The State Board of Education won’t approve the cost of a lawsuit against it filed by the Normandy School District.

The District is suing the Board and 20 other school districts over the state’s student transfer law, that has left Normandy nearly bankrupt as it pays to send about 1,000 of its students to other schools. The State Board took financial control of the district in February and has issued a statement saying it will not approve the expenses related to the lawsuit.

Under the terms of the Board’s takeover of Normandy’s expenses, the Board says it should be notified before any new contracts are extended or unanticipated financial obligations are handled. The Board says the District violated those terms.

In a statement from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Deputy Commissioner of Education Ron Lankford says, “Normandy’s finances are very fragile and we need to make every effort to allow students to finish the school year in June.”

The statement says the Department has not received the lawsuit and can not comment on its merits.

The student transfer law has forced Normandy to pay transportation and tuition costs for about 1,000 children who left the district for better-performing schools.

That law has been upheld previously by the state Supreme Court.