St. Louis County School Districts and the Results of Breitenfeld vs. Clayton

It is going to be very interesting to see how everything plays out this fall for all the school districts in St. Louis County following the ruling of Breitenfeld vs. The School District of Clayton. Essentially now anyone with children in the Riverview Gardens or Normandy School Districts can request to have their children attend any other school anywhere else in St. Louis County. This could be a huge mess if a large number of the 10,000 students in the two districts decide to transfer, with funds having to be transferred from the two unaccredited districts to the hosting districts, and then students being shuttled all over the place, also at the expense of those two failing districts. The southern corner of the Normandy district is actually not too far from Clayton too. That would be a steal to be able to purchase an inexpensive home in Normandy and then be able to send your children to Clayton schools, when folks just a block or two away in University City could not.

I know our district, Ladue, is already experiencing an overcrowding situation and I have heard that Webster Groves has similar overcrowding issues. And with some closer districts like Clayton, Brentwood and Maplewood Richmond Heights being rather small districts to begin with, a large influx of students from Normandy or Riverview Gardens would put a strain on their physical space as well. Where can all those students go? Neighboring Ferguson-Florrisant and Hazelwood seem like obvious choices, but I can see the parents wanting to send their children somewhere even better and only slightly further away, like Pattonville or Parkway North. Both are easy commutes along I-70 and I-270. But can even those larger schools accept that many students? All the districts have been hurt with lower property tax receipts, and having an influx of more students is not going to help them. Pattonville has been the first to respond, saying they will demand a full year's tuition up front ($14,400) to accept any transfer students. Let's see if the other districts follow suit.

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