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Trial Date For Case Concerning Student...
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Trial Date For Case Concerning Student Transfers Postponed To Aug. 6
A lawsuit concerning student transfers from the Kansas City Public Schools (KCPS) to neighboring accredited school districts was scheduled to go to trial on June 25. During a pre-trial conference held on June 13, the trial was postponed for six weeks and rescheduled to begin on Aug. 6.
The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 23, 2011, by the Blue Springs, Independence, Lee’s Summit R-7, North Kansas City and Raytown School Districts, as well as individual taxpayers from those districts. Kansas City Public Schools, the State of Missouri, the Missouri attorney general and the State Board of Education are named as respondents in the action. The case was placed on an expedited docket in an effort to resolve the student transfer issue before the 2012-2013 school year, but state officials argued at the pre-trial conference that the trial should be postponed so the state can conduct additional discovery concerning an expert retained by the school districts and taxpayers.
In the lawsuit, the school districts challenge Missouri Revised Statute § 167.131, which requires accredited school districts to admit students from unaccredited districts without state funding. The school districts assert that Section 167.131 is unconstitutional under the Hancock Amendment to the Missouri Constitution. The Hancock Amendment prohibits the State of Missouri from imposing new activities on political subdivisions without “full state financing” and a specific appropriation by the legislature. The state has provided no financing for student transfers from Kansas City Public Schools and does not intend to provide any financing for this new requirement.
The school districts and taxpayers retained an expert, Kenneth DeSieghardt of Patron Insight, Inc., to conduct a survey concerning the number of Kansas City Public Schools students who will transfer to their districts if the court holds the statute to be constitutional and forces the districts to admit non-resident, Kansas City Public Schools students. As part of the survey, more than 600 randomly-selected KCPS parents were asked whether they would send their child to a different school if they were permitted to do so and if they did not have to pay tuition. The survey also asked the parents about how the availability of transportation and the possible reaccreditation of the Kansas City Public Schools would impact their transfer decision.
The survey results demonstrate that substantial numbers of students will transfer out of Kansas City Public Schools if the court does not invalidate Section 167.131 as an unfunded mandate. The survey found that at least 7,759 students will transfer to the Blue Springs, Independence, Lee’s Summit R-7, North Kansas City and Raytown School Districts. Each of the school districts would receive a minimum of 741 to 2,291 new students. The report prepared by Mr. DeSieghardt indicates that his study was based upon a “very conservative” methodology that has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent, at the 95-percent confidence level.
The report prepared by Mr. DeSieghardt was attached to a brief that the school districts and taxpayers filed on May 18. The State of Missouri did not ask to depose Mr. DeSieghardt between the date state officials received his report (May 18) and the date of the pre-trial conference (June 13). Nonetheless, the State of Missouri asserted that the trial could not go forward on June 25 because it needed to conduct a deposition of Mr. DeSieghardt. The Honorable W. Brent Powell expressed frustration that the State of Missouri had failed to depose Mr. DeSieghardt in a timely manner, but also rescheduled the trial for Aug. 6, which should permit the judge to issue a ruling prior to the first day of the 2012-2013 school year.
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