COLUMBUS, Miss. (WTVA) - Lowndes County School District Superintendent Lynn Wright said the Columbus Municipal School District filed a complaint against the schools after it transferred students out and left the schools without funding for incoming students.

The Columbus Municipal School District filed a complaint with the Mississippi Department of Education.

Wright said he was not notified of the complaint until recently, and said the MDE will not pursue the complaint because it has no grounds.

The issue stems from parents sending their kids who live outside the county to schools within the county.

Students are required to prove their residency in the county during registration, but if reports are made about a child not living in the county while attending school, school administrators conduct residency checks.

Once students are transferred out of the district, the district keeps the MAEP funding that's already set for the year and leaves schools without the funds to educate incoming students.

Wright said MAEP funding for the school district is allocated based on the daily average attendance of students.

The school district receives roughly $6,000 per student every year. The deadline for funding is set by October or November and is given to the school district during the following school year.

The Lowndes County School District educated 150 students from outside of the county this year, Wright said.

Thirty-six of those students lived in Columbus and were transferred back to their district.

Wright also said the Columbus school district transferred 39 of their students to the county district, leaving the schools without funding for them.

This problem is not unique to this area because it happens all over, Wright said.