Schools

'No Magic Bullet' Will Solve Concerns Over Student Transfers

Rep. Scott Dieckhaus, R-Washington and the chairman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, said there's no easy fix to Turner v. Clayton.

It's not easy to talk about.

St. Louis-area students in unaccredited school districts aren't getting the education they deserve. Does that mean they should be able to attend accredited school districts in St. Louis County? Should those districts have a say in how many students they accept?

It's an issue five area legislators and about 50 attendees tried to tackle in  in Chesterfield.

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At the center of the discussion is Jane Turner v. . The Missouri Supreme Court's July opinion in the case was that school districts are mandated to accept any student from an unaccredited district and have no say in the matter. 

In the St. Louis area, both the St. Louis Public School (SLPS) and Riverview Gardens School districts are unaccredited. Under current law, students from these districts can choose to attend an accredited district in the same or an adjoining county. 

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But county school districts are concerned that the court's opinion may mean they are flooded with students. Several bills were proposed during the legislative session to fix the ruling, stopping a rapid influx of students.  before the session closed. The case is currently back in circuit court and .

Weeks before the end of the legislative session, Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, spoke with Don Senti, interim superintendent of the  and John Cary, superintendent of the Special School District. The three came up with a three-point plan to provide students in SLPS and Riverview Gardens with a good education, but keep St. Louis County schools from a flood of students. The plan didn't make it through the legislature.

We tried to forge a compromise that wouldn’t eliminate children’s right quality education but would limit the number of transfers, Cunningham said.

The plan would have given scholarships to students to attend a nonpublic, nonsectarian school. School districts would be permitted to open charter schools within unaccredited districts, as well as accept students if they have open seats.

"We wanted to try to keep the children as close to home with quality options as we could," Cunningham said.

Cunningham said she had consulted with statisticians to estimate how many students might transfer from SLPS or Riverview Gardens if given the choice. Based on statistics from other areas with open enrollment, including Washington, D.C. and 20 states, it's estimated that 6,000 students would transfer to county schools. If those students transfer, they'll bring money with them. The Supreme Court maintains that unaccredited districts should pay the tuition for students who choose to attend accredited districts.

It's a number Cunningham said she thinks can be accommodated. The Cooperating School Districts, a nonprofit collective of St. Louis districts, recently polled its 39 districts to find out how many students they could accommodate. Only 22 of the districts responded and estimated that they had almost 3,500 seats.

“I think even if we didn’t put through these other mechanics, I believe that we probably would be able to accommodate,” Cunningham said. But, she'd prefer a fix that kept students close to home.

Several people at the meeting agreed. Stacy Washington, a member of the , said she's concerned that if students are bused out to Ladue, it’ll be harder for them to participate in after-school activities or arrange play dates with other children in the schools.

"Instead of talking about sending them to my district in Ladue, I'd like to see them in their own neighborhood and not spending two hours a day on a bus," Washington said. She added that she thinks St. Louis should look into charter school programs, such as KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) schools, as a way to provide children in the city with a better education.

Jennifer Clemente, who has two children in the , agreed that alternatives should be offered. Clemente is enrolled in a program through Southeast Missouri State University that includes many virtual learning opportunities. "In today’s day and age we are virtual," she said. "Those kids shouldn’t be disrupted from their present environment, nor should our kids."

Cunningham said virtual schools are an option.

But Sonny Buttar, the president of the  school board, said she wasn't sure virtual schooling would work.

"I have no problem with virtual schools. That works for some kids. But the kids that are failing out of the school system?" she said. Buttar also said that as a parent, she's worried that her school district may be flooded with students, given its good reputation and proximity to the city. She said she was concerned that the district may not receive the promised tuition.

"If we have 12,000 students come to Clayton, who is going to pay for it? Clayton? A town of 10,000 people?" she said.

Adam Ackerburg, who has two kids in the Clayton School District, also expressed concern that his district would fill with students from SLPS. It's a risk Rep. Scott Diekhaus, R-Washington, said might need to be taken.

"You're right, Clayton is probably going to get flooded," said Diekhaus, who is the chairman of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee. "No, we don't want to overwhelm districts. But if that's what we need to do to get attention to kids in the failing districts, then that's what we need to do."

Diekhaus said that part of the problem the legislature faced in trying to pass a Turner fix was that this problem is unique to the St. Louis area.

"Right now the people in St. Louis city and county care about this. In mid-Missouri, they don't understand it, they haven't heard about it," he said. Diekhaus encouraged attendees to get involved, asking any organization they are a part of to work to bring the issue to more prominence across the state.

Rep. Don Gosen, R-Chesterfield, agreed that more involvement is needed. "We need to get people to events like this, get them to come down to the Capitol to spend time with legislators to come up with answers in a civil way. They do need and want your help," he said.


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