On October 3, 1984, leaders of the Council for Better Education asked Combs to represent them in a legal challenge to Kentucky's school financing system, which it claimed unfairly discriminated against poorer school systems in the state.[64] Combs felt the lawsuit would be difficult to win and could cause retaliation against his other clients by state government officials.[64] He needed this lawsuit "about like a hog needs a side saddle", he would later claim; nevertheless, he agreed to take the case if the Council could convince thirty to forty percent of the state's school boards to join it.[64][65] The Council eventually persuaded 66 of the 177 school boards to join.[66] Working pro bono, Combs assembled a legal team that included Kern Alexander, a Kentucky native and education law expert who was named president of Western Kentucky University in November 1985.[66]