The Missouri House has passed a supplemental budget for the current fiscal year. It includes five million dollars for the unaccredited Normandy School District in St. Louis County, which would go broke before the end of the current school year without the money.
About a fourth of Normandy students have transferred to other districts, and the district still has to pay their tuition and in some cases their transportation as well.
Democratic House Member Michael Butler of St. Louis supported the provision. “Hundreds of students are now actually going to be able to graduate from the school they started out in, and have the ability to not have to worry about going to college, not have to worry about how they’re going to be viewed for the rest of their life because of their senior year at Normandy High School," he said.
The bill specifies that the 5 million dollars would not go directly to Normandy, but to state education officials. The State Board of Education took over the Normandy School District’s finances earlier this year. The supplemental budget passed the House overwhelmingly, but it must also make its way through the Missouri Senate before it can be signed by the governor.
