COLUMBUS, Ohio — Attorney General Dave Yost sued the Columbus City Schools Board of Education Thursday for refusing to transport students to charter or private schools despite legal obligation.

“As a parent and grandparent, I understand the importance of making sure every child has a safe way to get to and from school,” Yost said. “These families have a right to choose what school is best for their child, and the law is clear that transportation is to be provided. The school board needs to comply with the law, whether they agree with it or not.”

In Yost’s filing, he demands CCS to immediately provide transportation to and from charter and private schools for each student whose family has requested bus service. The filing also demands district provide lists of students for whom they deem transportation to be “impractical” to the charter and private schools, as the district failed to provide legally required notice to many affected families of their right to request mediation.

AG Yost sent a cease-and-desist letter to the district on Sept. 3, questioning whether the district made a calculated decision to defy the law and promising to sue if it didn’t reverse course.

“It appears that the district has chosen to ignore its legal obligations..., perhaps calculating that the district is better off paying future non-compliance fines than meeting its current legal obligations,” Yost wrote.

CCS responded to Yost’s letter earlier Thursday, saying the district “believes its actions are consistent with the laws promulgated by the General Assembly and is complying with its legal obligations to transport students.”

The district wrote—in a letter signed by General Counsel James Barnes—that they realized it was “untenable” for them to transport students they are not required to. They said the AG’s letter conflated “ineligibility for transportation determinations” with “impractical to transport determinations.”

They said decision-making is different for each statute, in addition to the “remedies” offered to students and families.

“CCS staff is working with the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce and families daily regarding CCS’s determinations,” the district's response reads. “R.C. 3327.01, which is commonly known as the 30-minute rule, specifically permits CCS, and all Ohio public school districts, to determine that a student is ineligible for public school district transport if ‘such transportation would require more than thirty minutes of direct travel time as measured by school bus from the public school building to which the pupils would be assigned if attending the public school designated by the district of residence.’”

The district said the threat of lawsuit infringed on their right to make these determinations regarding ineligibility and impracticality of student transport.

“Your threat to file a lawsuit against CCS also serves to usurp and circumvent the authority of the General Assembly, which promulgated the above-referenced statutes,” the response reads. "Finally, your threat to file a lawsuit against CCS is also an infringement upon the equal rights of public school districts and community or nonpublic school parents/guardians to due process.”