Judge refuses again to toss suit over school takeovers
Print
Email
Save
Reprints
Twitter
Share
Del.icio.us
Digg
Facebook
Reddit
A judge stood by his earlier decision Thursday to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to stop the state takeover of eight failing Baton Rouge public schools.
Calling his March 5 rulings “correct and proper,” state District Judge Todd Hernandez rejected a request from a group of parents and teachers that he annul some of the rulings.
The group filed its suit in February, the month after the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to take over the schools and place them in the state-run Recovery School District.
The group alleged in the suit that other Baton Rouge schools already run by the RSD have rampant truancy, in part because the schools have not created an alternative program for misbehaving students.
A BESE attorney countered during a Feb. 26 hearing in Hernandez’s court that the suit seeks to compel the state to spend extra money to build alternative schools and in the process unlawfully run up a deficit.
Hernandez ruled in March that injunctive relief cannot be granted when it compels a state agency to expend state funds that would create a deficit within the agency.
Because of that, the judge decided he had no jurisdiction to hear the group’s request for an injunction.
Hernandez went on to rule that the five plaintiffs lacked standing to sue BESE and the state Department of Education.
During a hearing last month, attorneys for the group argued that the judge should have stopped after finding he lacked jurisdiction to hear the injunction.
The judge disagreed Thursday.
Valerie Bargas, an attorney for the group, said they will ask the state 1st Circuit Court of Appeal to review the judge’s latest ruling.
 | ||||
| Most Popular | Most Emailed | Hot Topics | ||
