Parents at an Anaheim elementary school who have fought their district to convert their campus to a charter school won their battle Wednesday when the California Supreme Court refused to hear the district’s appeal.

Families at Palm Lane Elementary can now move forward to convert their school into a public charter, independently run from the Anaheim Elementary School District.

“Obviously, we are very disappointed but respect the court’s decision and will work with the appropriate parties over the coming year through the anticipated transition to a charter school,” Superintendent Linda Kimble said in a statement late Wednesday.

Palm Lane parent Cecilia Ochoa cried upon learning from a reporter of her victory.

“We never thought this fight would be so big and so difficult,” said Ochoa, mother to two Palm Lane students — an incoming first-grader and incoming fifth-grader — and the lead petitioner in the case.

Two years ago, Ochoa and a group of Palm Lane parents, aided by former Sen. Gloria Romero and others, collected signatures and pressed to take over the elementary school, which for years had low test scores.

Under a 2010 law co-authored by Romero, the California Parent Empowerment Act, parents can trigger a change in low-performing schools. (Palm Lane is believed to be the first in Orange County to tap the so-called parent trigger law.)

But the district argued, among other things, that there weren’t enough valid signatures on the petition and sued the parents. In 2015, Orange County Superior Court Judge Andrew Banks ruled in favor of the parents.

The district then appealed to the state’s Fourth District Court of Appeal. Among the arguments: Palm Lane was not subject to the parent trigger law because the previous evaluations used to measure schools’ academic performance are no longer in use. The appellate court last April affirmed Banks’ decision, saying Palm Lane qualified as an academically low-performing school.

“We are not opining on whether public schools or charter schools are better for the education of children,” wrote Associate Justice Richard Fybel. The parents’ petition, Fybel and his two fellow justices said, met the necessary legal requirements.

The Anaheim district, which had already spent close to $780,000 on legal fees, agreed to spend another $30,000 for a final appeal before the California Supreme Court.

In a letter to the Register last week, Anaheim Elementary school board members said the district chose to appeal the decision because the data used to declare Palm Lane as eligible “for takeover by a charter company” is outdated.

“We believe this ‘frozen in time’ approach sets a dangerous precedent and poses a dire threat to public education across the state,” the board members wrote.

“At recent community input meetings, the vast majority of Palm Lane parents expressed their satisfaction with the school and say they are pleased with recent progress, including distinctions as both a California Gold Ribbon and Title 1 Academic Achievement school. In addition, many parents say they were confused by the petition and not clear on exactly what they were signing years ago,” the letter reads.

In an e-mail to the Register late Wednesday, School Board President Ryan Ruelas wrote: “We exercised the available legal options to us and believed the case deserved a review. Although we are disappointed, we will support our teachers and parents through this process and answer questions parents may have. Teaching and learning will continue at Palm Lane for this next school year.”

Meanwhile, school advocates were thrilled with the latest development.

“This is a tribute to the courage of parents and their belief that education is the key to the American dream,” Romero said.

It’s too late for the change to take effect this academic year, Romero said. Parents will next meet to send out requests for proposals from charter school companies, and only those parents who originally signed the petition, even those whose children have graduated, will get to choose who next runs the new public charter, she said.