SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — A school dispute in southeastern South Dakota is headed to the state Supreme Court.

The Argus Leader newspaper reports that three families in the Tea Area School District have appealed to the state's highest court as part of their legal battle to join the Sioux Falls School District.

Tea school officials denied the families' petition last year and a judge upheld the decision, saying the request would have turned school district lines into a checkerboard.

Another factor is that the Tea district is building a $5.2 million elementary school just blocks away from the neighborhood where the suing families live.

The neighborhood is in southwestern Sioux Falls — but officials say the Tea district is closer to the families than any school operated by the Sioux Falls School District.

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