Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Information

Providing public school choice for the St. Louis metropolitan area since 1981. The VICC oversees the implementation of the metropolitan area desegregation program, with responsibilities for facilitating transfers of city students to suburban school districts and suburban students to city magnet schools. The State of Integration in St. Louis The St. Louis student transfer program was established to increase racial integration in metropolitan area public schools under a settlement agreement reached in the St. Louis desegregation case and approved by the federal court in 1983. This settlement agreement allows African-American students residing in the city of St. Louis to attend participating school districts in St. Louis County provided certain eligibility requirements regarding residency and behavior records are met. The program also provides for non-African-American students who live in participating suburban school districts to transfer into a St. Louis magnet school in the city. In 1999, a revised settlement agreement was reached amongst the various parties which transformed the federally supervised program into a voluntary program under the jurisdiction of the Voluntary Interdistrict Choice Corporation (VICC). Under this agreement, suburban school districts would continue accepting new transfer students and maintain certain targeted enrollment levels for at least a 10 year period ending in 2008/2009. Since that time the program has been extended three times and, as a result, new students may continue to be enrolled through the 2023/2024 school year. Once enrolled students are allowed to continue their education in their chosen suburban district through graduation. Since the inception of the program over 70,000 students have participated and many of the students currently enrolled are second-generation students with even a few third-generation students. In general, families in the city choosing to take advantage of the program recognize the benefits for them of enrolling their children in a suburban ...