This session, the senate has worked to create a veto-proof bill that will “fix” the school transfer law. Does the 84-page document provide the educational opportunities families in unaccredited districts are hoping for?

There are a number of things the bill will do, but whether or not students will have more choice remains to be seen. Here are a few points dealing with educational options (the bill addresses many other issues):

• First and foremost, the bill does not contain the voucher portion that resulted in Gov. Jay Nixon vetoing the transfer legislation last year. In the area surrounding Normandy High School, there are 17 private high schools within five miles. Check these options off the list.
• As the word cloud above indicates, the focus of this year’s legislation is charter schools. The bill allows charter schools to expand in provisionally accredited districts. There are currently 10 provisionally accredited districts. Charter schools designated as “high quality” will have an expedited opportunity to gain charter reauthorization as well as replicate. These portions of the legislation may or may not expand choice. Thus far, zero charters exist outside of Saint Louis and Kansas City.
• The proposed legislation allows students in unaccredited school districts to cross district boundaries and attend a charter school with an APR of 70 or higher. Here are the Saint Louis City charter school options for Normandy students. There is only one existing option for Normandy High School students.

• Under the new law, students would have to live in an unaccredited district for at least one semester and apply to transfer by a March 1 deadline. The new policy would exclude students from transferring if they were homeschooled, attended a private school, or moved into the community due to a change in guardianship. Students whose parents do not understand application procedures and miss the application deadline will remain within an unaccredited school.
• The proposed legislation allows students to attend a virtual school either within a district or charter that sponsors the school or under transfer guidelines. A virtual school under the new law must meet a set of conditions. It is unclear which, if any, current virtual schools will meet those conditions.

Senate Bill 1 attempts to provide more choices for students in struggling schools. It also tries to resolve issues within the transfer program, such as who operates the transfer program and how transportation and tuition works. But this bill falls short in many ways. First, the proposed additional options in many cases do not yet exist. Until those options exist, students are limited. Second, the proposed law restricts open charter enrollment to unaccredited districts, which may deter charters from opening in places like Jennings, a provisionally accredited district with low student enrollment. Third, the transfer guidelines themselves are restrictive and arbitrary. As Senator David Pierce pointed out, one of the bill’s goals is to reduce the number of transfer students.

Judge Michael Burton ruled last week that Normandy is in fact unaccredited. He wrote, “As the transfer statute makes abundantly clear, every child deserves to be enrolled in a non-failing school district—now.” This bill may provide options for some students, but for many students, choice is still restricted. Until lawmakers see providing quality options as more of a priority than reducing transfers, we are unlikely to see a real “fix” to the transfer program.

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Francis Howell, Pattonville, Ferguson-Florissant, and Ritenour transfer students were devastated. They had to return to a school district in which 16.8 is the average ACT score (the state average is 21.6).  In a recent Washington Post article, Emily Wax-Thibodeaux wrote:

Carmen Clemons has two teenage sons who were in advanced-placement classes. One wants to be an engineer, the other a firefighter. She describes them as “nerdy, nice kids.”

This year, they were told they had to go to Normandy High. The school didn’t have the same advanced classes they had been taking. And on Day 5 of the academic year, they told their mother they had been “jumped,” or beaten up.

“No one broke the fight up,” Clemons said. “I was never notified. I had to go running in today to talk to the principal. We’ve worked so hard to raise respectful kids. My boys are such good students, but my son came home terrified when another student said, ‘If I see those shoes on your feet, I’m gonna take them.’ ”

Now she’s calling private schools, begging for scholarships. And she and her husband, who barely make enough to pay the bills, are thinking about selling their three-bedroom house.

After Judge Michael Burton’s decision to allow the Normandy students named in the lawsuit to return to their receiving districts, Pattonville, Ferguson-Florissant, and Ritenour chose to accept all students that had reapplied for the 2014-15 school year—Francis Howell interpreted the ruling to mean only one student may return.

Since Francis Howell’s decision to reject all but one transfer student, Schindler has begun laying the groundwork for a class-action lawsuit. Watch this video to learn more about the history of the Missouri transfer law, as well as the current legal situation surrounding the law.

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Schindler has represented several of these students in court. Earlier this month, Judge Michael Burton ordered several school districts to accept transfer students from the unaccredited Normandy school district. Because of the number of students involved and the favorable court decision, Schindler is now pursuing a class action suit on behalf of these transfer students.

The post Transferring from Normandy: An interview with lawyer Joshua Schindler appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

The post Show-Me Now! School Transfer appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

They thought the judge’s decision meant that all children were now able to return to the three school districts they had transferred to last year after the transfer law was upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court.

To their credit, this was how Ritenour and Pattonville interpreted Judge Burton’s decision. The two districts decided to accept all transfer students who had reapplied for the 2014-15 school year.

However, Francis Howell opted to accept only the one child named in the lawsuit, excluding the 350 other students who had reapplied for transfer.

Now, the fate of nine more Normandy students is in the hands of a judge. Attorney Joshua Schindler will appear in court today, fighting again for the rights of Normandy children to attend an accredited school of their choice.

Regardless of the judge’s decision concerning the several children named in this lawsuit, Francis Howell and Ferguson-Florissant should accept all Normandy transfer students.

These children have made their choice. Their choice should be respected, not just because it’s legally sound, but because it’s the right thing to do.

The post Normandy Transfer: An Evolving Story appeared first on Show-Me Institute.

Through a series of legal maneuvers, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the State Board of Education attempted to prevent students, like Cotton’s children, from transferring from Normandy Schools Collaborative.

First, Normandy was unaccredited, then nonaccredited, and most recently, “accredited as a state oversight district.” However, the transfer law, which states that a student living in an unaccredited district can transfer to an accredited district, prevailed Friday when Judge Michael Burton ruled that Ritenour, Francis Howell, and Pattonville School Districts would have to accept transfer students.

Cotton rejoiced when she saw the news over the weekend, only to learn from Francis Howell School District that the decision extended to just the children named in the lawsuit. Only one Normandy student will be returning to Francis Howell. Because Cameral Cotton did not participate in the lawsuit, her children will remain at Normandy.

Cotton’s daughter, Mar’Kita, dreams of becoming a history teacher for Teach for America. Her son, Mark, just wants to get into college. Both of these children blossomed at Francis Howell, and yet, they must remain in a school that, they believe, failed them.

If the transfer law was upheld for a few students, then it should be upheld for all students. Cameral Cotton should not have to wait for another class-action lawsuit just so her children can attend an accredited school. Burton’s decision may just apply to a few students, but the logic behind his decision applies to all Normandy students.

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