A Missouri circuit court judge has sided with three school districts that say they would suffer financial harm if students from the unaccredited Kansas City school system were allowed to transfer into their smaller, accredited districts.
But Judge W. Brent Powell acknowledged in his ruling that his decision would “undoubtedly be appealed.”
The 17,000-student Kansas City district lost its accreditation in January, causing surrounding districts to brace for a potential influx of students. Missouri law allows students to transfer from an unaccredited district to a neighboring, accredited school system.
However, the districts surrounding Kansas City are fighting those potential transfers based on another provision of state law, called the Hancock Amendment, which is intended to protect taxpayers from shouldering extra costs based on state mandates. Kansas City officials said they would pay surrounding jurisdictions about $3,700 per transfer student, but the other districts said their actual costs would be far more.
