BATON ROUGE — A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the former operators of the Impact Charter School in Baker that targeted state education leaders and the new board they put in place to lead the school.

U.S. District Judge John deGravelles rejected claims that the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education didn't have the authority to replace the previous board leadership. He granted BESE's request to dismiss the lawsuit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.

The old board said that replacing it "goes well beyond state oversight and is an abuse of power by the state." The new board, which submitted its own documents with the court, said its predecessors had failed to run the school properly. 

The current operators also said BESE had an obligation to oversee and manage failing schools, noting that the agency was "empowered to revoke or terminate a charter upon a finding of misconduct."

Recent audits conducted at the Impact Charter school found evidence of improper spending.

State auditors in February said operator Chakesha Scott had diverted around $2.5 million in school funds toward cars, trips and luxury items for her personal use. Scott said the auditors cherry-picked items to cast her in a negative light.

The judge didn't close the case Monday; he gave the new board and potential intervenors 28 days to file additional paperwork. He said that the old board's request for a temporary restraining order against its removal was moot.