Erie School District sues Erie Rise to spur ex-charter school's dissolution, find assets

The relationship between the Erie School District and the Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School has reached a new level of tension nearly a year after the Erie School Board terminated Erie Rise's charter due to failing test scores.

The School Board's vote in January 2023 led Erie Rise to close on June 30 and stop operating as a charter school.

But Erie Rise has yet to wind up its financial affairs as required by law and has failed to provide bank statements, a list of contractual obligations and other required records to the Erie School District as part of the dissolution process, the district is claiming in a lawsuit filed in Erie County Common Pleas Court.

The district is asking a judge to order Erie Rise to turn over the information to the district so the dissolution can finally occur and so the district can track and ultimately take control of Erie Rise's assets, including any public funds.

Pennsylvania's charter school law requires the assets of a dissolved charter school to revert to the public school districts where the charter's students lived. Nearly all of Erie Rise's students — it had about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade when the Erie School Board voted to close it — lived within the boundaries of the Erie School District, making the district the recipient of virtually all of Erie Rise's assets, whatever their value.

"The District believes Erie Rise is purposely delaying its dissolution in order to deplete its remaining funds, preventing a proper distribution of its assets to the District as required," according to the suit, filed Dec. 11.

"Regardless of its intent, Erie Rise has a statutory obligation to properly manage its fiscal affairs and consummate the school's dissolution. To date, Erie Rise is not performing either obligation."

The district also wants a judge to order Erie Rise to wind up its affairs as soon as possible. The "recommended dissolution date" was September 2023, but Erie Rise's consultant has told the district the dissolution will not occur until the spring of 2024, according to the suit.

Erie Rise should have completed its "final, yearly audit" by September 2023 but has not done so, the district said in the suit.

District says former Erie Rise not following rules to dissolve

The suit, known as a complaint in mandamus, states that the district is going to court because it lacks any other legal remedy to force Erie Rise to provide information to the district and to dissolve the school and close out its financial affairs.

"Erie Rise has an absolute statutory obligation to preserve its assets and dissolve its operations," according to the suit. "Additionally, Erie Rise has a statutory obligation to provide the District with documents and information regarding its dissolution. Erie Rise has not diligently undertaken those steps necessary to preserve its assets and wind up its affairs."

The Erie School District has been unable to fully monitor the operations of Erie Rise because the charter school has failed to meet the district's requests for information, said Neal Brokman, the assistant Erie schools superintendent who handles charter school matters.

"At this point, our hands have been tied as we try to get information from them and successfully close out the charter," Brokman said in an interview.

A judge had yet to be assigned the case as of Friday. The assigned judge is all but certain to hold a hearing on the school district's request, and representatives of Erie Rise will get a chance to respond to the district's claims at a hearing and in court filings.

The suit names as defendants Erie Rise and the consultant the Erie Rise trustees appointed to oversee the dissolution of the school. The consultant, appointed in late January 2023, is Christian Anderson, based in Towson, Maryland.

Anderson has "no comment at this time," he said in an email to the Erie Times-News.

Erie School Board invoked 'surrender clause' against Erie Rise

The Erie School Board on Jan. 18 voted to force the closing of Erie Rise, which leased the former Emerson School at West 10th and Cascade streets in Erie. Erie Rise opened in 2011 in the former Sacred Heart School at West 25th and Plum streets. The school was designed to offer gender-specific, extended-day classrooms to high-poverty students.

Taxpayers funded Erie Rise, which was public. The Erie School District paid about $3.4 million a year to cover the students' tuition at Erie Rise in 2023, according to district records.

Erie Rise had been under scrutiny for years.

In 2014, the state Auditor General's Office faulted Erie Rise for its academic performance and other issues. The Erie School District raised similar concerns, culminating in the School Board's unanimous vote on Jan. 18 to close Erie Rise at the recommendation of Erie schools Superintendent Brian Polito.

In voting to end the charter for Erie Rise, the School Board invoked a "surrender clause" in an improvement plan that the school district and Erie Rise signed in November 2019 to keep the school open. The clause required Erie Rise to close if the school failed to meet academic standards it negotiated with the district as part of the improvement plan.

The board's vote caused Erie Rise's enrollment to plummet from about 300 students to 213 as families enrolled their children elsewhere. After the vote, the Erie Rise trustees said in a statement that they would "vigorously oppose this decision using all possible legal options," but a legal challenge never came.

Erie Rise's closing came amid U.S. Department of Education probe

Erie Rise must deal with another potential legal problem as it responds to the Erie School District's lawsuit.

On June 7, 23 days before it closed on June 30, agents with the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Education searched the offices of the Erie Rise and the Booker T. Washington Center, at East 18th and Holland streets in Erie. The Pennsylvania State Police assisted in the searches.

Erie Rise had partnered with the Booker T. Washington Center as part of a federal grant program designed to provide additional services to students, particularly those who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The state Department of Education classified 71.2% of Erie Rise's students as "economically disadvantaged," according to the most recent state data.

The state police and the U.S. Department of Education released no details when the searches occurred.

Anderson, the Erie Rise consultant, said at the time that the charter school "was fully cooperative" with the agents. The executive director of the Booker T. Washington Center, Shantell Hilliard, said at the time that he believed the searches had little or nothing to do with the Booker T. Washington Center and "more so Erie Rise."

The Department of Education, which is leading the probe, has provided no public updates.

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former Erie Rise charter school sued over assets, stalled dissolution