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In Missouri, Race Complicates a Transfer to Better Schools

A Missouri law allowing students to transfer to better school districts has spurred contention, with racial and economic undertones.

Public schools in the St. Louis region, as in many other metropolitan areas across the country, have struggled for decades to bridge a wide achievement gap between school districts — a divide that often runs along racial and socioeconomic lines. By affirming the right to transfer students out of failing school districts, the State Supreme Court opened the doors for hundreds of families to cross the lines and move their children into better schools.

 
But the ensuing contention has shown that the process remains a tricky one, complicated by class, race, geography and social perceptions.
Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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