The Rochester Board of Education confirms it will be filing a lawsuit against the city to “prevent what is an illegal advisory referendum from being placed on the ballot in November” that could eventually remove local control of the district.

The board voted Thursday night to take the measure and “avoid any more taxpayer money from being spent in support of this referendum.”

In response, Mayor Lovely Warren said it was "shameful that our school board today wants to take away from our mothers and our fathers the right to vote for the future of their kids."

Speaking Friday morning, Warren said "the school district clearly isn’t standing up for our citizens, but I can a sure the citizens of Rochester this one thing: like Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony who fought for the voiceless so many years ago, today I will continue to stand and fight for our families and our children because it’s the right thing to do.”

In June, Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren called for a state takeover of the city’s school district, calling for voters determine whether they want the board to retain control or allow the state to come in and reset the system.

At the time, Warren said the decision should be left with parents, as “they are the ones who send their kids off to school to be educated. They are the ones that are fighting to give their kids a fighting chance at life.”

The proposal was immediately disputed by Assemblyman Harry Bronson, who proposed a different action: retaining local governance of the schools and expanding community schooling to encourage more parental involvement.

The mayor says the city’s attorneys are confident the referendum to change the city’s charter and potentially allow that state takeover will be on the ballot in November.