Tagged: Turner v. Clayton

Updated at 5:30 pm with comments from lawmakers.

Updated at 4:45 with statement from Missouri Department of Education and to correct grammar mistake.

Updated at 1:55 with comments from attorney, Clayton School District.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A St. Louis County judge has ruled that a Missouri law allowing students to transfer from unaccredited districts to neighboring accredited ones for free is unconstitutional.

The Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the Webster Groves School District in suburban St. Louis County does not have to admit a student from the unaccredited St. Louis Public Schools.

Tuesday's ruling also sent the case - King-Willmann v. Webster Groves School District - back to the trial court, saying "contested issues of fact" had not been resolved.

A St. Louis County judge begins hearing arguments in a case that has the potential to allow thousands of Kansas City and St. Louis students to leave their unaccredited school systems.

(See our own Maria Altman's feature on the issue here).

The hearing, which began Monday, involves a state law that requires unaccredited districts to pay tuition and transportation for students within their boundaries to attend accredited schools.