Opinion ID: 2278866
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: City Neighbors

Text: City Neighbors, a non-profit community group in northeast Baltimore City, applied to the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners in March 2004 to open a public charter school in September, 2005. For purposes of the public charter school law, the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners constitutes a county board of education; for convenience, however, we shall refer to it as the city board. The application anticipated public funding from the city board at the rate of $7,500 per pupil. When the city board failed to act upon the application within 120 days, as required by ED § 9-104(a)(4)(i), City Neighbors filed an appeal to SBE. The city board moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that, because it had deliberately made no decision, there was nothing to appeal. SBE rejected that argument, found the city board to be non-compliant with § 9-104(a)(4), and directed that it act upon the application by November 9, 2004. [3] On November 9, the city board conditionally approved the application, contingent upon a subsequent agreement as to a charter. The conditional approval made no commitment of any public funds that would be required under ED § 9-109. Discussions continued between City Neighbors and officials of the city board, without success. The city board insisted on excluding certain categories of its system-wide spending when calculating the charter school allocation and on requiring the charter schools to accept other categories of expense in the form of services rather than cash, both of which were unacceptable to City Neighbors. Perceiving that the dispute centered on a disagreement over what was required under ED § 9-109(a), City Neighbors, on February 28, 2005, filed a petition with SBE for a declaratory ruling on the proper interpretation and application of that provision. The petition was filed pursuant to COMAR 13A.01.05.02D, a SBE regulation that permits any party to file a petition for declaratory ruling by the State Board on the interpretation of a public school law or regulation of the State Board that is material to an existing case or controversy. See also Maryland Code, §§ 10-304 and 10-305 of the State Government Article, which expressly authorize administrative agencies to issue declaratory rulings. The petition complained that the dispute over funding had delayed negotiations toward a charter agreement and that, without a determination of the method and amount of funding, new public charter schools such as City Neighbors were unable to make plans for a Fall 2005 opening. The city board moved to dismiss the petition, raising a number of defenses, including mootness. It attached to its motion a funding model for public charter schools that it had developed and circulated to charter school applicants on March 8, 2005. Under that funding model, the city board advised that the per pupil funding for FY 2006 would consist of $5,011 in cash and $2,943 in services, some of which City Neighbors did not seek, did not need, and did not desire. In calculating the per pupil allocation, the city board excluded Federal entitlement funds, system administrative costs, funds for special education, transportation expenses, expenses for health services, expenses for utility services, and the cost of food services.