NORMANDY, Mo. – Should we feel sorry for the Normandy school district or its remaining students?

Normandy had the worst academic performance of any school district in Missouri in the 2012-13 academic year. It’s one of a handful of districts in the state that lacks academic accreditation.

Last summer the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that students from unaccredited districts could enroll in better districts, with their home districts paying their tuition and transportation costs.

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That expense has all but bankrupted the Normandy district, and its future remains uncertain, according to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“We want to move forward and plan for summer school, but there are no guarantees,” Normandy Superintendent Ty McNichols was quoted as saying. “It just creates this stifling holding pattern.”

For people who put the needs of kids first, the answer to this situation is simple. The Normandy district got itself in hot water by failing its students. If it doesn’t have enough money to open its doors in the fall, perhaps that will be a good thing.

There is already talk of eliminating Normandy and allowing it to be absorbed by neighborhood districts, or allowing the state to take it over. Either option would certainly offer more hope for families living in the district.

But in the meantime the Missouri state Senate has voted to give the district $1.5 million to make it through the current school year, and there are some who think more money should be spent to help Normandy schools survive.

Some parents of students who have already transferred fear that such a decision could force their kids back into Normandy schools.

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That should not be allowed to happen.

State officials around the nation should learn a lesson from the charter school experience. In most states, charters that succeed academically are allowed to remain open, but those that fail are frequently (and justifiably) closed. Student needs come first, and if they’re not being met by a school, that school should cease to exist.

Yet for some reason, supporters of traditional public schools argue that those institutions somehow have the right to perpetual existence and a constant stream of state money. They believe they should be given chance after chance to clean up their act, regardless of how many students are hurt along the way.

No public school in America should have a permanent lease on life, any more than any teacher should have permanent job protection. Schools that adequately serve their students should be given the green light, while those that don’t should be put on a short leash, with a warning to improve quickly or face the loss of all public funding

It’s supposed to be about the kids, not the schools. If schools that fail kids are continually funded, year after year, something is horrendously wrong.