Prairie Crossing Charter School fight heads to appeals court
The legal battle that could result in the closure of Prairie Crossing Charter School in Grayslake will head to a state appeals court for review, officials involved in the case said.
Geoff Deignan, executive director of the small public choice school, stressed Prairie Crossing will be open for the 2015-16 academic year. He also said he believes it'll remain open, at minimum, through 2019.
The appeal is the next legal step in the effort by Gurnee-based Woodland Elementary District 50 to overturn the Illinois State Charter School Commission's decision to let Prairie Crossing continue operating through the 2018-19 academic season.
Woodland alleged in the suit, filed in Cook County circuit court last year, that Prairie Crossing should not have been allowed to stay open because it violated its last five-year charter approval in 2009 by not increasing student diversity as directed. Agreeing with Woodland, Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Allen ruled the state agency's decision allowing Prairie Crossing to continue should be reversed and he denied the charter school's motion for him to reconsider at a June 11 hearing.
Deigan criticized Allen's ruling on the motion to reconsider, calling it "at times incoherent, inarticulate and lacking in legal analysis."
As had been predicted by both sides and acknowledged by Allen at a hearing, the case will head to an Illinois appellate court because of its rarity.
Deigan said the charter school and other lawsuit defendants will file documents in an Illinois appellate court seeking to overturn Allen's findings in favor of Woodland. He contends Allen should have found Woodland didn't file the suit within a 35-day window it had to contest the charter school commission's 2014 decision to let Prairie Crossing stay open.
"Unfortunately, Judge Allen again showed his lack of understanding on charter school law and his distaste for public schools of choice," Deigan said.
Woodland officials hailed Allen's denial of the motion for him to reconsider his March ruling that the state charter school commission was "clearly erroneous" in letting Prairie Crossing stay open through 2018-19. Woodland also contends Prairie Crossing would have to cease operating as a charter school unless an appeals court stays Allen's ruling - a point Deigan disputes.
"Woodland holds the utmost faith in the judiciary and has every reason to believe that Judge Allen's careful and meticulous reasoning will withstand review by the appellate court," the district said in a statement.
Open since 1999, Prairie Crossing has had an environmentally focused curriculum that includes outdoor teaching and trash-free lunches. The 432-student capacity school is within the borders of Fremont Elementary District 79 in the Mundelein area and Woodland.
Parents at the larger Woodland and Fremont districts may send their children to Prairie Crossing, which determines enrollment by lottery. While most of Prairie Crossing's children come from Woodland, both districts lodged objections with the state before the charter school opened.
Court documents show Woodland was required to divert $2.8 million in state aid to pay for 309 children who enrolled at Prairie Crossing in the 2013-14 academic year. Fremont shipped $779,516 for 79 of its children who chose to attend Prairie Crossing.
Woodland named the state charter school commission, Prairie Crossing and the Illinois State Board of Education in the complaint filed in May 2014.