transfer Archives - Missourinet

Lawmakers: Nixon’s office indicates special session coming on transfer bill

May 16, 2014 By Mike Lear

House members who oppose the transfer legislation that has been sent to Governor Jay Nixon (D) say his office has indicated to them that he will call a special session for a new bill to be created.

Representative Tommie Pierson (at podium) is joined by Representative Clem Smith (left) and other House Democrats who oppose the proposed transfer legislation.

The Chairman of the legislative black caucus, Representative Tommie Pierson (D-St. Louis City), urges Nixon to veto the bill that has been passed as soon as he receives it.

“Hopefully we can come closer to solving the problem if not solve the problem during a special session,” says Pierson.

Representative Velda Village Hills (D-Clem Smith) says the bill does nothing to help schools in danger of going bankrupt and shouldn’t be called a transfer bill. He says it is really about pushing school vouchers, and does so in largely black school districts.

He blames leadership in the House for pushing that issue and says a special session will reveal their motives.

“Is this truly about the education of these children in these districts? If the majority party fails to do something in [the special session], that answers the question right now,” says Smith.

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) says just because the same lawmakers would likely be dealing with the issue again does not mean a different result can not be expected.

“Nixon vetoes it … the voucher people will know they can’t get their stuff unless they compromise,” says Kelly. “The compromise is fixing the problem in Normandy, not using the problem in Normandy as a screen behind which to hide vouchers.”

A request for comment from Governor Nixon’s office is pending at the time this article is being published.

Legislature sends proposed transfer fix to Gov. Nixon

May 15, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state legislature has passed a bill meant to fix the state law that lets students transfer out of failing school districts. The proposal has been a priority for many lawmakers who say that law is bankrupting unaccredited school districts, particularly Normandy and Riverview Gardens in the St. Louis area.

Representative Rick Stream (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The bill contains a controversial “private option” for Jackson County, St. Louis and St. Louis County that could result in it being vetoed by Governor Jay Nixon (D). It would have the state accredit school buildings as well as districts. Students in an unaccredited school within an unaccredited district would first have the option to transfer to an accredited building in the same district. If no slots were available in those, one option would be for students to transfer to a nonreligious private school with local tax revenue from the sending district used to pay tuition.

Nixon has suggested he would veto any bill that includes any mechanism sending tax dollars to private schools, saying that is where he had to “draw a line.” The bill received a strong enough vote in the Senate to overturn a veto, but fell 20 votes short of that mark when the House passed it on Thursday. Neither chamber’s vote followed party lines.

See how House members voted on the legislation

Representative Clem Smith (D-Velda Village Hills) said he was the only lawmaker in either the House or the Senate who represents the Normandy School District, and he opposes the bill. He says it shouldn’t be called a transfer bill, joining other critics who said it was really an attempt to break the barrier keeping tax dollars from going to private schools.

“You’ve got kids in Normandy and Riverview that have been used to push vouchers,” said Smith. “And it’s a forced voucher, because you can vote it down in an unaccredited district but after three years it’s forced, it’s rammed down your throat … in my view, that’s all this bill is about.”

Some Republicans were also opposed to the private option. Representative Jeff Grisamore (R-Lee’s Summit) says he campaigned against using tax dollars in private schools when he first ran for the House, but said he was “torn” on how to vote on the bill.

“Public schools should be publicly funded and private schools should be privately funded, period,” said Grisamore. “And why would we take away funding from public education, give it to private education, when we are not meeting our obligations fully for the formula for public education.”

Proponents argued that the private option was a small piece of the legislation and called the bill a compromise that would stave off disaster in failing schools. Representative Kevin Engler (R-Farmington) says opponents of the bill including Nixon don’t have a plan of their own that would pass the Senate.

Engler argued if the bill does not become law, school districts in danger of becoming bankrupt would have to be supplemented from state General Revenue.

“We’re going to have to put money in the budget that’s going to come from my school district to keep them alive,” says Engler. He says opponents of the bill including Nixon don’t have a plan of their own that would pass in the Senate.

Representative Vicki Englund (D-St. Louis) worked on the conference committee that came up with the final version of the bill. She urged Nixon to sign the bill but said whether he signs or vetoes it, he should act quickly.

“Get it over with, get it done, because then we need to call a special session to fix it,” said Englund. “Because if we are truly about solving these problems we need to come up here and do it.”

See the legislation here

Gov. Nixon wants ‘private option’ out of transfer bill, House sponsor says won’t pass Senate without it (VIDEO)

May 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

Governor Jay Nixon (D) has called on House and Senate lawmakers who have worked on a proposed fix to Missouri’s transfer law to remove language that would let local tax dollars pay for students to transfer to private schools.

The legislative conference committee updated the so-called “private option” so that after three years of a school district being unaccredited, private schools would become one of the places its students could transfer, though a public vote could result in that happening earlier.

Nixon says keeping public funds in public schools is a core state belief and is written into Missouri’s Constitution.

He says the legislature’s current proposal, “would destabilize the strong foundation on which public education has stood for generations and open the floodgates to even more radical voucher schemes down the road.”

The House sponsor of transfer legislation, Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood), says he doesn’t think a bill will pass the Senate if it lacks the private school language.

He disagrees with Nixon’s assessment that the Missouri Constitution bars the use of public money in private schools.

“The Constitution says we cannot spend public dollars on religious institutions … religious schools,” says Stream. “I don’t believe that the Constitution says we cannot spend public dollars on private companies or private schools that are nonsectarian. We do that already in the budget. About a third of our budget is public money going to private providers.”

Stream says Nixon has failed to lead on the transfer issue.

“Since this problem started back in June with the last Supreme Court decision the governor has pretty much been out of the picture. He hasn’t offered any solutions, given any advice other than to say once the Senate passed overwhelmingly a bill that had the private option in it that he was going to veto it,” says Stream. “I think the students, the children of those two school districts deserve a little bit more than that from the Governor.”

The House-Senate committee’s proposed law is still being published ahead of being taken up by both chambers to consider passing it to Nixon. They have until Friday evening, the end of the regular session, to pass it.

House-Senate lawmakers finalize compromise transfer proposal

May 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

A House and Senate conference committee has finished its work hammering out a proposed fix to the student transfer law that threatens to bankrupt some Missouri schools.

The proposal would let students in failing schools in unaccredited districts first transfer to better performing schools within that district. If no room is available in those schools, they could transfer to neighboring districts or charter schools. Students in schools that don’t achieve accreditation for three years could also transfer to nonreligious private schools, with local tax dollars covering tuition. That could happen earlier if approved by a public vote.

See our earlier story on the latest changes to the ‘private option’

Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal (D-University City) says the legislation leaves some children out.

“When we decided to only allow children who are in unaccredited buildings in unaccredited districts [transfer,] I think that’s limiting children,” she says. “There are kids who are in unaccredited buildings in accredited districts who are totally ignored in this bill as of now.”

The legislation does not cover transportation costs for students traveling to new schools. Representative Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) says that could be a barrier for some parents wanting to get their children into better schools immediately, which lawmakers have said is a goal. He would like to have seen transportation covered in the bill, but says it was removed in compromise with the Senate.

“It does certainly limit their options to transfer out of the district to another public school district,” says Stream. “But, we do have in there now the charter options and the private school option in their district, and if our goal is to try to keep students in the district but in a better educational environment, those two options are now there.”

Stream considers whether the updated bill can pass the House.

“We had 91 votes to start with. We may have gained a few from St. Charles. We may have lost a few from the rural areas on the private option vote being constrained, so we’ll see,” says Stream.

The conference committee chairman, Senator David Pearce (R-Warrensburg) says he’s confident as the legislation goes back to both chambers to consider.

“Right now a lot of people aren’t pleased with it,” says Pearce, “so that means we’ve got a pretty good compromise.

Stream doesn’t think the House could muster enough votes to override Governor Jay Nixon (D) if he decides to veto the bill. Nixon has said he can not support anything that involves tax dollars going to private schools.

House Budget Director offers school transfer law fix

February 13, 2014 By Mike Lear

The House Budget Director has filed his version of a bill to fix issues with the state’s school transfer law.

Representative Rick Stream (right) lays out his transfer law “fix” proposal while House Speaker Tim Jones (center) and Speaker Pro-Tem Denny Hoskins listen. (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Representative Rick Stream (R), a former Kirkwood school board member, says he wants to ensure that every student in unaccredited schools quickly, not several years from now.

“This has been a big issue for me since I’ve been up here,” says Stream of his eight years in the chamber. “I filed a bill the very first year to do some of the same things. It’s time that we move … the kids that were in first grade then are in ninth grade now and we need to get them some help.”

Stream’s bill would have unaccredited schools sending students to accredited districts pay 70% of the receiving district’s tuition rate and another 5% into a transportation fund.

It would also have accreditation be achieved by school building in provisionally accredited and unaccredited districts, with transfers only happening from unaccredited buildings in unaccredited districts. Receiving districts would not be required to take more students than they have space for in buildings and classrooms, and would establish class size and teacher-pupil ratios.

See the legislation, HB 1868

The bill would have districts with provisional accreditation receive Assistance Teams formed by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, who would evaluate the operations of the district. The work of those teams would be meant to keep districts from falling further into unaccredited status and to progress toward accreditation.

In unaccredited districts, buildings that are provisionally- or not accredited would be placed under the control of a Statewide School Achievement District. Unaccredited districts would be allowed to lengthen school days and years and modify the calendar to avoid long summer breaks.

The Statewide School Achievement District could give preference to high-quality charter sponsors, operators and educational management organizations for services to a school through the districts on short-term contracts.

Statewide School Achievement Districts would have a 5-year limit on control of an individual school unless steady and sufficient progress is made. Schools would have to maintain an accredited level for 5 years before transferring back to local control.

Students in unaccredited buildings who can prove having lived in the district for the previous 12 months would be allowed to transfer to accredited buildings within the district until they are full. Then those students could transfer to outside accredited districts with available space.

From there, Stream says his bill offers students and parents some school choice options. The bill would give charter schools additional sponsor opportunities and accelerated procedures. Students would also have the option of transferring to a non-private, non-sectarian school in the resident district and receiving district’s geographic area. The school must be accredited, must have been in business at least three years and must administer the MAP test.

Other rules and guidelines cover districts with more than 15,000 students with a Special Administrative Board in place.

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) says he plans to move the bill quickly.

School transfer issue not a top priority for House Speaker

January 6, 2014 By Mike Lear

Some lawmakers say the issue of students transferring from failing school districts into better performing districts will be the top issue in the session that begins this week.

House Speaker TIm Jones (R-Eureka)

State law allows students in districts that are unaccredited to transfer to accredited districts, at the expense of the failing district they leave. That provision is now coming to fruition in Kansas City and St. Louis with the endorsement of the state Supreme Court and some lawmakers say the law must be “fixed.”

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) doesn’t think there’s anything to fix.

“The Supreme Court has simply upheld a law that a previous, Democratic General Assembly put into place,” Jones says. “Now of course, the education establishment is howling and saying that’s somehow unfair. I don’t know what’s unfair about allowing a child to have an opportunity at a good education versus being forever stuck and mired in a failing school district.”

He says he is willing to negotiate with the “education establishment,” but says he sees the transfer law as giving children in failing districts a chance at success.

“I am very sensitive to the needs of districts to be able to manage the populations in their classrooms, to be able to manage their funding, but I am more sensitive to the needs of the children and the needs of these parents, who want their kids to succeed.”

Jones has favored changes on other education issues such as teacher tenure, and doesn’t rule out considering a transfer law change if such things were attached to it.

“What I’m going to say is any option that will help a child succeed will be on the table.”

Jones’ legislative agenda includes another attempt at a tax cut bill, a moratorium on the so-called jobs “border war” with Kansas and putting so-called “right to work” on the ballot.