Tuesday, December 18, 2001
The Youngstown charter school is seeking full state funding for each of its 227 pupils.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city charter school is suing the Ohio Department of Education and the state board of education, saying the agencies are improperly withholding state funds.
A hearing is set for 9 a.m. Friday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court's civil division on a claim by Legacy Academy, a charter school on the city's South Side.
The Legacy Academy countersuit seeks full state funding -- about $5,500 a year per pupil for 227 kids enrolled at the school in kindergarten through grade 10, or more than $1.2 million.
Some state funding: The school has received some funding from the state, said Bishop Norman L. Wagner, who leads Legacy Academy. He did not know how much, but said it was considerable.
The Lucas County Educational Service Center approved a charter school contract in August for Legacy Academy, which opened in October at Mount Calvary Pentecostal Church on Oak Hill Avenue. Bishop Wagner is church pastor.
State law allows charter schools to open only if approved by the Ohio Department of Education, the local school board, Lucas County ESC or the University of Toledo.
But the Youngstown school district filed a lawsuit earlier this month in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court contending that Lucas County ESC does not have the authority to approve charter schools outside Lucas County and that the school was set up illegally.
Stopped funds: "That stopped the funds from coming in while the school district challenged Lucas County's right to approve the funding," said Bishop Wagner. "We have asked the courts to have the state release the funds they are under contract to give us."
The lawsuit listed Legacy Academy, Lucas County ESC, the state Department of Education and the state Board of Education as co-defendants. The state education department agrees with the lawsuit's contention that Lucas County ESC cannot legally approve charter schools outside its county and has refused to recognize Legacy Academy's legitimacy.
Charter schools are privately operated, publicly operated schools that do not charge tuition and get about $5,500 a year in state funds for every pupil they enroll from the public school district in which they are located.
Legacy is Youngstown's fifth charter school. The other four were approved by the state education department.
Calvary Christian Academy, a private, tuition-funded religious school headed by Bishop Wagner, closed at the end of last school year after a legal dispute with the city public schools.
skolnick@vindy.com