Everyone Who Wants to Attend Clayton, Raise Your Hand

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports on city parents’ fight to enroll their children in the Clayton School District:

St. Louis Public Schools spokeswoman Deborah Sistrunk said a win for the plaintiffs would be catastrophic for city schools.

"What I can say is that it would not take a large number of students exiting the district before it bankrupts the district," Sistrunk said.

It’s easy to see why she’s concerned. Clayton charges $13,500 a year for middle school and high school — more than what many private schools charge. Even elementary school tuition in Clayton is $9,500. And since nobody’s trying to transfer into St. Louis, the district has no way to make up for what it would lose.

And probably a large number of students would like to leave. The Clayton district is hardly modest about how attractive it is to city parents:

 "It’s hard to say what effect this lawsuit would have if the plaintiffs get what they want," Tennill said. "Would it mean that a couple of hundred city students would want to enroll in Clayton? A couple of thousand? We don’t know."