WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) - Court officials say retired judge Arthur Recht, who ordered West Virginia to overhaul public education funding, has died after suffering a stroke. He was 80.
The state Supreme Court says in a news release Recht died Sunday at Wheeling Hospital.
Recht served as a circuit judge in the Northern Panhandle for more than two decades. In 1982, he declared the system of financing public schools unconstitutional. Recht ordered an overhaul of the education system, including the establishment of measurable performance standards and a mechanism to equalize educational opportunities between rich and poor counties.
Recht also was appointed to fill an unexpired term on the Supreme Court and served as a senior status judge since retiring in 2012.
Justice Margaret Workman called Recht one of West Virginia’s “legal giants.”
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