Supreme Court: ODE must give grants to Horizon Science Academy schools, including 1 in Lorain

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered the Ohio Department of Education to pay 12 Horizon Science Academy schools, including one in Lorain, their share of $30 million in community school funding grants after ruling that state education officials incorrectly denied the funding last year. The state high court's ruling was 5 to 2 in favor of the schools, with Justices Michael Donnelly and Jennifer Brunner dissenting, saying they would have denied the schools' request. According to documents attached to the ruling issued Wednesday, the Ohio General Assembly approved $30 million for the Quality Community School Support program in the 2020-21 biennial budget. Twelve Horizon Science Academy community schools applied for the grants but the ODE denied the funding because the schools' operator is a corporation not licensed with the Ohio secretary of state and "therefore, according to ODE, not 'in good standing.'" Among the schools that were denied were Horizon Science Academy of Lorain Inc. and similarly named schools in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Youngstown, Springfield and Toledo. Horizon took the matter to the Ohio Supreme Court in June 2020, seeking a ruling ordering the ODE to approve the schools' applications and pay what they were owed under the law — "up to $1,750 for each student identified as economically disadvantaged and up to $1,000 for other students enrolled for fiscal year 2020," according to court documents. The court found state education officials refused the applications based only on the fact that Horizon's creator and operator, the Illinois-based nonprofit Concept Schools NFP, was not registered with the Ohio secretary of state. Justices found Horizon had a clear legal right to its request, that the ODE had a legal duty to provide it and that there was no other adequate remedy under the law. Justices found the ODE had no appeals process through which the Horizon schools could go to get the grants. Also, Concept's failure to incorporate in the state of Ohio "does not affect the validity of it school-management agreements with the HSA schools," according to the Ohio Supreme Court, and it was not under any suspension, sanction or discipline in Ohio when it applied for the funding. The court noted that three other Horizon schools operated by Concept received the requested grant funding under ODE's own criteria, while 12 were denied. "This is a great victory for our school and the other Horizon Science Academies in Ohio that were denied this funding," said Ernie Kirk, Board President of Horizon Science Academies in Columbus, in a news release. "These additional funds will support our ongoing efforts to provide outstanding education to our students. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.