Adams 14 Schools lawsuit against Colorado dismissed, district reorganization process to move forward

The Adams County 14 School District's lawsuit against Colorado's State Board of Education was dismissed Wednesday due to lack of jurisdiction. This means the process of reorganizing the district will move forward, which could take up to a year to complete.

The court's decision comes after the state board voted to reorganize Adams 14 in May due to several years of poor student performance. Adams 14 responded by filing suit against the state, asking a judge to review the state's decision and issue a stay on the order until the judicial review was complete. 

A Denver judge wrote in Wednesday's order the state does have the authority to reorganize the school district under the state's Education Accountability Act, even though Adams 14 argued school districts are given local control under the state's constitution. 

"The local control provision clause provides school districts with authority to control instruction in the public schools in their districts, but does not provide them with standing to challenge the constitutionality of the Education Accountability Act, a statute directing their performance," Denver District Court Judge Shelley Gilman wrote in her order Wednesday. 

An attorney for Adams 14 tells CBS Colorado the district plans to appeal Judge Gilman's decision. 

The district's superintendent, Dr. Karla Loría, said the ruling further harms students and detracts from the district's turnaround efforts. 

"The Court's decision basically allows the State Board of Education to oversee all of Colorado's public school districts related to the Accountability Act without any sort of check or balances. This order is contrary to other Colorado court decisions that have held that public school districts, like Adams 14, can seek judicial intervention from State Board action," Loría said. "Regardless of the decision, we are committed to the education and wellbeing of our gifted students. Our efforts to ensure all students have opportunities upon graduation will continue with the same urgency and laser-like focus we have been providing prior to this ruling."

Meanwhile, on the same day as the judge's ruling, the Colorado Commissioner of Education, Katy Anthes, asked the state board to reinstate Adams 14's accreditation, to avoid any further problems for the district while it goes through the lengthy reorganization process. 

"During the September 14th state board meeting, I will be providing an update on the evidentiary hearing that took place in August in the litigation between Adams 14 and the State Board," Commissioner Anthes wrote in this letter to the state board. "I was present for both days of testimony and have done a lot of reflecting on what I learned. Based on those learnings, I told the leadership of Adams 14 that I would request that the state board consider amending its May 24 order so that Adams 14 would remain accredited... This is a narrow request to ensure that – while Adams 14 is working with its partial manager and while the reorganization conversations are happening – we the state do not add bumps to the road that cause a slowdown of work that we all want to speed up."

The Colorado Department of Education says the state board will consider Anthes' request at its September 14 meeting. Wednesday, the department sent the following statement to CBS Colorado about Commissioner Anthes' request, and Judge Gilman's decision:

"The Accountability Act is intended to ensure all students in Colorado have access to high quality educational opportunities. As part of that work, the State Board of Education is charged with making difficult decisions around the interventions necessary to improve student outcomes for schools and school districts. Today the court confirmed that these difficult decisions cannot be challenged or slowed down by litigation in the courts. This outcome recognizes that time is of the essence in school improvement and turnaround efforts. 

With this ruling, the Colorado Department of Education can move forward with its work to support Adams 14 School District in providing high quality educational opportunities for students.

We believe that all students are capable of achieving high levels of academic success with the right resources and support. Our goal all along has been to support Adams 14's work to ensure that educators have consistent leadership and professional development opportunities they need to provide high quality instruction for students. This ruling settles the questions around this work and allows us to continue supporting the district. 

This decision means that the community process for considering reorganization of the district can begin. The process empowers the community to explore creative and innovative ideas with the goal of dramatically improving student achievement in Adams 14. 

We continue to be committed to collaborating with the district in the best interest of students. Before we received this ruling, the commissioner had already informed Adams 14 that she would be asking the board to return accreditation to the district. The state board will consider a motion to return accreditation at next week's board's meeting."

Adams 14 had been in hot water with the state since it fired its private management company, MGT Consulting, earlier this year. The state had required Adams 14 to work with MGT in 2018 due to consistent low student test scores.

Adams 14 said it fired MGT, because the company didn't deliver on its promises and wasted district tax money. MGT refuted those claims, adding the company improved student graduation rates and lowered dropout rates. 

CBS4 Investigates has reported Adams 14 isn't the only education institution in the Denver metro area that has had issues with MGT in recent years.

Adams 14 has since hired a new management partner, TNTP, and believes the district can improve student performance moving forward. 

In the meantime, state officials say reorganization of Adams 14 could mean a few different outcomes for the district, including local leadership change or all-out district dissolution. 

More than a dozen Denver metro area school districts have voiced opposition to dissolving Adams 14, saying the state is treating Adams 14 unfairly by evaluating it only through student test scores, as Adams 14 is a school district made up of a primarily low-income, Hispanic student population, which faces unique challenges.

Read Judge Gilman's full order below: