Of course. But it wasn’t one school. It was the entire school district to fund “magnet” schools. And Troost Ave, and all of its “culture” would not have enticed Johnson county kids to rush to Paseo, Westport, or Southeast, and Center High Schools. It failed miserably because such a system would require discipline and parenting. The antithesis of Troost Ave culture.
St. Louis had another Federal judge spending taxpayers’ money. There, they took an opposite tack from KCMO—they would bus (or taxi) inner city youths to the suburbs. The taxis came in when someone participated in an after-school activity. When taxpayers declined to increase the school tax, the judge simply raised it on his own. The judge also ordered the state to help pay for his plan, so all Missouri taxpayers got to “contribute”. The result was the same—failure and for the reasons you cite.