When the state legislature puts together a budget to meet needs that have come up since the new fiscal year began, the Education Department wants it to include 6.8-million dollars to keep the Normandy School District afloat for a few more months.
Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro says Normandy is projected to go bankrupt in March.
“Under state law if the district is bankrupt they lapse … they go out of business,” Nicastro explains, “and the State Board of Education has the responsibility of assigning their 5,000 children to other districts, or coming up with another plan to educate them differently.”
She warns lawmakers on the House Budget Committee that other districts are facing similar straits.
“We believe [Riverview Gardens] will be in the same situation probably next year, and Kansas City, should the transfer program remain in place, should the tuition calculation statute remain in place as it is now, they would follow at some point thereafter.”
The Kansas City Public School District has approximately 14,000 students.