JEFFERSON CITY • The state could pay some transfer student tuition costs under a measure, endorsed Wednesday by the Senate, that addresses the transfer law.
The Senate had begun debating the measure, sponsored by Sen. David Pearce, R-Warrensburg, on Tuesday night.
The measure would modify the 1993 transfer law requiring 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.
Legislators have filed more than 20 bills addressing the transfer issue this session.
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Under Pearce’s measure, the accreditation of individual school buildings would be determined and a district could not be unaccredited unless 55 percent of its buildings were unaccredited. A student would have to reside in the jurisdiction of an unaccredited school for 12 months before being eligible to transfer.
On Wednesday, an amendment was added setting parameters for state assistance with transfer student tuition costs. If a receiving district opts to charge less than 90 percent of its entitled amount, a new state fund would add another 10 percent.
If the receiving district opts to 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.
That option to allow students to transfer to private, nonsectarian schools was kept in the bill, but accountability measures were added Tuesday.
The lowest-achieving students would be given enrollment preference when transferring, under a provision added by Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal, D-University City. Some receiving districts, she said, give priority to students who are “cream of the crop,” something she wants to avoid.
Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, raised concerns, however, about rewarding low-achieving behavior.
Pearce’s bill must go through one more vote in the Senate.
The bill is SB 493.
Alex Stuckey covers Missouri politics and state government for the Post-Dispatch. Follow her on Twitter at @alexdstuckey.
