BRECKENRIDGE HILLS • Shortly after Gov. Jay Nixon vetoed an attempt to overhaul Missouri’s controversial student transfer law, he stood before a crowd inside Ritenour High School and said the bill would have created more problems than it promised to solve.
“This bill veered off track,†Nixon said. “It mandates expansive voucher schemes, neglects accountability, and skirts the major, underlying difficulties in the transfer law while creating a host of potential new problems for districts across the state.â€
It’s the second time Nixon, a Democrat, has vetoed legislation aimed at addressing the school transfer law, which allows children in unaccredited school systems to attend higher performing schools at their home district’s expense.
Earlier this year, Nixon worked with lawmakers toward a measure that would get through the House and Senate and win his approval. But in the final days of the session, Nixon said the bill got “away from its original intentions.â€
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What began as a four-page piece of legislation ended up as a 91-page bill filled with amendments.
It would have created three education authorities across the state to oversee student transfers, which Nixon called expensive and unnecessary.
“This is not the time for a bunch of more committees, more meetings to go to, more bureaucracy,†he said.
It would have allowed students in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and certain other areas of Missouri to attend s at the expense of their districts, which Nixon called “a voucher scheme.†Last year, Nixon vetoed a similar bill largely because it would have required unaccredited districts to pay tuition for children who transferred into nonreligious private schools.
Left out of the bill was a limit on the amount of tuition that districts could charge for transfer students coming from Normandy and Riverview Gardens, the two unaccredited districts impacted by the transfer law. Normandy in particular has faltered as the result of millions of dollars leaving its schools since 2013, when the state Supreme Court upheld the statute.
Nixon said the lack of a tuition cap was another reason for his veto. As was a provision that would have plucked from their new schools because, while they live in unaccredited school districts, they have never attended their schools.
Nixon’s veto was praised by school superintendents and teachers unions.
Criticism came from lawmakers who wanted to expand options for parents unhappy with their public schools, while at the same time, reduce the number of children who could transfer out of Normandy and Riverview Gardens.
The bill would have allowed for charter school expansion in ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and other select parts of the state.
“My staff and I will be taking a good look at the governor’s veto message to see what he claims is wrong with the bill,†Majority Floor Leader Ron Richard, R-Joplin, said.
The bill is “historic legislation that would have expanded options for Missouri students seeking to transfer out of unaccredited schools,†said Kate Casas, state director of the Children’s Education Council of Missouri Passage. “For students in unaccredited districts, this would have meant their futures would no longer be limited by their ZIP codes.â€
Nixon said he’s lost faith that the Legislature would ever succeed at altering the transfer law. “It has helped some students find better educational alternatives but at an unacceptable cost,†Nixon said.
He’s more hopeful about regional solutions.
This week at a Normandy school, Nixon announced an effort by that enroll transfer students from Normandy and Riverview Gardens. Together, they have agreed to accept lower annual tuition, which had been as high as $20,000 in Clayton.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, said he doesn’t plan to bring the bill up for a veto override.
