A class-action lawsuit that claims the state is failing to meet its responsibilities to poor and minority students will be moving to trial.
In a ruling Friday, Hennepin County District Judge Susan M. Robiner found that the November lawsuit from a group of Minneapolis and St. Paul school district parents and a community organization had enough legal grounds to continue and refused a move by the state and a group of charter schools and parents to dismiss the case.
The case should go to trial next September, said Dan Shulman, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
The suit, brought by seven parents from Minneapolis and St. Paul and a Minnesota nonprofit, argue that the state knew about segregation trends based on race and poverty but that it didn't uphold its responsibility to give students "an adequate and equitable education."
It points to school attendance boundary lines and charter schools as factors that have heightened segregation.
Attorneys for the state defendants, including Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius and the state Senate and the House of Representatives, moved to dismiss the case, arguing that the plaintiffs didn't find intentional discrimination.
A group of charter schools and parents also moved to dismiss, arguing that charters don't have to follow desegregation laws.
Robiner denied the motions.