Taylor Duane persuades Board of Regents to overturn RI Commissioner of Education in favor of charter school client in tuition dispute
PROVIDENCE (Nov. 24, 2010) – Matt Plain and Tim Groves recently persuaded the Rhode Island Board of Regents to reverse a decision of Rhode Island Education Commissioner Deborah Gist and order a local school district to reimburse their client, a local independent public charter school, for tuition payments the district had wrongfully withheld under a mistaken interpretation of state law.
Prior to October 2009, the Chariho Regional School District, like all local school districts in the state, had paid tuition to public charter schools based on the number of Chariho students that were actually enrolled in the respective charter schools at the time.
But Chariho abruptly ceased paying tuition in this fashion to the firm’s client, The Compass School, as well as another charter school, Kingston Hill Academy, opting instead to recalculate its tuition obligation based on enrollment in a “reference year” that the Rhode Island Department of Education uses to determine the state’s quarterly tuition payments to charter schools.
Because the “reference year” is based on enrollments from two years prior to the current school year, and the number of Chariho students enrolled in both Compass and Kingston Hill had increased significantly, Chariho’s recalculation had potentially dire financial implications for the charters.
Plain and Groves convinced the Board of Regents that Chariho’s self-serving reinterpretation of the state’s charter school funding statute (R.I.G.L. § 16-77.1-2) was contrary to the statute’s plain language as well as legislative intent. The Board ordered the school district to pay a total of $861,442 in tuition to Compass and Kingston Hill.
“We are pleased the Board of Regents upheld our client’s argument, and are gratified that charter schools will be assured of the funding that is so necessary to support the important work that they do,” said Plain.
Added Groves: “Our client’s position was consistent with the letter and the spirit of the charter school funding statute. A local district cannot shirk or defer its responsibility for funding the education of its elementary and secondary school students who attend public schools, whether district or charter.”
About Taylor Duane
Taylor Duane maintains an active school law practice, and is one of New England’s leading civil litigation law firms with offices in Boston and Providence. Its experienced trial attorneys appear regularly in the federal and state courts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. It has an active The Providence Business News has named the firm as one of Rhode Island’s Best Places to Work for three consecutive years (2008-2010).
