This article describes how the impact of state accountability penalties at the school-district level are not limited to the sanctioned school systems classified as low performing or unaccredited. Instead, by law in Missouri, there is a regional effect that is largely ignored in most discussions of high-stakes accountability. The goal of this article is to examine two local student transfer legal cases ("Turner v. Clayton," 2010 and "Breitenfeld v. Clayton," 2013) with a specific focus on the inter-district implications. This case study provides a unique example of how accreditation decisions have the potential to foster unanticipated inter-district student assignment patterns and interdependent regional educational responsibilities. The transfer cases are not technically desegregation cases, yet in the St. Louis metropolitan region they represent the continuation of desegregation policy in that both called for inter-district student access in the region. We conducted this case study to understand more clearly how equity, achievement, and attainment might be supported among children in a metropolitan region. The transfer cases are important legal decisions in that they call on a metropolitan community to be responsible for the education of young persons.