Columbia Public Schools back in court for charter school fight
Marie Moyer
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)
Columbia Public Schools will return to Cole County court on Monday as the months-long legal battle over charter schools in Boone County continues.
CPS filed the suit in December after the charter school, Frontier, announced a plan to establish a charter school in the county. The application was later approved by the state’s Board of Education in April.
The case primarily revolves around SB 727, which was signed in Spring 2024.
SB 727 states that charter schools can be operated in counties “between 150,000 and 200,000 inhabitants.” While the bill does not call out Boone County by name, census data shows that Boone County is the only county in the state that falls between these guidelines.
In a revised petition filed in April, CPS argues that SB 727 was unconstitutional since it only affects Boone County. They also argue that when the General Assembly went forward with the bill, it was required by the constitution to publish the provision in Boone County after it was introduced, which they also failed to do. The group also argued that the BOE’s approval of the application was also unconstitutional since it hinged on SB 727 to allow the school in the first place.
In their response, the state argued that the lawsuit is coming too late and CPS had until the end of the legislative session or May 30, 2025, to file the suit.
CPS pushed back against this, arguing they wouldn’t have known to prefile a lawsuit since no charter school applications were sent before the deadline.
“No one knew if there was ever going to be a charter in Boone County,” CPS attorney Natalie Hoernschemeyer said.
The state also argues that they and the Attorney General are not proper defendants for the case since they don’t oversee Board of Education decisions.
“We weren’t involved in it, it was the state Board of Education,” state attorney Ryan Dugan said.
They add that the state also has “sovereign immunity,” which prevents lawsuits from being brought against the state.
CPS initially argued that Frontier had not taken proper steps in its application, like receiving public input from the community.
According to court documents, CPS is requesting that the judge declare that the approval of Frontier’s application was unconstitutional and reject it.
Judge Emily Fretwell, overseeing the case, said she will make a ruling “in the next couple of weeks.”
This is an ongoing story.