By Adam Allington, KWMU
St. Louis – The St. Louis School Board is asking neighboring districts not to take students from the city if the state revokes the district's accreditation. The board passed a resolution Friday aimed at keeping city students in city schools.
The board is concerned that parents will pull their children from city schools and send them to neighboring districts with state accreditation.
When students leave, they take state tuition money with them, and the district says it's already losing thousands of students to charter schools.
Still, board member Peter Downs questioned whether it was the board's role to restrict options available to parents.
"This resolution creates a conflict between us and parents in the district," Downs said. "So I'm reluctant to go on record saying we don't want parents to have this choice."
St. Louis Public Schools already send 8,000 students to county schools through the desegregation settlement.
The district will appeal the accreditation decision at a hearing in Jefferson City on May 22nd.
The Missouri State Board of Education has set a date of June 15th to revoke the district's accreditation.