CLAYTON • Four area state senators stood together inside a Clayton law office Monday to make it clear that setting limits and adding clarity to Missouri’s school transfer law in the 2014 legislative session is at the top of their agenda.
And unlike previous years, when attempts to alter the school transfer law fell casualty to a bigger battle over school choice, they wanted to show regional and bipartisan cooperation this time — and a willingness to compromise.
“I’m not going to pass the buck to anyone to solve this issue,” said Sen. Scott Sifton, D-Affton.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, added: “The next session will be defined by how we move forward with this effort.”
After the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the transfer law in June, school officials from across the region expressed frustration that the Legislature had failed to alter the statute, leaving them with a law that gave no direction or discretion in how to handle a mass transfer situation.
Now, more than a dozen bills have been prefiled in the House and Senate taking aim at the school transfer statute, which opens the doors to better schools to any children in an unaccredited school district.
Six of those bills are identical, filed by the four senators who gathered Monday and two who couldn’t be there.
“We didn’t all agree on everything,” said Sen. Gina Walsh, D-Bellefontaine Neighbors. “This is a compromise.”
The senators’ proposed legislation would not end school transfers, as some school superintendents across the state would like to see. Under the six Senate bills, children in struggling districts would still have the option to leave.
“Our hope is that it would be fewer of them, and more of them would find accredited options closer to where they live,” said Sen. John Lamping, R-Ladue.
The identical bills call for expanding charter school sponsorship authority to include accredited school districts and school district associations, allowing a high-performing district to open a charter school in a failing district. Such an option could potentially result in better education options closer to a student’s home, Lamping said.
The bills call for a new school rating system that would accredit individual schools in addition to districts — an idea that has the support of superintendents’ organizations as well.
With such a rating system in place, a student in a failing district would first have the option to transfer to an accredited school within his or her district, if one exists. If one doesn’t exist, or if there is no space available at the student’s grade level, only then would a student be allowed to transfer to a higher-performing district.
“We’re trying to keep in mind the student, making sure that kid has the opportunity to get a quality education close to home,” Schmitt said.
The proposed legislation also would allow receiving districts to turn children away for space reasons. Districts in good standing would have to establish public class size policies annually, and abide by their teacher-student ratios when accepting children from unaccredited school systems.
The bill, like others that have been prefiled, merely represents a starting point in a debate that is expected to consume much of the session next year. The issue became even more amplified last week, when the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the transfer law a second time, which is expected to trigger a transfer situation next fall in the unaccredited Kansas City Public Schools.
After the high court’s ruling in June, about 2,200 students left the troubled Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts for other schools in the region. The cost of their tuition and transportation has financially crippled both districts.
Other prefiled bills would address the transfer situation by setting caps on tuition, thereby reducing the expense to unaccredited districts. Another bill, filed by Sen. David Pearce, chairman of the Senate Education Committee, would establish a statewide “achievement district” that would oversee underperforming schools within unaccredited districts.
The Children’s Education Alliance, a school-choice group, supports the achievement district approach, said Kate Casas, policy director for the organization.
According to emails that became public earlier this month, it also has the support of Education Commissioner Chris Nicastro. The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is crafting a plan to better address troubled districts across the state. Nicastro is expected to lay out the plan to the Missouri Board of Education in January.
Nicastro listened Monday evening at the last of four public hearings on the issue held in the unaccredited Riverview Gardens and Normandy districts.
At the Riverview Gardens Family Resource Center, the local teachers union provided signs that said “Collaborate, don’t dictate.” Richard Thies, president of the Riverview Gardens National Education Association, said that despite the state having control in the district, it continues to struggle.
“The plans they have continued to implement have continued to fail,” he said. Some expressed faith in the district and asked that they have more time and support.
One parent at the meeting praised her two children’s transfers to Ferguson-Florissant schools.
“Please hear me when I say the transfer program is the best thing,” said Deanne Toussaint. “How many chances do I have to give a district that has failed me?”
Meanwhile, the senators who gathered in Clayton on Monday said they had no intention of sitting back and letting the education department determine how to ultimately address the transfer situation.
“The Legislature needs to speak out on what the transfer solution should be,” Schmitt said.
Jessica Bock of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
