Topeka ? Two educators want to put charter schools in the former all-white school in Topeka that the child of the lead plaintiff in the Brown v. Board of Education case was barred from attending.

The sometimes controversial educators, former principal Sandra Lassiter and education consultant Betty Horton, were part of an unsuccessful 2000 effort to start a charter school aimed at helping minority students.

That effort faltered when the Topeka school board rejected the proposal.

In Kansas, school districts must OK charter school applications, and most of the charter schools are run by school districts.

But Horton and Lassiter said times have changed, prompting their call for new charter schools for struggling students.

They noted the head of the Department of Education, Commissioner Bob Corkins, wants to make it easier to open charter schools, which receive public money but are encouraged to use innovative approaches.

Their plans are among several community-driven initiatives that will make their way to school boards during the next couple of months. The women say they have assisted with four charter school proposals in Kansas City, Kan., and know of a fifth. They said another charter proposal for a school serving autistic children is moving ahead in Olathe, and another charter school is proposed in Topeka.

Lassiter and Horton’s plan calls for acquiring the former Sumner School from the city of Topeka.

Sumner School, which is listed as a National Historic Landmark, was where the Rev. Oliver Brown tried to enroll his daughter, Linda, in the fall of 1950. Several other black parents in Topeka also tried unsuccessfully to enroll their children in all-white schools that fall.

The Topeka parents’ lawsuit was joined with other cases from across the country, leading to the historic U.S. Supreme Court ruling that toppled segregated education.

Lassiter and Horton want to open two charters in Sumner in August 2007. Lassiter is proposing a kindergarten through fifth-grade program to be called the Sumner-Lassiter Academy. Horton’s program, the Achieve Middle School Charter, would start in the building and eventually move elsewhere.

The women’s proposal has the support of Linda Brown’s sister, Cheryl Brown Henderson, president of the Brown Foundation.

“I do believe it’s a wonderful idea,” she said. “It’s a laudable goal. Every child deserve an opportunity, and this is a second chance for many.”

Horton and Lassiter have a rocky past with the Topeka district. Lassiter sued the district, alleging that unfair treatment forced her into retirement from her job as principal at Quinton Heights Elementary School – a case that was settled in 2005 without money exchanging hands.

And Horton launched a failed bid for a school board seat in the spring 2005 elections during which she was often critical of the school board.

But school officials said the women’s past won’t play a role in the review of their application.

“What we should be focusing on would be a program that would be good, that would serve the children and help the children in our district that feel that this is what they want to try,” said Topeka school board president Carolyn Campbell.