Saint Louis, Mo. — The decision made by the State Board of Education last week to waive Normandy’s accreditation status and dissolve the existing school board has both sides of the education debate pointing fingers and cementing their already-entrenched positions.
When the board ruled last week, many reform advocates cried foul, noting that the decision would effectively end the right to transfer for students in the district. Some lawmakers who voted against reform measures, like the much-debated transfer legislation, called the reformer’s indignation “hypocrisy.”
“The ability for the state board to go in, end the current governance structure, replace it with something else – that is what the reform folks advocated in Senate Bill 125 two years ago,” said Rep. Michael Butler, D-St. Louis. “That bill demands that the state board go in and do some of these things to take control of a failed district, and now that it’s happening, they are saying it’s such a travesty. That’s dishonest to me.”
Senate Bill 125, which was debated and passed in 2013, featured language expanding the state board’s power to immediately intervene in failing districts. The bill does not explicitly address whether the board can act on a district’s accreditation status as well, which in the case of Normandy, resulted in an effective end to the transfer program.
With no accreditation status whatsoever, Normandy will not be “unaccredited” and therefore no school district in the state is under a legal obligation to receive their students.
Kate Casas, state director of the Children’s Education Council of Missouri, said it was the change in accreditation, not the dissolving of the school board, which had most of the education reform camp uneasy.
Casas told The Missouri Times she had no objection to Normandy’s reorganization or the state board’s action on it’s governance structure, but the change in accreditation status was, she says, an “unintended consequence.”
“We’re exploring our options and looking to get some opinions on whether or not this is in line with statute,” Casas said. “But I can say there are a number of triggers with accreditation that are going to impact these students at Normandy.”
Casas was referring to a number of budget items allocated to schools specifically tied to accreditation status that Normandy will not longer be eligible for, including reading and early childhood education programs.
The change in status caused Francis Howell School District to refuse to receive any of the more than 300 Normandy students that transferred to the district last year. Adding to the mix, Missouri’s own Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent out non-binding guidelines to school boards instructing them to place caveats on accepting transfer students that don’t exist in state statute, effectively suggesting lawbreaking.
The new guidelines were greeted by Sen. Maria Chapelle-Nadal, D-University City, who sent out a lengthy statement promising close legal scrutiny of the new developments and an appropriate response. Chappelle-Nadal, who railed against DESE Director Chris Nicastro during many of the education debates, appears poised for another lengthy and public clash with the state’s education officials.
The chaotic back-and-fourth has leaked well beyond the scope of Jefferson City politics. Steve Stenger, who is challenging Charlie Dooley in the Democratic primary for St. Louis County Executive, waded into the fray this week.
Stenger, a county councilman, proposed using some of the more than $70 million in unallocated monies from the Children’s Service Fund to provide financial support for Normandy’s transfers. Stenger also called on Francis Howell and the State Board to reverse the decision to keep Normandy students out.
The Dooley campaign responded to The Missouri Times that Stenger “has absolutely zero credibility on the issue.”
“Mr. Stenger has said nothing and done nothing to support Normandy or Riverview Gardens School Districts the entire time he has been on the Council; when he was Chairman of the Council he said and did nothing,” a Dooley campaign spokesperson wrote in a statement. “The challenges facing Normandy have existed during Stenger’s entire tenure on the Council and he hasn’t lifted a finger nor uttered a word. Now that he’s trying to get votes he wants to use Normandy and the families caught in this difficult situation to curry political favor. It’s loathsome.”
Dooley, in a statement last Friday, said he was disappointed in Francis Howell’s decision, but that “the focus should be on putting the right people and policies in place in Normandy.”
Gov. Jay Nixon is set to meet with reporters tomorrow morning to discuss his veto of SB 493, the legislature’s school transfer bill, as well as “other issues related to student transfers.”
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
