Eastern District reverses ruling on standing for St. Louis education board

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, reversed a lower court’s decision to block the St. Louis Board of Education’s (SLPS) petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, which it filed as part of its legal battle challenging the establishment of a charter school within the district.

In a six-page decision, the appeals court makes clear it is only considering the matter of whether SLPS has standing and not on the matter of the charter school.

In July 2023, the organization “Believe STL,” submitted an application to the Missouri Charter Public School Commission for a charter school in the city

“In an attempt to comply with the notice requirements of section 160.405.1, Believe STL purportedly emailed a copy of its application to the Associate Superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools,” according to background provided by the court in its opinion. “However, due to a typographical error in the email address, it is unclear whether Associate Superintendent ever received the application.”

Later that month, the commission held a hearing and voted to approve the charter school’s application. In September, the commission was informed SLPS did not receive a copy of the application as was required.

“After Believe STL subsequently sent the SLPS Board a copy of the application, the SLPS Board held a meeting and passed a resolution objecting to Believe STL’s charter school application,” according to the court. “On November 16, 2023, Believe STL withdrew its charter school application and subsequently submitted a new application to the commission on the same day. A copy of Believe STL’s second application was both hand-delivered and emailed to the SLPS Board on that same date.”

Four days later, the Commission again voted to approve the application. Believe STL then submitted the application to the state board which also approved the application.

In February of 2024, two months after the approval, SLPS filed its petition for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief under section 536.150, the statute authorizing judicial review of non-contested administrative decisions, according to the court.

“The SLPS Board’s petition requested the trial court to, inter alia: (1) find that the actions of the Commission and the Missouri Board in approving Believe STL’s second charter school application were ‘unlawful, unreasonable, arbitrary, and capricious;’ and (2) issue injunctive relief to prevent Believe STL from opening its charter school until the statutory requirements of section 160.405 were met,” according to the court.

The commission and the board argued that SLPS lacked standing. The circuit court dismissed SLPS’ petition for lack of standing. SLPS then appealed to the Eastern District.

In the opinion written by Judge Robert M. Clayton, he agreed with SLPS’ argument that it has legally protected interests conferred by section 160.405 and therefore has standing to bring the declaratory judgment and injunctive relief action at issue in this case.

“Furthermore, the SLPS Board is the school board of the district where Believe STL, a charter school applicant, sought to be located and the SLPS Board is therefore directly and adversely affected by the alleged failures of both the commission and the Missouri board to follow the procedures outlined in sections 160.405.1 and 160.405.2,” Clayton wrote. “Accordingly, the SLPS Board has legally protectable interests that are sufficient to confer standing to bring the underlying action for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in this case.”

The court reversed the St. Louis Circuit Court’s decision and remanded it for further proceedings.

The case is: Board of Education of the City of Saint Louis v. Missouri Charter Public School Commission and Missouri State Board of Education, Case no.  ED112985.