Yost Objects to Columbus City Schools’ Attempt to Dismiss Busing-Related Lawsuit

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) - Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is urging the Ohio Supreme Court to allow the state's lawsuit challenging Columbus City Schools' busing failures to proceed.

Although the district's recent decision to transport roughly 100 private- and charter-school students who'd previously been denied transportation is a step forward, it falls far short of resolving the broader issue at hand, Yost argues in the state's latest filing in the case, a memorandum opposing the district's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

"It remains to be seen whether the district will live up to its press release and really transport these children," he says. "The state already has received some information suggesting that it is not."

Further, the filing maintains, "untold numbers" of additional students remain without transportation because the district has wrongly asserted that it is too early for them to challenge its denial of transportation, even as the school year marches on.

"Simply put," Yost said, "this case is far from over."

The state's lawsuit, filed in September, addresses the district's refusal to transport thousands of students attending private or charter schools, as required by Ohio law.

If a district claims that a student falls within an exception to this transportation rule, the student can contest that decision, and the district must provide transportation while the challenge is ongoing. However, Yost noted that the district has refused to comply even with this temporary legal duty.

In its motion to dismiss, the district argues that it may face future hearings and penalties for its refusal, asserting that the court cannot order immediate busing for the students it has neglected since the beginning of the school year.

Yost counters that such reasoning is just "wrong under the law."

"Students need transportation now," the filing says. "The law clearly provides them with that right. The fact that the district may face future fines does nothing to help these students with their current ongoing harm."

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Hannah Hundley: 614-906-9113

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