The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School v. Santa Clara County Board of Education

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. California
DecidedJuly 11, 2025
Docket5:24-cv-08527
StatusUnknown

This text of The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School v. Santa Clara County Board of Education (The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School v. Santa Clara County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. California primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School v. Santa Clara County Board of Education, (N.D. Cal. 2025).

Opinion

1 2 3 4 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 5 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 6 SAN JOSE DIVISION 7 8 THE BULLIS-PURISSIMA Case No. 24-cv-08527-VKD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, 9 Plaintiff, ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ 10 MOTION TO DISMISS WITH LEAVE v. TO AMEND 11 SANTA CLARA COUNTY BOARD OF Re: Dkt. No. 11 12 EDUCATION, et al., Defendants. 13 14 15 Plaintiff The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School, operator of Bullis Charter School 16 (“BCS”), brings this action against defendants the Santa Clara County Board of Education 17 (“SCCBOE”) and Santa Clara County Office of Education (“SCCOE”), asserting one claim for 18 violations of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Dkt. No. 10. Defendants move to dismiss 19 this claim pursuant to Rule 12(b)(1) and Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. 20 Dkt. No. 11. BCS opposes the motion. Dkt. No. 15. Upon consideration of the moving and 21 responding papers and the oral arguments presented, the Court grants defendants’ motion to 22 dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6) with leave to amend.1 23 1 In conjunction with their motion to dismiss, defendants filed a request for judicial notice of two 24 documents: the August 26, 2024 SCCBOE resolution conditionally approving the renewal of BCS’s charter, and the memorandum of understanding executed between BCS and defendants. 25 Dkt. No. 11-2. At the hearing, BCS indicated that it does not oppose this request. Federal Rule of Evidence 201 states that “[t]he court may judicially notice a fact that is not subject to reasonable 26 dispute because it . . . can be accurately and readily determined from sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be questioned.” Fed R. Evid. 201(b)(2). These reliable sources include 27 “matters of public record . . . as long as the facts noticed are not subject to reasonable dispute.” 1 I. BACKGROUND 2 According to the operative complaint, plaintiff The Bullis-Purissima Elementary School 3 operates BCS, a TK-8 public charter school located within the geographic boundaries of Los Altos 4 School District and authorized by the SCCBOE. Dkt. No. 10 ¶ 2. BCS alleges that it is “the 5 highest-performing public school in Santa Clara County.” Id. 6 BCS asserts that, despite its high level of performance, over the past six years, SCCBOE 7 has subjected it to “adverse treatment, deprivation of rights under the law, and ongoing 8 harassment” because BCS’s student population does not have a racial and ethnic makeup that 9 reflects the population of the school district as a whole. Id. ¶¶ 24-27. In particular, BCS alleges 10 that SCCBOE has sent “numerous letters” to BCS “falsely accusing” it of excluding students on 11 the basis of race. Id. ¶ 24. BCS asserts that SCCBOE does not subject any of the other fifteen 12 charter schools operating within Santa Clara County to this level of scrutiny and that the “adverse 13 treatment” BCS complains of stems from SCCBOE’s “opinion” that “BCS has enrolled too many 14 Asian students and too few Hispanic students . . . .” Id. ¶ 25. 15 On June 3, 2024, BCS sought renewal of its charter for a seven-year term. Id. ¶ 26. BCS 16 alleges that its charter should have been unconditionally renewed, given BCS’s high level of 17 performance. Id. ¶ 2. However, on August 4, 2024, SCCOE informed BCS that “there continues 18 to be underrepresentation of some historically underserved student groups at BCS” and that BCS 19 therefore would receive only “conditional approval.” Id. ¶ 26. On August 26, 2024, SCCBOE 20 held a meeting to discuss BCS’s charter renewal petition where SCCOE “indicated that approval 21 of BCS’s renewal petition . . . was not warranted because BCS has not ‘fully achieved being 22 reflective of the district’ with regard to racial and ethnic makeup . . . .” Id. ¶ 27. Defendants 23 ultimately decided to renew BCS’s charter with conditions, including the requirement that BCS 24 enter into a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with defendants. Id. ¶ 29. 25

26 matters of public record, the Court finds that it may properly take judicial notice of these documents for the purpose of recognizing the undisputed fact that BCS’s charter is currently 27 approved through 2030. The Court also takes notice of these documents to the extent that they 1 BCS appealed defendants’ decision to the State Board of Education, which dismissed the 2 appeal on the basis that BCS’s charter had been renewed conditionally, not outright denied. Id. 3 ¶ 30. Thereafter, SCCOE and BCS conferred regarding the proposed MOU for three months. Id. 4 ¶ 31. On November 15, 2024, BCS’s board approved a version of the MOU suggested by SCCOE 5 staff. Id. ¶ 32. However, this version of the MOU was voted down by SCCBOE on November 6 20, 2024, allegedly because it contained the following language: “Charter School contends that 7 factual evidence did not support any finding that Charter School excluded any student who wished 8 to attend, and disagrees with and objects to the Conditions . . . .” Id. ¶¶ 31-32. SCCBOE 9 approved a revised version of the MOU that did not contain this language at its December 18, 10 2024 meeting, a version that BCS contends contained “even more changes . . . beyond the 11 conditions SCCBOE set for renewal on August 27, 2024.” Id. ¶ 34. BCS signed the MOU but 12 asserts that it “executed [this] MOU under . . . protest.” Id. After the execution of the MOU, on 13 January 9, 2025, defendants confirmed with the California Department of Education that BCS’s 14 charter had been renewed through June 30, 2030. Id. 15 In this action, BCS asserts one claim for violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 16 1964 against SCCOE and SCCBOE. BCS seeks both declaratory and injunctive relief and 17 attorneys’ fees and costs. 18 II. LEGAL STANDARD 19 A Rule 12(b)(1) motion to dismiss challenges a federal court’s subject matter jurisdiction. 20 Such a challenge may be made either on the face of the pleadings (a “facial attack”) or by 21 presenting extrinsic evidence (a “factual attack”). Warren v. Fox Family Worldwide, Inc., 328 22 F.3d 1136, 1139 (9th Cir. 2003) (citing White v. Lee, 227 F.3d 1214, 1242 (9th Cir. 2000)). Here, 23 defendants make a factual attack. Dkt. No. 11 at 12-13. “With a factual Rule 12(b)(1) attack . . . a 24 court may look beyond the complaint to matters of public record without having to convert the 25 motion into one for summary judgment.” White, 227 F.3d at 1242. The Court also “need not 26 presume the truthfulness of the plaintiffs’ allegations” in conducting its jurisdictional analysis. Id. 27 A Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim tests the legal sufficiency of 1 appropriate where there is no cognizable legal theory or an absence of sufficient facts alleged to 2 support a cognizable legal theory. Id. (citing Balistreri v. Pacifica Police Dep’t, 901 F.2d 696, 3 699 (9th Cir. 1990)). In such a motion, all material allegations in the complaint must be taken as 4 true and construed in the light most favorable to the claimant. Id. 5 However, “[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action, supported by mere 6 conclusory statements, do not suffice,” Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 678 (2009), and “[f]actual 7 allegations must be enough to raise a right to relief above the speculative level,” Bell Atl. Corp. v. 8 Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007) (citations omitted).

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