The Normandy School District is on a path of uncertainty. The June 11 Missouri Supreme Court decision regarding the transfer of students from unaccredited districts has provided transfer students with the promise of a quality education, but between the issues of transportation and tuition costs, the behemoth of bankruptcy is a looming possibility for the district.

“If a school district goes bankrupt, the surrounding touching school districts will absorb that area,” State Representative of District 63 Bryan Spencer said. “It’s gonna be tough situation for Normandy. Can they bounce back? Yes. Is it going to be difficult? Absolutely. Is it something that can cause Normandy to be dissolved? That’s a possibility too. It’s hard to predict the future of Normandy. It really lies in the community, school district leaders, and the parents and kids.”

Due to the threat of absorption, there was an immediate push for Governor Jay Nixon to call a Special House Session to discuss changes in legislature. According to State Representative of District 73 Courtney Curtis, the session was not called due to the unlikelihood of reaching a solution to problems, such as potential bankruptcy and the regaining of accreditation, in a short session. Representatives hope to solve most of these problems when they reconvene in January.

“The financial issue is today’s biggest problem, but that’s not the larger problem,” Curtis said. “The larger problem is that it’s an unaccredited district and with these challenges, it just couples the challenge of being an unaccredited district with having less funding and facing maybe even the potential closing of the district if they ran out of money.”

Financial issues play a key role in the immediate future for unaccredited districts, like Normandy, even though the dilemma of re-gaining accreditation is largely on the forefront. Because of the overturned ruling, the sending school district is required to foot the bill for the tuition and transportation of transferring students. The differing tuition rates of schools and cost of transportation are draining the budget, leaving the potential for bankruptcy if students continue to leave the unaccredited school district.

“My first course of action would be to provide additional funding to the district and then additional resources to Normandy so they could become accredited,” State Representative of District 85 Clem Smith said. “If the students wanted to stay in the school district, they have that right. If there were any budget shortfalls, which there are, there would be additional money to come to that district. I would also put up holds on any future transfers until the financial component is worked out.”

The Missouri Supreme Court ruling of Breitenfeld v. The School District of Clayton originally upheld the state statute regarding the transfer of students from unaccredited schools as unconstitutional. However, it was overturned in a unanimous Missouri Supreme Court decision which stated that students in unaccredited districts have the right to transfer to accredited districts which must accept them as long as sufficient capacity is available.

“I don’t think it’s the best answer,” Chief Academic Officer of FHSD Mary Hendricks- Harris said. “They have about 3,000 students, and Normandy is paying lots of money to send students to other districts when they should be focusing on their students.”

While the process of coming to a solution for potential bankruptcy remains up in the air, a common goal of the House of Representatives remains to make sure that kids across Missouri are getting a quality education.

“I’m definitely for figuring out a way to make sure that all of our school districts are accredited and to make sure that the kids are being educated because that’s our number one goal,” Curtis said. “At the end of the day, the thing that’s best for the state is to educate the students and figure out a pathway to make sure that all districts are accredited and making sure all students are being educated, period.”