KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The trial regarding transfers out of the Kansas City Missouri School District began Monday and the debate comes down to money.
Five districts, Blue Springs, Independence, Lee’s Summit, Raytown and North Kansas City, are challenging the timing and amount of tuition payments the KCMO District will pay for each transfer student.
The accredited districts are challenging the tuition amount the KCMO district is legally obligated to pay.
The attorney for the accredited districts says a survey estimates nearly 8,000 students will transfer out of the Kansas City, Missouri School District.
An estimated 1,700 to Blue Springs, 1,000 students to Independence and so on. The five district say that increase in students means they won’t have enough room and that they would in turn have to expand or add mobile units.
The survey estimates those capital improvements would cost Lee’s Summit millions. Independence expects a half million dollars, North Kansas City 1.8 million and Blue Springs nearly four million dollars.
The districts say the tuition formula doesn’t take these costs into account.
The attorney for the KCMO district says the data is biased and unreliable. It says it’s impossible to know how many students will transfer and that no one knows exactly how much it will cost to educate each transfer student.
The KCMO School District lost accreditation January 1st.