Is full accreditation enough to bring white families back to KC public schools?
It’s been a decade since Kansas City Public Schools was a fully accredited district. That could change next week when the Missouri State Board of Education is expected to vote on a designation years in the making. KCPS lost accreditation in 2011. The district regained provisional accreditation in 2014 and has remained provisionally accredited since.
Many KCPS schools are individually accredited, officials said. But will the overall distinction be enough to bring back white and middle class families to a district that is predominantly Black and where 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch?
Kansas City Public Schools has a student population of more than 14,000 students this academic year, but only about 1 in 10 is white. Kansas City is 60% white. The achievement gap over the last three years for white students in the district has grown faster than the rate for Black and Hispanic students, district data shows.
Full accreditation is “a game-changer for us,” Superintendent Mark Bedell said. “We’ve been pushing for this for the last couple of years. We just continued to work.”
District enrollment continues to shrink and school closings are inevitable. Could the latest development help sway white, affluent families to consider public education. We hope so.
A great city must have a functional public school system for families of all races and nationalities. Parents who have chosen charter schools in recent years could enroll their children in public schools as well. KCPS is outperforming half of all charter schools in Kansas City in math and English language arts, data shows
On Tuesday, the state education board will consider full accreditation for KCPS. Margie Vandeven, commissioner for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, recommended full accreditation for KCPS, but the state board still has final say. Surely state education officials wouldn’t vote against Vandeven’s recommendation.
DESE cited academic growth and improved Annual Performance Report test scores in English and math, and higher graduation rates in making its recommendation. The district’s graduation rate improved from 68.7% in 2016 to 77.8% in 2021. Steady leadership has helped. Bedell is the district’s longest tenured superintendent in quite some time.
Now is not the time to rejoice. There is work to be done in Kansas City Public Schools. But progress has been made and momentum is on the district’s side. But is full accreditation enough to bring white families back to the district? It should be.