The governing board of Waters of Life Public Charter School, which sued successfully against a decision to revoke its charter, actually had no standing to file suit, the Intermediate Court of Appeals has ruled.

The decision affirms that charter schools and their local school boards are state entities and therefore cannot sue other state entities. But it is not expected to affect the status of the school, which was taken off probation in June and is operating as usual in Mountain View, outside Hilo, with 100 students in kindergarten through grade seven.

"It doesn’t really have a practical effect … because the school is off probation," said James Paige, deputy attorney general representing Waters of Life. "That part of it is pau."

Carl Takamura, chairman of the Charter School Review Panel, agreed, saying circumstances at the school have changed dramatically. "Waters of Life has a totally new school board and new leadership at the school that has turned it around in my opinion," Takamura said.

The panel had voted to revoke the school’s charter in June 2009, pointing to deficiencies in health, safety and fiscal management at the school. It is the only time the panel has revoked a charter, but the decision was overturned when the school’s board took the issue to Circuit Court, arguing that the Board of Education had not yet adopted rules governing the revocation process. Since then the rules have been adopted, but rather than revoking the charter again, the panel kept the campus on probation until June.

Meanwhile, the panel, Charter School Administrative Office, Board of Education and Department of Education had appealed the case over the jurisdictional question. In a decision issued Oct. 21, the appeals court ruled that the Circuit Court had mistakenly allowed the local school board to file suit as the law prohibits charter schools, as public schools and entities of the state, from suing other state entities.

"Hawaii Revised Statutes 302B-9(d) precludes Waters of Life School and Waters of Life board from bringing suit against any entity or agency of the state of Hawaii, and therefore the circuit court erred when it did not dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint for lack of jurisdiction," the court wrote. The local school board (LSB) "is not ‘an entity separate and apart’ from the charter school, but instead, the LSB and the charter school jointly are the charter school."

"The LSB is created to govern its charter school and does not exist absent a duly authorized charter school to govern. Conversely, the charter school cannot exist without an LSB governing body. … As part of a state entity administratively attached to DOE, the LSB is considered an arm of the state." The decision was signed by Judges Daniel Foley, Alexa Fujise and Katherine Leonard.

The ruling could have a bearing on two other lawsuits filed by a different charter school in Hawaii County. Connections Public Charter School and one of its employees, William Eric Boyd, sued the state Ethics Commission as well as the Charter School Review Panel in August. The suit against the Ethics Commission claims that Boyd is not a state employee and thus not subject to state ethics laws. The other suit alleges that the review panel violated the Sunshine Law with an agenda item. Those cases are pending.

Holly Shikada, a deputy attorney general who represented the panel in its successful appeal, said she expected the appeals court decision would have an impact on those cases, but she declined to comment further. "At this point we’re still reviewing the decision and looking at the implications," she said. "We’ll have to discuss it with the panel."