As the Seattle School District gradually sells off surplus schools to the city and various non-profit groups, many community members are in support of the sales to keep these buildings in their community.

However Chris Jackins, coordinator of the Seattle Committee to Save Schools, has decided to bring a lawsuit against the district on terms of sale prices being lower than the buildings worth, possibly harming the district's financial status and future of students sharing the buildings' neighborhood.

As a state law there is a requirement that the sale price be at least 90 percent of the appraised value of the properties.

"We believe that the prices are too low for the properties," said Jackins. "The school district said that they won't make appraisals public so there is no way for us to check if the value of the property is correct or not."

Jackins is worried that the school closures will transfer long-term public assets to the private sector, sell schools to cover up continuing construction cost overruns and reduce educational choices for families.

As the school district filed a motion for a summary judgment to dismiss the Seattle Committee to Save School's appeal, last Wednesday Jackins lawsuit was moved on the grounds that they lacked personal or direct injury which is required to bring a lawsuit and merits that the school district did not act arbitrarily when approving the sales of Webster Park, Allen School and Crown Hill Elementary to two non-profits, Small Faces Child Development Center and the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

Most recently a similar lawsuit has been filed against the sale of the Fauntleroy School in West Seattle.

However the court disagreed with Jackins and the committee's lack of personal connection and gave them the right for the lawsuit as standing tax payers.

"They are claiming that the appraisals should have been produced at open public meetings," said Jeffery Friemund, one of the Seattle School District's attorneys. "Even though there's a statute that they are confidential until properties are sold, they (Save Schools Committee) said once you've reached an agreement you should produce them so the public can comment on them at public meetings."

As the city council has voted to provide funding for sales they also have provided $2.5 million for the Phinney Neighborhood Association's purchase of the former Allen School, $700,000 for Small Faces to purchase the Crown Hill Elementary building and in addition, the state legislature passed a $4.7 million funding proposal last spring as part of the legislative budget, said Ron English, property manager for Seattle Schools.

"Their claim is that the appraisals were wrongly done but we've renewed our motion for summary judgment after the court required to show appraisal prices in a confidential manner, which was produced at the hearing on Christmas Eve," said English. This is an effort that has a wide appeal to a number of different organizations and governmental support, not only to non-profits but by both city and state legislatures."

"It's important to put this in a bigger perspective. The school district has pieces of property that aren't used and are surpluses," said Freimund. "In 2007 they revisited whether they should close or if they should have long term leases. They went through public comment where people were in favor for selling these properties which would help address the school district's budget shortfalls."

The district has been holding on to properties that have been vacant. They do receive rental income but profit from sales is over $11 million, Freimund said.

"It goes a long way to addressing budgetary issues. The minority of those against it (Jackins and the committee) has to take into account that the district decided that this was the beneficial course for the good of the district and students. Now this lawsuit has created a roadblock to finalize sales so we're hopeful to resolve it to make sales complete."

Jackins and the Seattle Committee to Save Schools have now seen the appraisal numbers and another hearing has been scheduled for January 23, where the school district is asking the court to once again dismiss the lawsuit.

Allison Espiritu may be reached at 783-1244 or allisone@robinsonnews.com.