Latest news with #AvailabletoAll
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri kids deserve a fair shot at enrolling in a public school where they can thrive
(). 'My mom wanted us out of that school,' says a young woman named Kayla from the St. Louis area. 'But the Normandy district was fighting to keep us there.' Kayla and her mom were bumping up against a hard reality that many Missouri families have faced: The state has one of the strictest systems of residential assignment for public schools in the country. For the last several months, my organization Available to All has been studying enrollment laws and policies in Missouri. Our new report — Show-Me the Way Out — reveals that it is often very difficult for Missouri children to enroll in any public school other than one assigned to them based on their address, even if that school is unsafe or failing. 'It was genuinely terrible being in that school,' remembers Kayla. 'I was continuously bullied from kindergarten right through the 7th grade.' She says that the teachers in her school acted as if they were powerless to stop the bullying. But when Kayla tried to transfer out of the district, the Normandy Schools Collaborative tried to block her. 'They needed Normandy to agree to let me go,' she recalls. District boundaries in Missouri are strictly policed. Last year, St. Louis Public Radio ran a story about the efforts of the Hazelwood School District to crack down on what one official described as 'educational larceny.' That year, Hazelwood launched 2,051 residency investigations and removed hundreds of students found to be attending its schools while living in another district. But strict residential assignment is also enforced via attendance zone boundaries within school districts. At coveted Hale Cook Elementary School in Kansas City, the attendance zone map mirrors the pattern on the racist redlining map from the New Deal Era. Back in the 1930s, the federal government drew maps of many cities, marking as red or yellow areas of town that were 'hazardous' or 'declining.' These areas—often home to many people of color and immigrants—were blocked from receiving federal housing assistance. Modern-day school boundaries often have the same exclusionary effect. Even in rural areas, the results can be perverse. In Cape Girardeau, students in even-numbered homes on certain blocks of Sprigg Street are assigned to a school where about 70% of fourth graders score proficient or better on English language arts. Students in odd-numbered homes are excluded and sent to a struggling school instead. As a result of this strict residential system, middle- and lower-income families often cannot afford to attend the best public schools, which are often located in the most expensive areas. After struggling to get all the approvals for a transfer to nearby Pattonville, Kayla's family eventually had to leave Normandy altogether and move to Pattonville, despite much higher rents. 'I started working,' says Kayla, who was then still a teenager, 'so I could help my mom with the higher rent. But it was worth it to be in a place where I could learn, instead of being afraid of getting hit.' As the Missouri legislature debates different options for open enrollment in the public schools, lawmakers should consider how the state can best fulfill the promise made by the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling from 1954. In that ruling, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that the public schools must be made 'available to all on equal terms.' They should also consider best practices from other states. School districts and public charter schools should be required by state law to enroll children from outside of the district (or outside the attendance zone) when there is available space. If necessary, school finance policies should be tweaked to make this workable. Wisconsin, for example, has a robust system of cross-district open enrollment, and Oklahoma and Ohio both have effective systems of within-district open enrollment. Parents should also be given procedural protections, such as the right to appeal an enrollment denial, as states like Arkansas and California provide. And every public school should be required to 'hold back' a small percentage of its seats—perhaps15%—for students who live outside the attendance zone or district. Such reserve clauses have been used for magnet schools in Nebraska, as well as charter schools in Maryland. Missouri's future depends on ensuring that every child, regardless of zip code, has access to high-quality education. Without meaningful reforms that expand and strengthen access to educational options, Missouri will continue to deny generations of students the opportunity to reach their full potential. No child should be locked out of the best public schools because of exclusionary laws and policies. 'It literally saved my life,' says Kayla about her transfer to Pattonville. 'Other kids deserve that option too.'
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Missouri kids deserve a fair shot at enrolling in a public school where they can thrive
(). 'My mom wanted us out of that school,' says a young woman named Kayla from the St. Louis area. 'But the Normandy district was fighting to keep us there.' Kayla and her mom were bumping up against a hard reality that many Missouri families have faced: The state has one of the strictest systems of residential assignment for public schools in the country. For the last several months, my organization Available to All has been studying enrollment laws and policies in Missouri. Our new report — Show-Me the Way Out — reveals that it is often very difficult for Missouri children to enroll in any public school other than one assigned to them based on their address, even if that school is unsafe or failing. 'It was genuinely terrible being in that school,' remembers Kayla. 'I was continuously bullied from kindergarten right through the 7th grade.' She says that the teachers in her school acted as if they were powerless to stop the bullying. But when Kayla tried to transfer out of the district, the Normandy Schools Collaborative tried to block her. 'They needed Normandy to agree to let me go,' she recalls. District boundaries in Missouri are strictly policed. Last year, St. Louis Public Radio ran a story about the efforts of the Hazelwood School District to crack down on what one official described as 'educational larceny.' That year, Hazelwood launched 2,051 residency investigations and removed hundreds of students found to be attending its schools while living in another district. But strict residential assignment is also enforced via attendance zone boundaries within school districts. At coveted Hale Cook Elementary School in Kansas City, the attendance zone map mirrors the pattern on the racist redlining map from the New Deal Era. Back in the 1930s, the federal government drew maps of many cities, marking as red or yellow areas of town that were 'hazardous' or 'declining.' These areas—often home to many people of color and immigrants—were blocked from receiving federal housing assistance. Modern-day school boundaries often have the same exclusionary effect. Even in rural areas, the results can be perverse. In Cape Girardeau, students in even-numbered homes on certain blocks of Sprigg Street are assigned to a school where about 70% of fourth graders score proficient or better on English language arts. Students in odd-numbered homes are excluded and sent to a struggling school instead. As a result of this strict residential system, middle- and lower-income families often cannot afford to attend the best public schools, which are often located in the most expensive areas. After struggling to get all the approvals for a transfer to nearby Pattonville, Kayla's family eventually had to leave Normandy altogether and move to Pattonville, despite much higher rents. 'I started working,' says Kayla, who was then still a teenager, 'so I could help my mom with the higher rent. But it was worth it to be in a place where I could learn, instead of being afraid of getting hit.' As the Missouri legislature debates different options for open enrollment in the public schools, lawmakers should consider how the state can best fulfill the promise made by the U.S. Supreme Court in the historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling from 1954. In that ruling, Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote that the public schools must be made 'available to all on equal terms.' They should also consider best practices from other states. School districts and public charter schools should be required by state law to enroll children from outside of the district (or outside the attendance zone) when there is available space. If necessary, school finance policies should be tweaked to make this workable. Wisconsin, for example, has a robust system of cross-district open enrollment, and Oklahoma and Ohio both have effective systems of within-district open enrollment. Parents should also be given procedural protections, such as the right to appeal an enrollment denial, as states like Arkansas and California provide. And every public school should be required to 'hold back' a small percentage of its seats—perhaps15%—for students who live outside the attendance zone or district. Such reserve clauses have been used for magnet schools in Nebraska, as well as charter schools in Maryland. Missouri's future depends on ensuring that every child, regardless of zip code, has access to high-quality education. Without meaningful reforms that expand and strengthen access to educational options, Missouri will continue to deny generations of students the opportunity to reach their full potential. No child should be locked out of the best public schools because of exclusionary laws and policies. 'It literally saved my life,' says Kayla about her transfer to Pattonville. 'Other kids deserve that option too.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Report: Missouri Attendance Boundaries Discriminate Against Low-Income Students
As Missouri lawmakers debate open enrollment for a fifth consecutive year, a new report is shedding light on how public school residency restrictions can discriminate against low-income students. The report, published Wednesday by the nonprofit watchdog group Available to All, finds that Missouri has some of the strictest school residential assignment policies in the nation. District attendance boundaries mirror historic racist housing redlining maps and are limiting student access to high-performing schools, said Tim DeRoche, the organization's founder. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter 'Whenever the government assigns children to public schools, then the government also takes on the role of excluding those children from other public schools — that's where the split starts to get problematic,' DeRoche said. 'In Missouri, there's just very strict assignment-based policies in districts. It's very hard to cross district lines in Missouri as opposed to other states.' Available to All's report estimated that 94% to 96% of Missouri public school students attend their assigned school, based on their home address. State law has limited exceptions, such as if a student is homeless, parents pay property taxes at another location or a school loses accreditation. Related The lack of ability for students to easily transfer schools inside or outside their district encourages wealthy families to buy houses next to high-quality schools, DeRoche said. 'It creates this very strict system where kids, especially low-income kids and low-income kids of color, get locked into struggling or failing schools, and the families have very few options to find another home for them,' he said. DeRoche said the boundaries on redlining maps that were drawn a century ago to determine who got access to government-insured home mortgages largely correspond to the state's school attendance lines. 'Parts of towns that have high concentrations of people of color or immigrants or working-class folks are excluded' from receiving that sort of housing assistance, DeRoche said. 'We found three examples where the school zone in Missouri overlaps or mirrors the pattern on redlining maps from 80 to 90 years ago.' One school attendance boundary cited by the report runs north to south through St. Louis. Children living east of the line are assigned to the St. Louis City School District, where roughly 20% of students score proficient or better on state reading and math tests. Children located west of the line are assigned to Clayton School District, where nearly 75% of students are proficient or better on the same exams. The boundary, according to the report, 'mirrors the pattern of the racist redlining map created by the federal government in 1937.' In the St. Joseph School District, Field Elementary School — located near an area described as a 'choice part of the city' in redlining maps — has significantly higher math and reading proficiency rates than Lindbergh Elementary School, located 2 miles away. The Lindbergh neighborhood was described in redlining maps as 'a poor area and one which lenders avoid,' according to the report. Related A 2024 analysis by New America, a left-leaning think tank based in Washington, D.C., found this line is among the 100 most segregating district borders in the nation in terms of poverty rate disparity among school-aged children. Because of the steep inequality across district boundaries, DeRoche said, it's not uncommon for parents to lie about where they live to give their child an education at a higher-performing school. Schools in Missouri — and across the nation, he said — often investigate students' residences to find families that aren't living within district boundaries. These inspections are conducted by school officials, teachers or even private investigators hired by the district, according to the Available to All report. A 2023 investigation by St. Louis Public Radio and Midwest Newsroom found the Hazelwood School District, which enrolls roughly 16,000 students in suburban St. Louis, performed 2,051 residency investigations during the 2022-23 school year. In 2018-19, the district conducted just 148. Parents can be charged with a misdemeanor for falsifying their children's enrollment records, according to Missouri state law. State Rep. Brad Pollitt has been trying to expand school choice in Missouri with open enrollment bills for the last five years. He reintroduced his proposal again this year in hopes it will finally make it to the state Senate floor. Related HB711, the Public School Open Enrollment Act, would allow any K-12 student to attend a school in a nonresident district, depending on factors including disciplinary and attendance records, the school's student-to-teacher ratio, class sizes and building capacity. Only 3% of a district's students would be allowed to leave each year. According to reporting from the Missouri Independent, the bill doesn't require school districts to accept students living outside the area, but districts that do would receive extra funding. DeRoche said Available to All recommends that Missouri require districts to enroll children from outside their boundaries when schools have space available. 'School finance policies should ensure that education dollars can flow across district lines, enabling Missouri families to access the public schools that they feel are the right fit for their children,' the report says. It also recommends that schools reserve a specific percentage of seats for students who live outside the district. 'There's an opportunity for reform,' DeRoche said. 'We don't take a stand on individual bills, but there is a chance [to create] best practices in protecting equal access to public schools.'
