Missouri House endorses student transfers bill

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A proposal to overhaul a Missouri school transfer law won state House approval Wednesday after lawmakers pared back provisions that could allow some students to attend a private school at local taxpayers' expense.

Legislators are seeking to revise a 1993 student transfer law after recent decisions by the state Supreme Court upheld the requirement for unaccredited districts to pay the costs of transferring students. Those costs already have put a financial strain on the unaccredited Normandy district in suburban St. Louis and soon could affect the unaccredited Riverview Gardens and Kansas City districts.

The House-backed measure would require accrediting individual schools along with entire school districts and allow transfers by students who have spent at least one semester at an unaccredited school within an unaccredited district. Transferring students could move to a better school within their home districts, or go to other school districts, charter schools or nonreligious private schools. A regional education authority would assign transferring students to a school and first would seek to fill seats within the unaccredited district.

The private school portion calls for districts to pay tuition using local tax revenues and has generated particular concern. House members approved limiting it to school districts in St. Louis city, St. Louis County and Jackson County and requiring approval from local voters. Private schools accepting public funds for transfer students would need to meet student performance and safety requirements and could not require additional tuition payments from parents. Backers said they sought to address concerns about the private school portion.

In addition, the House legislation calls for unaccredited districts to pay 70 percent of their tuition costs for students who transfer, plus additional money for transportation costs. The change would take effect during the current school year. Receiving school districts could establish policies for class sizes and student-teacher ratios and would not be required to accept transfers that would violate those polices.

House members passed the measure 91-64 on Wednesday, and the bill now returns to the Senate where lawmakers approved a different version of the transfer legislation in February. To send the bill to Gov. Jay Nixon, the two chambers must agree on the same version before the May 16 end of the session.

Rep. Rick Stream, a Republican from St. Louis County, said the bill would give the students enrolled in struggling schools "an opportunity to escape these bad buildings." He urged colleagues to consider what they would want if their children or grandchildren attended an unaccredited school.

"You would want those children to have access to a high quality education somewhere else than the buildings they are in, in those unaccredited school districts," said Stream, of Kirkwood.

Some Democrats criticized the private school portion.

"It's about sending money, public tax dollars, to private schools," said Rep. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur.

Earlier Wednesday, a separate Senate bill addressing the Common Core academic standards became bogged down because of attempts to attach the student transfer law provisions to it.

That legislation would create groups of educators to write new benchmarks for student achievement standards in English, math, science and history to be implemented by the 2016 academic year.

Students are scheduled to take tests this fall aligned to the Common Core standards, which have been adopted by more than 40 states. But critics say Missouri lawmakers should have been consulted when the State Board of Education adopted the benchmarks in 2010. Now they want Missouri to write new standards.

"I want to have an open, transparent process so that, at the end, everyone is comfortable with the standards whether they be Common Core or not," said Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue.

Indiana is the only other state to scrap Common Core in favor of writing its own school standards. Under Missouri's bill, the state could still choose to follow Common Core or adopt certain parts of the benchmarks.

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Student transfer bill is SB493.

Common Core bill is HB1490.

Online:

Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov

Roll call vote

The 91-64 roll call vote Wednesday by which the Missouri House approved student transfer legislation.

REPUBLICANS VOTING YES

Sue Allen, Town and Country

Sonya Anderson, Springfield

Kevin Austin, Springfield

Kurt Bahr, O'Fallon

Jay Barnes, Jefferson City

Mike Bernskoetter, Jefferson City

T.J. Berry, Kearney

Eric Burlison, Springfield

Mike Cierpiot, Lee's Summit

Steve Cookson, Poplar Bluff

Robert Cornejo, St. Peters

Stanley Cox, Sedalia

Sandy Crawford, Buffalo

Paul Curtman, Pacific

Charlie Davis, Webb City

John Diehl, Town and Country

Dean Dohrman, LaMonte

Kevin Engler, Farmington

Sue Entlicher, Bolivar

Scott Fitzpatrick, Shell Knob

Tom Flanigan, Carthage

Lyndall Fraker, Marshfield

Diane Franklin, Camdenton

Keith Frederick, Rolla

Doug Funderburk, St. Peters

Chuck Gatschenberger, Lake St. Louis

Don Gosen, Ballwin

Casey Guernsey, Bethany

Elijah Haahr, Springfield

Marsha Haefner, Oakville

Jim Hansen, Frankford

Ron Hicks, St. Peters

Galen Higdon, St. Joseph

Dave Hinson, St. Clair

Denny Hoskins, Warrensburg

Lincoln Hough, Springfield

Jay Houghton, Martinsburg

Delus Johnson, St. Joseph

Caleb Jones, Columbia

Jeffery Justus, Branson

Shelley Keeney, Marble Hill

Mike Kelley, Lamar

Andrew Koenig, Manchester

Glen Kolkmeyer, Wellington

Mike Lair, Chillicothe

Bill Lant, Pineville

Mike Leara, St. Louis County

Donna Lichtenegger, Jackson

Warren Love, Osceola

Steve Lynch, Waynesville

John McCaherty, High Ridge

Joe Don McGaugh, Carrollton

Jeffrey Messenger, Republic

Mike Moon, Ash Grove

Dave Muntzel, Boonville

Myron Neth, Liberty

Donna Pfautsch, Harrisonville

Don Phillips, Kimberling City

Holly Rehder, Sikeston

Bill Rieboldt, Neosho

Tim Remole, Excello

Todd Richardson, Poplar Bluff

Jeanie Riddle, Mokane

Robert Ross, Yukon

Caleb Rowden, Columbia

Lyle Rowland, Cedarcreek

Dwight Scharnhorst, Valley Park

Dave Schatz, Sullivan

Ron Schieber, Kansas City

Lindell Shumake, Hannibal

Sheila Solon, Blue Springs

Bryan Spencer, Wentzville

Rick Stream, Kirkwood

Kathy Swan, Cape Girardeau

Noel Torpey, Independence

Nate Walker, Kirksville

Bill White, Joplin

Paul Wieland, Imperial

Kenneth Wilson, Smithville

David Wood, Versailles

Anne Zerr, St. Charles

Tim Jones, Eureka

DEMOCRATS VOTING YES

Ira Anders, Independence

Linda Black, Desloge

Mike Colona, St. Louis

Courtney Curtis, Berkeley

Vicki Englund, St. Louis County

Penny Hubbard, St. Louis

Chris Kelly, Columbia

Jeremy LaFaver, Kansas City

John Wright, Rocheport

REPUBLICANS VOTING NO

Wanda Brown, Cole Camp

Kathie Conway, St. Charles

Gary Cross, Lee's Summit

Tony Dugger, Hartville

Kevin Elmer, Nixa

Paul Fitzwater, Potosi

Elaine Gannon, De Soto

Jeff Grisamore, Lee's Summit

Kent Hampton, Malden

Tom Hurst, Meta

Bart Korman, High Hill

Jeanie Lauer, Blue Springs

Nick Marshall, Parkville

Rocky Miller, Osage Beach

Chris Molendorp, Belton

Lynn Morris, Ozark

Jim Neely, Cameron

Mark Parkinson, St. Charles

Randy Pike, Adrian

Jeff Pogue, Salem

Craig Redmon, Canton

Shawn Rhoads, West Plains

Noel Shull, Kansas City

Chrissy Sommer, St. Charles

Mike Thomson, Maryville

DEMOCRATS VOTING NO

Bob Burns, Affton

Michael Butler, St. Louis

Jon Carpenter, Gladstone

Pat Conway, St. Joseph

Randy Dunn, Kansas City

Brandon Ellington, Kansas City

Keith English, Florissant

Michael Frame, Eureka

Kimberly Gardner, St. Louis

Ben Harris, Hillsboro

Jacob Hummel, St. Louis

Jeanne Kirkton, Webster Groves

Michele Kratky, St. Louis

Gail McCann Beatty, Kansas City

Tom McDonald, Raytown

TJ McKenna, Festus

Kevin McManus, Kansas City

Margo McNeil, Hazelwood

Sue Meredith, St. Louis County

Bonnaye Mims, Kansas City

Gina Mitten, Richmond Heights

Genise Montecillo, St. Louis County

Judy Morgan, Kansas City

Stacey Newman, Richmond Heights

Mary Nichols, Maryland Heights

Charlie Norr, Springfield

Bill Otto, Maryland Heights

Sharon Pace, Northwoods

Josh Peters, St. Louis

Tommie Pierson, Bellefontaine Neighbors

John Rizzo, Kansas City

Jeff Roorda, Barnhart

Joe Runions, Grandview

Ed Schieffer, Troy

Jill Schupp, Creve Coeur

Clem Smith, Velda Village Hills

Jay Swearingen, North Kansas City

Rochelle Walton Gray, Black Jack

Stephen Webber, Columbia

REPUBLICAN NOT VOTING

Rick Brattin, Harrisonville

DEMOCRATS NOT VOTING

Steve Hodges, East Prairie

Karla May, St. Louis

John Mayfield, Independence