All that waits is a signature from U.S. District Judge NealBiggers Jr. and the Ayers lawsuit is over. After 27 long years, thelawsuit that challenged the inadequacies in funding of the state’shistorically-black universities is complete. Our higher educationsystem now can put its focus on the future and not the past.

Or can it?

In the historic vote Friday, the Senate joined the House inapproving the funding of a $503 million settlement over the next 17years. That funding will go toward academic programs, capitalimprovements and endowments of the state’s three historically-blackuniversities.

There is no doubt that the state has been guilty of running adual university system, short-changing one for the benefit of theother. The Ayers suit settles that issue and taxpayers will now payfor the indiscretions of the past.

The only problem is that it allows the continuation of a dualuniversity system — one that is predominately black and one thatserves everyone else. Taxpayers will continue to fork out moremoney and receive less in return as budget dollars are stretched tofund duplicate services.

The politically incorrect solution for the situation is torevamp the entire system and consolidate the campuses. The removalof duplicated services and closing down of unnecessary campusessaves money and simply gives taxpayers more bang for their buck.But due to the volatility of the issue, do not look forconsolidation of our university system to happen any time soon.

In the meantime, the money for the $503 million settlement willcome from somewhere — will it be secondary education that takesthe hit, or will tuition and taxes simply increase? Or will it beboth?

But an even bigger concern of the duplicated system is thatAyers continues to encourage a split of the state along raciallines and encourages a reverse of the white-flight to privateschools that happened during the public school desegregation daysof the early 1970s.

The Ayers lawsuit is over, but its solution does nothing tosolve the problem.