YOUNGSTOWN Legacy Academy charter school illegal, board alleges in lawsuit

The school board wants the new charter school to be deemed illegal.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- City public school leaders weren't happy when Bishop Norman L. Wagner opened a new charter school on the city's South Side.
Now they're taking him to court.
The board of education has filed suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court asking Judge Robert Lisotto to rule that the school was set up illegally.
The board names the school, the Lucas County Educational Service Center, the State Board of Education and the Ohio Department of Education as defendants in the lawsuit.
Explanations: Charter schools are privately operated schools that do not charge tuition and get about $5,500 in state funds for every student they enroll from the public school district in which they are located.
State law allows the schools to open only if approved by the Ohio Department of Education, the local school board, Lucas County ESC or the University of Toledo.
Youngstown has five charter schools: Four were approved by the state education department, and Legacy Academy was approved by Lucas County ESC.
Although Lucas County ESC has approved several charter schools in Lucas County, Legacy is the first to be opened outside Lucas County.
Basis for suit: The school board's lawsuit says state law does not allow Lucas County ESC to approve charter schools outside the Lucas County area.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule that Lucas County ESC's approval of Legacy Academy is illegal and to order that the approval be rescinded.
The lawsuit also asks that the court bar further distribution of state funds to Legacy Academy and to order the state to give back to Youngstown all state funds improperly diverted to the academy and Lucas County ESC.
Bishop Wagner has said that he went to Lucas County ESC for approval of Legacy Academy in August only because the state education department told him it was too late to start a new school for this academic year.
The school, located at Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church on Oak Hill Avenue, opened in October with about 225 pupils in kindergarten through the 10th grade. The school houses pupils in classrooms attached to the church building and in six adjacent modular classroom units.