The KCMO School District

[KCMax]

MO education commissioner recommends stripping KCMSD's accreditation

Missouri Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro has recommended that the State Board of Education strip the Kansas City School District of its accreditation status.

The board will vote this afternoon. Sources tell KCTV5 that the board is expected to ratify Nicastro's decision.

The district would lose its status on Jan. 1 and have two years to regain provisional accreditation or face a possible state takeover.

[kboish]

I know a little about the KC school district and its problems, but don't know a whole lot in general about how school districts work. Hopefully someone can fill me in.

Why is it not possible to simply break up the KCMO school district and start over? Can it be broken up into different geographic areas?
Would a state take over be beneficial? Seems like it should just happen since they have struggled so much for so long...

[KCMax]

I know a little about the KC school district and its problems, but don't know a whole lot in general about how school districts work. Hopefully someone can fill me in.

Why is it not possible to simply break up the KCMO school district and start over? Can it be broken up into different geographic areas?
Would a state take over be beneficial? Seems like it should just happen since they have struggled so much for so long...

1. Political will for one. Also, more districts means more superintendants, more administrative costs..and what's the upside? Lots of smaller crappy school districts?

2. A state take over may be beneficial, but the state does not really want to take it over, and the school district does not want to be taken over, and I'm sure some parents may not want local control taken out of their hands.

[zlohban]

I know a little about the KC school district and its problems, but don't know a whole lot in general about how school districts work. Hopefully someone can fill me in.

Why is it not possible to simply break up the KCMO school district and start over? Can it be broken up into different geographic areas?
Would a state take over be beneficial? Seems like it should just happen since they have struggled so much for so long...

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-298.html

Read about the "Kansas City Experiment", everything you need to know about KCMO School District.

[kboish]

Didn't know a lot of those things. Heard something about the law suit before, but never all those....interesting details.

Although the initial gap was small, by the 12th grade, blacks' scores on standardized tests were about three years behind those of whites (10.1 vs. 13.1).(82) At Central High School, which tended to attract suburban white computer hackers, white males were five years ahead of black males on standardized tests.(

Does do a great job of highlighting incredible amount of money wasted over the years. But, then again it is from the cato institute.

[aknowledgeableperson]

There was a lot of money wasted trying to improve the district. Since my family lived outside the district my kids could have had door-to-door cab rides to any school in the district. A black kid on the other hand had no choice, or very limited choice in where to go. Much money was spent buying houses and buildings to tear down in order to make the schools look like they were suburban schools. Yes, many buildings needed upgrades and repairs and all but a very large amount of money was spent on cosmetic things instead of actually trying to improve what was happening in the classrooms.

[KCPowercat]

There was a lot of money wasted trying to improve the district. Since my family lived outside the district my kids could have had door-to-door cab rides to any school in the district. A black kid on the other hand had no choice, or very limited choice in where to go.

seriously? Wow dude.

[mean]

There was a lot of money wasted trying to improve the district. Since my family lived outside the district my kids could have had door-to-door cab rides to any school in the district. A black kid on the other hand had no choice, or very limited choice in where to go.

seriously? Wow dude.

Is that not basically accurate? A taxi picked me up at my door and took me to school every morning. I had friends who lived out in Buckner who got cab rides into KC for school.

[kboish]

it mentions all that and more in the linked article above. very interesting read. though i was poking fun at the cato institute I don't have any doubt about all the wasteful spending and mismanagement they highlight in their study of the KCMOSD. It's pretty disgusting

[KCMax]

So if it is unaccredited, don't the students get to go to other schools in the county? Or am I misremembering how this works.

[KCMax]

To answer my own question:

Loss of accreditation could move KC students into EJC schools

The change in accreditation could have a drastic impact on surrounding school districts. Under state law, students in unaccredited school districts can leave the district and move to another accredited school district – in this case that means in Jackson County or in the adjoining counties of Clay, Ray, Lafayette, Johnson and Cass. Districts cannot deny admission to these students. State law requires that they be accepted.

If students leave, Kansas City must not only pay for transportation costs, but also out-of-district tuition costs for those students. Out-of-district tuition is $8,895 for the Independence School District and $8,995 for the Blue Springs School District.

[KCMax]

it mentions all that and more in the linked article above. very interesting read. though i was poking fun at the cato institute I don't have any doubt about all the wasteful spending and mismanagement they highlight in their study of the KCMOSD. It's pretty disgusting

I used to think some of the claims of graft and corruption in urban public school districts were exaggerations from those on the right looking to destroy public schools. But alas, they appear to be all too real.

This report was a real eye-opener for me.

http://www.hd.net/blogs/dan-rather-repo ... isgrace-2/

[aknowledgeableperson]

I think it goes back to a belief that if one throws enough money at a problem it willl either be cured or go away.

[brewcrew1000]

I used to think some of the claims of graft and corruption in urban public school districts were exaggerations from those on the right looking to destroy public schools. But alas, they appear to be all too real.

Maybe it's true, i mean if one school district falls apart another farther away grows and new jobs are created in various sectors like housing, education, gov't, etc

[kcmetro]

The thing is, if that $2 billion had been given to SM, Blue Valley, or Olathe school districts, it very likely would have improved scores and student performance. But throwing $2 billion at a school district where parents don't give a fuck about their child's education isn't going to provide anything of real value...just fancy computers and nice swimming pools. It's like putting gold rims on a rusted out 1960's VW bug with 200k miles on it. New equipment and overpaid teachers aren't going to make kids want to learn more...and more importantly it's not going to make parents want to get involved in their child's education unless they're getting a check. I think that $2 billion would've been better spent by paying the parents based on how much their child improved in school. Not saying it's a good idea, just that it probably would've helped the student performance more, because the parents would've cared about getting involved in their child's education.

[KCMax]

I think it goes back to a belief that if one throws enough money at a problem it willl either be cured or go away.

I think "throw enough money at a problem" is a macro that conservatives must have when discussing public schools. Is it ALT-M?

The thing is, if that $2 billion had been given to SM, Blue Valley, or Olathe school districts, it very likely would have improved scores and student performance.

Would it? Even test scores and performance by affluent American districts is not very good compared to other countries, despite increased spending in a lot of affluent districts.

I don't doubt that some of that money was misspent and that nice computers for everyone won't improve scores overall. But I don't think that means ANY spending is going to be a waste of money. It just requires a board that knows how to prioritize and maximize resources.

[zlohban]

There are two cities in Missouri that have approximately 16,800 students.

The budget to educate those children is $153 million in one district and $259 million in the other. The expenditure per student is $9,343 in one district and $15,640 in the other. Finally, the tax levy in the district with the larger budget — Kansas City — is 10 cents less than the district with the smaller budget — Columbia........

http://www.columbiabusinesstimes.com/11 ... ents-view/

[aknowledgeableperson]

I think "throw enough money at a problem" is a macro that conservatives must have when discussing public schools. Is it ALT-M?

But I don't think that means ANY spending is going to be a waste of money. It just requires a board that knows how to prioritize and maximize resources.

The first statement may or may not be, I really don't know. The problem was the district was given a blank check for the most part and money was spent like one would think it was play money.
Yes, there was much that had to be improved with regards to the dictrict resources, facilities, books and such. In many areas the problems were approached by "what can we spend the money on?" instead of "what do we need to do to fix the problem?" There was much money spent on the purpose of attracting "white" kids and that implied that these "poor black" kids cannot get a good education unless there are some "white" kids in the class.

[KCMax]

Agree AKP.

[coreyo]

Let's get Google in on this. Let's combine Kauffman's Education labs, Google's Educational Tech and give any entrepreneur the freedom to start up their own school.