KANSAS CITY, Missouri - March 7, 2010 - Kansas City was held up as a national example of bold thinking when it tried to integrate its schools by making them better than the suburban districts where many youngsters were moving. The result was one school with an Olympic-sized swimming pool and another with recording studios.

Now it's on the brink of bankruptcy and considering another bold move: closing nearly half its schools in order to stay afloat.

School officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case.

Buffeted for years by declining enrollment, political squabbling and a revolving door of leadership, the district's fortunes are so bleak that Superintendent John Covington has said diplomas given to many graduates "aren't worth the paper they're printed on."

Kansas City is among the most striking examples of the challenges of saving urban school districts. The city used gobs of cash to improve facilities, but boosting lagging test scores and stemming the exodus of students were more elusive. Like other big-city districts, it finds itself struggling to become more than just the last resort for large pockets of poverty in the urban core.

Some districts, like Boston and Cleveland, have tried busing in students from other neighborhoods, while others, such as Chicago, have built magnet schools with specialized facilities and curricula.

The latest possible solution for Kansas City is the plan Covington submitted to the school board last week that called for closing 29 out of 61 schools to eliminate a projected $50 million budget shortfall. Covington also has said he wants to cut about 700 of the district's 3,000 jobs, including 285 teachers. The school board vote is scheduled for Wednesday.

The proposal has stunned the community.

"It's crazy," said Donnell Fletcher, the father of two girls, ages 4 and 12. "I just hope that with all the changes they are planning on making, that the kids are the ones who are the most important and that hopefully they will get the resources and the education they need to be successful."