Mo. House Committee hears Senate bill modifying transfer law

Talks began Tuesday night in the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, with a focus on early intervention in troubled school districts.

The committee heard the Senate bill modifying the school transfer law, which cleared the Senate in late February.

The 1993 transfer law requires unaccredited school districts to pay tuition and provide transportation for students who want to attend an accredited school in the same or adjacent county.

After a Missouri Supreme Court ruling upheld the current law in June, about 2,000 students transferred from the unaccredited Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts to higher-performing schools throughout the St. Louis region.

In the Senate's legislation, individual school buildings would be accredited and a district could not be unaccredited unless 55 percent of its buildings had that status. A student would have to reside in the jurisdiction of an unaccredited school for 12 months before being eligible to transfer.

If the receiving district opts too charge at least 30 percent less than its normal amount, the transfer students’ performance data would not be counted toward state evaluations for at least five years.

Students also have the option to transfer to private, nonsectarian schools, though the bill stipulates accountability measures for those schools.

The committee debated the bill for three hours Tuesday. Rep. Genise Montecillo, D-St. Louis, worried about students transferring to private schools. Data suggests, she said, that voucher programs do not work.

"I think we're giving parents and students false outcomes," she said.

But Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City, said this was not a voucher: local money, not state money, would pay for the transfer students' tuition.

Montecillo and others also were concerned about the five years of test scores that would not be counted if a receiving district charges 30 percent less than its normal amount. This stipulation would essentially hide students, Montecillo said, and it would be unclear how they were doing.

"We're not holding districts accountable (for these students') education ... if we don't use these test scores," Rep. Margo McNeil, D-Florissant, said.

Toward the end of the meeting Tuesday night, Mike Wood, Missouri State Teachers Association legislative director, called the committee's attention to the heart of the issue: making improvements in struggling schools.

"Instead of being passive when (a school district) starts slip, we need to be aggressive," Wood said. It will not be, however, a one-size-fits-all matter, he said.

"How can we set up a system where struggling districts get the best and brightest teachers?" Wood asked. "We need to improve instruction for these students and that starts with the teacher."

The bill is SB 493.