A dispute over the leadership at a Japanese charter public school has turned into a power struggle over who will run the program in the Livonia Public Schools.

Livonia Public Schools is the authorizer of Hinoki International School, but the school district now is moving to start its own Japanese magnet school in the same building used by Hinoki.

The Livonia Public Schools board of education is expected to vote on approval of its own Japanese magnet K-6 school at its meeting today. The school would begin in the 2014-15 school year.

"In our role of authorizer, we have witnessed a struggle for the school to operate in the areas of management and governance," Randy Liepa, superintendent of Livonia Public Schools, said in an email. "We feel one of our key roles is to assure that the students aren't shortchanged as the school continues to exist.

"We have been concerned that the school will not be able to continue under its current circumstances," Liepa said. "We continue to support Hinoki, and are not taking action to reconstitute the board, revoke the charter or disapprove of their new management company. In fact, we encourage Hinoki to grow with its new program and provide opportunities for children. … We have also told their board president that we will continue to support them as the authorizer of their school for the last year of our contract to help them if they wish to continue operating a school."

Anne Hooghart, president of the Hinoki charter school board, said in an email that Liepa is effectively ending the charter school by not renewing the charter's lease in its building.

Hooghart said any school chartered in the Livonia school district must by law be located in the district. She said Liepa said he will not renew Hinoki's lease and that the district has said there are no other vacancies to offer.

"These comments are like a father telling his son that he can have the car keys, but not the car, and then wishing him good luck on his date," Hooghart said.

Ted Delphia, principal of Hinoki, is involved in the dispute. Delphia didn't respond to an email or phone message left for him.

Hooghart said the charter school board has had issues with Delphia and that Delphia has wanted to have Hinoki absorbed by Livonia Public Schools.

"There has been a struggle with management and governance, primarily due to the limited capacity of our founder/principal to properly support the administrative needs of a growing school," Hooghart said. "Hinoki has attempted to remediate Mr. Delphia and supplement his management with new educational service providers (ESPs). Unaccustomed to restrictions or qualified eyes judging his work, Mr. Delphia has resisted such steps, and presumably prefers a solution where he retains full authority. To Dr. Liepa, this constitutes a 'conflict' between the Hinoki school board and Mr. Delphia, and his calculus seems to be 'Hinoki is ineffectually managed, and therefore must join LPS under the leadership of the ineffectual manager.' "

The Hinoki International School opened in September 2010. Its goal is to teach children the best practices of Japanese and American schools. A school official said the district started with 12 students in its first year and now has 136 students from kindergarten to third grade.

Legislation that would unplug Ohio's in-state renewable energy mandate and require a re-evaluation of the entire law is headed to Gov. John Kasich.

And it appears that Gov. Kasich plans to sign the bill.

The issue could be significant for the region because Michigan also has an in-state renewable energy mandate that outlaws it from being able to buy renewable energy from surrounding states, which could lower costs for Michigan taxpayers.

Renewable energy in Ohio and Michigan mostly refers to electricity produced by wind turbines. Ending Ohio's in-state mandate would allow the state's utilities to shop for cheaper wind-produced energy from states that produce more wind, such as Minnesota and Iowa. That, in turn, would force wind energy producers in Ohio to compete or find other markets.

On Wednesday, the Ohio House passed Senate Bill 310 on a 53-38 vote. The Ohio Senate followed up by agreeing to some minor changes to the legislation made by the House and then sent Senate Bill 310 to Gov. Kasich's office.

After passage of the bill, a spokesman for Gov. Kasich characterized the legislation in positive terms as a compromise between those who want to eliminate the energy rules and those who want no change.

In addition to ending the in-state mandate, Senate Bill 310, would freeze the state's renewable energy and energy efficiency standards in place for two years. That's the aspect of the bill that is receiving the lion's share of news coverage in Ohio.

"The freezing of Ohio's renewable energy mandates sets an important precedent for Michigan legislators and Gov. Rick Snyder," said Kevon Martis, director of the Interstate Informed Citizens Coalition, a non-profit organization that is concerned about the construction of wind turbines in the region. "Even in the windiest states, wind typically arrives at times of lowest demand for electricity which sharply diminishes its value. The Brookings Institution's latest study demonstrates with certainty that wind and solar are among the most expensive and least effective means of reducing power plant emissions, bar none.

"But in states like Ohio and Michigan, wind energy's pronounced failings are amplified by an anemic wind resource," Martis continued. "Gov. Kasich showed tremendous courage in staring down the same environmental juggernaut that stands in the way of sound energy policy in Michigan. ...It is clearly time for Michigan to take the baton from Gov. Kasich and dump renewable energy mandates and simply set a policy that rewards cost effective clean energy from any source."

Tom Stacy, a self-described, "Ohioan for Affordable Electricity," said he would remain guardedly optimistic until he knows for sure that the bill has received the governor's signature. He said he has high hopes for what the bill might accomplish.

"This is a win for ratepayers, Ohio's economy and even the environment," Stacy said of the bill's passage by the Ohio general assembly. "This bill has the potential to raise political and public awareness of not just electricity choices, but the very closely related choices between socialism and capitalism. What we need is an 'all of the competitive' energy policy, and Ohio has taken a small step in that direction through the passage of SB 310.

"It would be really meaningful for the study committee (which would re-evaluate the state's renewable energy mandates) to propose an end goal measured in PPM (parts per million) and cents per KWh (Kilowatt hour) instead of just mandating large percentages of somebody's favorite technology and then taking their word that it will magically cure all ills."

The Ohio Environmental Council, which supports the mandates, was not pleased with the news that Gov. Kasich might sign the bill.

"Contrary to the reassuring tone of yesterday's statement by the governor's office, the final bill as approved by the General Assembly did not land 'at the right spot' for Ohio and does anything but assure that Ohio will 'move forward in a balanced way,' " the group said in a statement. "Rather, Gov. Kasich's anticipated approval of this recklessly imbalanced legislation will not simply 'freeze' but all but annihilate clean energy standards."