JEFFERSON CITY • The Missouri Board of Education this afternoon will consider relieving the Normandy school system of having to comply with the onerous school transfer law when the system lapses and falls under state control.
Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro plans to ask the state board to open the new “Normandy Schools Collaborative” on July 1 with no accreditation classification -- rather than continue the unaccredited rating that Normandy has carried since 2013. This could free the new district from the financial burden of complying with the transfer statute, which drained Normandy’s budget this past year.
The state board is set to make other key decisions for the collaborative -- the first school system in Missouri that will operate under direct state supervision. Among them: asking Normandy Superintendent Ty McNichols to stay at the helm; appointing members to serve on the new district’s governing board; and approving a budget that is expected to cut millions of dollars in staff salaries and contracts so the new Normandy can get on better financial footing.
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On Friday, Nicastro said she’ll be recommending that the board approve a slightly longer school year for Normandy students in 2014-15, and a move to year-round schooling in 2015-16.
She also said that a significant number of Normandy staff will be asked to return. Their salaries would remain unchanged.
The state Board of Education’s unprecedented move in reconstituting Normandy comes two years after the Legislature gave the board greater latitude in how it addresses troubled school districts. Previously, the state board would have been required to wait two years after a district lost accreditation before stepping in. And even then, it was limited to replacing the elected board with an appointed one. Riverview Gardens, the other unaccredited district in the area, has operated under an appointed board since 2010.
But in the case of the Normandy Schools Collaborative, state education officials will be directly overseeing district decisions and can dictate policy. For now, the state board will be making key decisions for Normandy schools. Eventually, the Normandy board will report to the state board once a quarter.
“One thing we learned in Riverview, while the governing board can be organized and in place by July 1, there is a real need for close interaction and support from this department,” Nicastro said. “In this case, ultimately, that board will operate under the authority of the state Board of Education. The need for that continued dialogue and discussion will be even more important.”
The Normandy School District and seven residents have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to stop the takeover. On Friday, a judge in St. Louis County Circuit Court is scheduled to hear a motion filed by Normandy asking for a temporary restraining order against Missouri and the state board.
The education department is referring the matter to the attorney general's office. On Friday, Nicastro made no mention of the suit.
The state’s role in the new Normandy won’t bring the district any additional cash. State education officials say they’re reconstituting the 3,000-student district due to its poor academics. But they took control of the district’s finances in February because it was headed toward insolvency.
Several proposed budget scenarios would give the new Normandy a balanced $58 million budget with a reserve fund. The savings would come by “not be staffing at the same level,” Nicastro said. “There will be significant reductions in administrative, support and teaching staff.”
The education department is recommending that the new Normandy district cut ties with a number of consultants who provided educational programs to its schools.
Nicastro is recommending that the state board allow about 900 transfer students to return to their new schools, but at a reduced annual tuition -- about $7,200 per student. This is about $5,000 less than what 20 districts on average charged Normandy per student this past year. Keeping current transfer students in their schools, and denying requests from 122 students to transfer for the first time, would bring down Normandy’s annual transfer tuition expenses to about $6.5 million.
Nicastro is also asking the state board to continue paying for buses to Francis Howell, the district Normandy provided transportation to this year. But the district’s bleak financial picture could have the seven state board members to rethinking the buses, projected to cost $900,000.
“Their first and foremost commitment is to maintain schools in the Normandy school district,” Nicastro said. “In order to do that, we’ve got to have a balanced budget going forward.”
