Hundreds of mostly poor minority students who used a controversial Missouri law to transfer out of failing schools will be sent back to their home districts next school year, following a tense battle in the legislature and a slew of politically charged decisions by the department of education.

The reversal puts the academic fate of some of the state’s most needy and disadvantaged students at risk, said an msnbc article.

Under the old law, thousands of students from the African-American suburbs of St. Louis had streamed across the border to much better-performing schools. But the failing districts were financially responsible for paying all transfer-related expenses, including tuition and transportation costs.The transfers nearly crippled the Normandy district, which paid about $10.4 million to a dozen different school districts.

Read the full story to find out how state lawmakers are handling the situation.