Price Lab Case Gets Day in Court; Ruling by End of Month

A group of parents and teachers that sued the Iowa Board of Regents to keep Malcolm Price Laboratory School in Cedar Falls got to see their case get its day in court today.

The judge's ruling could be a couple more weeks away.

"Out of court. It went well. Decision on or before the 30th of June," an administrator for the Keep Price Lab Open Facebook page posted this afternoon. 

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier also reports that Senior Judge Alan Pearson said he will rule on the matter before June 30.

Regents teaching lab school at the end of the school year due to budget constraints, but supporters have said the regents didn't have the authority to do so and it must go through the Iowa Legislature.

Attorney Thomas Frerichs, who represents the 37 teachers and parents, argued in court that lawmakers codified Price Lab as a pre-K-12 research and development school in 2010, and that UNI officials want to and opted to close the school in favor of a virtual think tank model, according to the Courier.

Meanwhile, the regents attorney, Deputy Attorney General Jeff Thompson, argued that “Nowhere does it say ‘Thou shall not close Malcolm Price Lab School."

The legislature had seen plans to keep price lab around but the plan was because of the "economy, political climate and sticker shock," the Courier reported, citing Thompson.