(KTVI)- We’ve spent decades trying to deal with the problems of schools in high-poverty areas. Some schools, like magnet schools in the city of St. Louis, have succeeded. Most have not. Now St. Louis County’s Riverview Gardens and Normandy School Districts have lost their state accreditation. So have Kansas City schools. And over a dozen rural Missouri districts could lose accreditation within two years.
State law says students in those districts are free to transfer to neighboring, accredited school districts. But the law also says that the unaccredited districts have to pay the tuition and busing costs for students who transfer out. And that’s led the Normandy district to say they’ll be broke and unable to pay their bills by April 1, 2014. What happens to the thousands of students in Normandy if the district goes bankrupt? No one seems to know.
This week, Charles Jaco sat down with Missouri Commissioner of Education Dr. Chris Nicastro to ask her about what happens next.
