Arizona lawmakers are asking the state Court of Appeals to rule that a trial judge acted illegally in ordering them to immediately cough up an extra $317 million for public schools and even more next year and beyond.

Calling it fiscally “impossible,” an attorney for lawmakers told a judge on Monday she should reject a bid by schools to get back the money the state illegally withheld from them for years.

A judge in Phoenix on Monday is scheduled to start a five-day hearing on whether Arizona must provide public schools with back payments for inflation adjustments to annual funding for education.

State lawmakers should stop fighting public schools in court and come up with the money they are due to compensate them for inflation, Gov. Jan Brewer said Wednesday.

A trial court judge entered a final judgment today in a monumental school finance case, compelling the Legislature to reset inflation adjustments for public schools at a price tag of about $317 million for fiscal-year 2015.