COLUMBUS, Ohio — A fight over student transportation by Ohio’s largest school district is growing.

Attorney General Dave Yost is suing the Columbus City Schools Board of Education after the district refused to transport some students to charter or private schools. Yost says it’s legally required to do so, but the school district says it's within its legal rights to stop that service.

What You Need To Know

• Attorney General Dave Yost is suing the Columbus City Schools Board of Education after the district refused to transport some students to charter or private schools


• Yost says it’s legally required for a school district to provide bus transportation, but the school district says it's within its legal rights to stop that service


• United Schools Network says it's covering the cost of private transportation for the 30 families at its schools or so who are impacted

The plea from parents whose children live in Columbus but no longer are being bused to their non-public school now have the weight of the state’s Attorney General behind them.

More than a week after they took their case to the Columbus City School Board, Dave Yost has filed a lawsuit against the district.

"Every public school district has the obligation to transport many of the students living in the district to both charter schools and nonpublic schools," said Case Western Reserve School of Law Professor Daniel Jaffe.

But Jaffe says the law has some nuances to it.

“If it's more than a 30-minute drive from the nearest public school to that child to the school where they're to be dropped off,” said Jaffe, “then there is no obligation to serve that child. The second issue is there's an opportunity for school districts to claim that it's impractical to take a child.”

And that’s what Columbus City Schools is claiming.

In a letter to Yost, the district says it worked with an outside consultant to make sure it complied with the six factors outlined in the law that helps determine whether it’s impractical to transport the students, but Yost says the district didn’t give families enough notice and also need to provide transportation to those who are challenging the practicality.

Yost also says it’s hundreds if not thousands of students who have been impacted by the decision, which according to Jaffe may give those families the upper hand in court.

“I'm going to say that the situations where school districts win are situations where there's only one or two kids that are involved. Once you get more than 10 or 12, usually the parents will win those cases,” Jaffe said.

In the meantime, United Schools Network says it's covering the cost of private transportation for the 30 families at its schools or so who are impacted.