A state court in Helena on Thursday partially barred the Montana Office of Public Instruction and its elected leader, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, from requiring a new wave of public charter schools to comply with school opening laws that were in effect prior to the 2023 legislative session.
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Judge dismisses lawsuit involving new public charter schools
The Montana Quality Education Coalition and state Superintendent Elsie Arntzen both lauded the recent resolution of their legal dispute over the process for opening new public charter schools this fall.
The injunction, issued by Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Michael McMahon, temporarily resolves a dispute between Arntzen’s office and other Montana education leaders over the implementation of House Bill 549. The law, passed with bipartisan support, established a system of charter schools governed by local public school boards and approved by the state Board of Public Education.
OPI has asserted in recent months that 19 recently approved public charters must comply with a series of preexisting opening requirements, some of which call for a parental petition period and supplemental approval from OPI, county school superintendents and county commissions. Legislators responsible for passing HB 549, along with district leaders whose charter applications were approved this year, countered that the requirements would delay the planned opening of those schools this fall. Their concerns prompted the Montana Quality Education Coalition, which represents five statewide education associations and more than 100 public school districts, to file the lawsuit last month.
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McMahon’s order specifically prohibits OPI from applying parent-petition and supplemental-approval requirements to public charters. McMahon wrote that OPI’s legal interpretation “may entirely derail charter schools’ opening” even if the court ultimately rules against the agency’s position. While he acknowledged that districts are “likely to suffer irreparable harm” if the additional requirements were applied, McMahon asserted that students planning to attend the new charters stand to suffer most from the ongoing legal dispute.
“The irreparable harm to those students counting on starting their public charter school education in 2024 should be undisputed by the parties,” McMahon wrote. “Above all, the students’ best interests should come first which seems to have been forgotten by the parties as they slash their legislative interpretation sabers at one another.”
However, McMahon did stipulate that public charter schools will still have to comply with school opening laws related to OPI’s other governmental duties — namely, its role in the transfer of state education funds. McMahon accepted the agency’s position that it will need student enrollment information from public charters before assigning them school codes used in the school budgeting process.
In an email statement on behalf of MQEC, Missoula attorney Elizabeth Kaleva wrote that the plaintiffs are “thrilled” by McMahon’s order, characterizing it as a recognition of the limitations of OPI’s ministerial role and a freeze on the agency’s “attempts to substantively insert itself into a process that the Montana Legislature specifically excluded it from.”
Meanwhile, Arntzen continued to frame the lawsuit as a political attack on her conservative ideology. In a statement distributed via an OPI press release, she added that the order “clarifies that I am following the laws of our great state and NOT ignoring my constitutional duty to our students and schools.”
McMahon’s injunction does not resolve the underlying question of whether OPI’s approach to implementing HB 549 violated the Montana Constitution. MQEC argues the law gave sole authority over the public charter school system to the Board of Public Education, while OPI maintains that it is obligated to enforce preexisting laws governing school openings. McMahon acknowledged that he found “no mention of either OPI or the superintendent” in the bill’s text, but said that HB 549 — paired with other sections of education law — implies both the board and OPI have concurrent roles to play in the establishment and opening of public charters.
Until the Legislature clarifies the boundaries between the two, McMahon wrote, it’s left to the court to decide as the case continues.
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