I'm not going to debate whether anything described below is right or wrong or results in better outcomes. I just want to give you insight into the insanity of the environment under which public schools in Missouri have to function.
Under Missouri state law students in a district which has lost its accreditation were allowed to transfer to wealthier suburban schools which sounds good (to some), right? EXCEPT. The home school district would have to pay the "tuition" for the student in the accepting district, as well as transportation costs. So, in Normandy's case, the district loses the funding for NOT having a student, and has to PAY the other district for taking the student as well as take a hit for their transportation. We're talking about the poorest districts in this situation paying the wealthier ones to take their kids.
Normandy district was paying $1.3 million per month under this scenario and was approaching bankruptcy.
It gets better. Since the district was approaching bankruptcy, the state was allowed to take it over for mismanagement which resulted in (drum roll please) a district which was no longer technically unaccredited which meant the surrounding districts no longer were required to take the students.
More Kafka fodder: My own school district (Ladue) is uber-wealthy and was heavily invested in the now defunct desegregation program. That was a traditional busing setup where poor inner-city kids were distributed to the wealthier schools. When the deseg program was deemed no longer legally necessary by the courts, the Ladue district tried (unsuccessfully) to sue the state for the costs it had incurred in building extra resources (e.g., extra classrooms) for the poor students that would no longer be coming into the district. Read that again. The definition of chutzpah.
Kafka. Badabing.
Disclaimer: I live in possibly the wealthiest public school district in the state (Ladue). It's a GREAT district if your kids are going to those schools. You have to prove you live in the district (legal papers on file) in order to have your kids allowed into the schools.