The troubled Erie Rise Leadership Academy Charter School closed in June 2023 but has yet to complete its legally required financial dissolution.

The Erie School District is continuing to press for a swift wind-up of the charter school’s financial affairs.

As it waits, the district wants to identify and monitor Erie Rise’s remaining public funds and other assets, most of which are to revert to the district.

Erie Rise is resisting the district’s timeline for dissolution.

The dispute is escalating in Erie County Common Pleas Court. A judge will decide what happens next.

Erie School District, Erie Rise battle over timeline

The Erie School District sued Erie Rise in December. It asked a judge to order Erie Rise to provide bank statements and other documents that the district has been requesting for months, and the district asked for an order to compel Erie Rise to dissolve.

“The District believes Erie Rise is purposely delaying its dissolution in order to deplete its remaining funds, preventing a proper distribution of its assets to the District as required,” according to the district’s lawsuit, filed Dec. 11.

In response, Erie Rise denied the claims, said state law prescribes “no process or timeline” for a dissolution and said the final audit will be done this spring. The Erie School District, citing state law, is arguing Erie Rise should have finished the audit by September 2023.

“Erie Rise has various obligations and responsibilities that could not have been reasonably resolved by September 2023 and has informed the District of the same,” according to Erie Rise’s legal response, filed Jan. 9. “The audit cannot be completed until the business function of the school has ended.”

Why does Erie district have say in Erie Rise’s dissolution?

Pennsylvania’s charter school law requires the assets of a dissolved charter school revert to the public school districts where the charter’s students lived. Nearly all of Erie Rise’s students lived within the Erie School District’s boundaries.

The Erie School District was the chartering school district for Erie Rise, which opened in 2011 and most recently leased the former Emerson School at West 10th and Cascade streets in Erie. Citing poor academic performance and other issues, the Erie School Board in January 2023 voted to rescind Erie Rise charter and force its dissolution.

Erie Rise had about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade in January 2023 and 213 when the school closed in June 2023.

Taxpayers funded Erie Rise, which was public. The Erie School District paid about $3.4 million a year to cover Erie Rise students’ tuition in 2023.

When is the court hearing in Erie Rise case?

Erie County Judge Marshall Piccinini is assigned the case. On Thursday, a lawyer for the Erie School District, Michael Musone, asked Piccinini to schedule a conference to set deadlines.

The school district, Musone said in a court filing, wants “to ensure this case remains on track for a timely resolution.”

Contact Ed Palattella at epalattella@timesnews.com. Follow him on X @ETNpalattella.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: When must Erie Rise dissolve? Charter school’s answer fuels legal rift