Board of Education of School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver v. Booth

Members of the Denver Public Schools committee applied to create the Thurgood Marshall Charter Middle School (charter school). The Board of Education of School District No. 1 in the City and County of Denver (school board) (defendant) denied the charter school’s application. The charter school appealed to the Colorado State Board of Education (state board), which reversed the school board’s decision and remanded it for reconsideration. The school board again denied the application, and the charter school filed a second appeal to the state board. The Charter School Act, which governed the application process for charter schools, contained a specific second-appeal provision allowing the state board to approve a rejected charter-school application if the state board found approval to be in the best interest of the students, school district, or community. The state board found approval of the charter school to be in these best interests and ordered the school board to approve the application and to provide status updates on the school’s creation. The school board refused to follow the state board’s orders. Cordia Booth and her associates, on behalf of the charter school (plaintiffs), filed suit in Colorado district court against the school board, seeking judicial enforcement of the state board’s orders. The state board intervened and joined Booth against the school board. The school board asserted that the second-appeal provision was unconstitutional and an overextension of the state board’s general supervision power under the Colorado Constitution. The school board further asserted that its own constitutional power over district instruction was controlling instead. The district court ruled in favor of Booth and the state board. The school board appealed to the Colorado Court of Appeals, which reversed. The parties appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.