Missouri Senate passes transfer law legislation

The Senate debated the measure for 12 hours over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday. 

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. The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee heard two of those bills this afternoon.

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.

It also set 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.

An option to allow students to transfer to private, nonsectarian schools was kept in the bill, but accountability measures were added Tuesday.

Sen. Jason Holsman, D-Kansas City, said he was against the bill because it did not address why school district failures occur. 

"We need to get serious about early childhood education," Holsman said today.

However, many Senators were proud of the bipartisan work done on the bill.

"This bill is not perfect but it's a dramatic improvement to the state law as we have it now," Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton, said today.

The bill now heads to the House.

The House Committee heard two versions of potential school transfer legislation shortly after Senate voted on its measure.

One, sponsored by House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Rick Stream, R-Kirkwood, would cap tuition payments to receiving districts at 70 percent of the receiving district's normal rate. The sending district also would put 5 percent into a transportation fund to move students between the districts.

It also would accredit individual school buildings in provisionally accredited and unaccredited districts. Receiving districts could set class size and student-teacher ratio policies. 

It also would create Statewide Achievement School Districts. Unaccredited districts also could lengthen the school day or year. Students in unaccredited buildings could transfer if they have resided in the district for a year. It also would provide for a private, nonsectarian transfer option.

The other bill heard by the House committee today was filed by Rep. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee's Summit.

Cierpiot's bill also would establish a Statewide Achievement School District, and underperforming schools in unaccredited districts would be transferred under it. The three member governing board would be appointed by the governor and would serve for six years.

To transfer out of an unaccredited school, a student must live in an underperforming school in an unaccredited district for one semester.

Stream said the Statewide Achievement School District language likely will be removed from the bills.

(Senate Bill 493; House Bill 1868; House Bill 1822)