JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers narrowly advanced legislation to the governor that would make sweeping changes to the way the state handles children looking to transfer out of failing public schools.
By only 2 votes in the House and only after a lengthy debate in the senate, the legislature advanced HB 42 to Gov. Jay Nixon’s desk.
Missouri lawmakers are in their third year of serious wrangling over a bill to deal with students attending unaccredited public schools. Current Missouri law gives students the right to leave their failing district for a better one, but doesn’t provide much by way of regulatory framework.
Questions about how schools should be accredited, whether students can transfer intra-district, and how just who should pay tuition for the transfers have taken lawmakers countless hours to reconcile.
While proponents say this year’s bill represents a compromise from last year’s language vetoed by Nixon — a veto that came over a provision not found in this year’s language — the final bill only barely survived debate in both chambers of the Capitol.
In the House, Democrats and some Republicans howled that the bill amounted to an irresponsible expansion of charter schools and chided a provision allowing empty school buildings to be sold off. Much of the resistance came from delegates in the Kansas City area, who said their provisionally accredited districts with rising test scores didn’t want or need charter reforms.
In the Senate, Senators Jason Holsman and Kiki Curls stalled the bill early over potential expansion of charter schools in their own districts. Senators argued late into the night on compromises over tuition, virtual schools, and sometimes meandering to other topics, before the measure passed with 23 votes in favor.
Supporters in both chambers echoed similar sentiments — that the bill was far from perfect, but contained many needed reforms for the state’s worst schools. While the Senate secured enough votes to override a potential Nixon veto, the House, like last year, doesn’t have nearly enough support to push the bill through.
Collin Reischman was the Managing Editor for The Missouri Times, and a graduate of Webster University with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism.
