The Missouri Attorney General handed Lee’s Summit R-7 School District a legal victory last week when it failed to appeal a trial court’s decision that limits the AG’s office authority over school districts.
The deadline for an appeal passed on July 6 after 40 days from the date Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Marco Roldan signed his May 27 order.
“This was a baseless lawsuit that was used to push a political candidacy rather than actually help folks in our state,” said Elad Gross, a constitutional attorney who is campaigning to be elected Attorney General in 2024 as a Democrat.
Judge Roldan ruled on May 27 that the state Attorney General’s office has no lawful authority to interfere with the policy or governance decisions of locally elected officials including those related to a pandemic, such as masking and social distancing.
“This ruling affirms that Missouri law empowers locally elected School Boards to control district operations,” said Rodrick Sparks, president of Lee’s Summit R-7 Schools Board of Education. “We’re thankful for this decision and the clarity it provides for our continued efforts to serve our students, staff, and community.”
As previously reported in the St. Louis Record, Lee's Summit R-7 School District was among the 47 school districts across the state that Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued for requiring masks to protect against COVID-19.
Lee's Summit was the only district that filed a counterclaim asking a judge to declare that Schmitt acted beyond his authority.
Schmitt has since been elected to the U.S. Senate. The current AG is Andrew Bailey.
“Schmitt filed a bunch of lawsuits that apparently helped him get elected to the Senate and then essentially they were all dismissed,” Gross told the St. Louis Record. “I think Bailey is actually using some of the same tactics that we've seen from these other folks as well.”
Gross previously unsuccessfully campaigned to be Missouri Attorney General in 2020. He served as an assistant attorney general under Chris Koster until the end of 2016.
"You can actually see just how much money that's costing taxpayers in terms of what's happening at the Attorney General's office that we're paying for," Gross added. "The attorney's fees in that Lee's Summit case were up to $74,000 for the school district and from my understanding, they're not seeking payment from the Attorney General's office on that. That's just another cost that folks are going to have to pay as a result of these lawsuits that were really targeting school boards for political purposes."