, saying that the way the state funds public schools does not give them enough money to give students a decent education. Just eight districts are now involved in the court fight playing out in Manning.

As most readers know, a similar lawsuit here in North Carolina is known as the Leandro case, but the trial judge?s name is Howard Manning, Jr.