If lawmakers can solidify support this year, they could end a decade-old stand-off, and rural Alaska families could finally realize long hoped-for school repairs.

A number of schools in rural Alaska are bursting at the seams, while others are in disrepair or lack basic safety features like fire sprinklers. Lawmakers representing those areas are pushing the neglect to the front burner this legislative session, armed with a state budget surplus and an apparent ally in Republican Gov. Sean Parnell.

In a January address to lawmakers, Parnell said he will use some of the 2010 surplus to help resolve school construction issues, especially in rural areas.

Sen. Lyman Hoffman, D-Bethel, extolled that move by the governor as signaling "an important recognition on the part of the administration" that many parts of the state lack adequate learning centers, and that the problem must be addressed.

But the backlog is huge. Hoffman and Rep. Bob Herron, a Bethel Democrat who caucuses with the Republican majority, referenced a list of projects waiting for money from the School Construction Grant Fund. The top 10 alone carry a price tag of $332 million, and they're the ones with the most dire needs. The full list of 35 projects tops $411.6 million.

"The bulk of the backlog is in the top 11 schools," Hoffman said. "They are the ones that have been there for quite some time, and the price tag for those is quite staggering."

Last week, Hoffman, Herron, Sen. Donny Olson, D-Nome, and Rep. Neal Foster, D-Nome, joined Parnell on a tour of three high-need schools in Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. In each community they were greeted by crowds of students, teachers, administrators and parents, many hoisting signs clamoring for help.

The school in Alaknuk tops the state's list - total replacement, at $47.4 million. Built 35 to 40 years ago as a safe place for 100 students to learn, the school now houses 220 and is struggling with inefficient systems that jack up operating costs.

"The conditions there, I think, were deplorable, particularly in Alaknuk where we have some schools that are really dangerous," Hoffman said.

In Kipnuk, number two on the list, the delegation found another aging, inefficient facility, also filled with double the original student count.

"They shoe-horned in about 200 children into a space that's allocated for 100," Herron said.

In Napaskiak, people are waiting for a new school, estimated at $ 40.9 million. Construction costs aren't cheap in the Bush, where most supplies arrive on a couple barges each year. Designed for 75 students, the school now holds 150.

"We all came away with the realization that these Alaska Native children -- 98 percent of them are in these schools - do need safe schools and efficient schools," Herron said.

Significant investment by the Legislature this year in rural schools could go a long way toward ending a 10-year stand-off between the state and rural schools, and Parnell is on board -- but has also cautioned that lawmakers will have the final say on a state budget.

The stand-off comes from a court case filed in 1997, Kasayulie vs. State of Alaska.

"Since the Kasayulie case, not one school, not one dollar, has been requested by a governor to address new school construction," Hoffman said, noting that a couple of schools destroyed by fire have been rebuilt. "The state of Alaska and particularly our governor should come forward and address the Kasayulie case,"

The court found in that case that the state's method of paying for school construction discriminated against rural students, violating the state's constitution on a couple counts. The state's system favored urban areas, which could turn to the state to pay debt service on projects the cities paid for with bonds. Without a tax base, rural districts don't have that option.

The case hasn't concluded, pending a valuation on lands the state was to hold in trust for education funding. The Department of Education's school finance director, Eddie Jeans, told a legislative committee on Wednesday that the state is working on the valuation, which could put in motion a settlement.