ST. LOUIS — Educators say tearing down school district boundaries is not the solution for Missouri schools, which are struggling with academic and enrollment declines.
The Republican-controlled Missouri House on Wednesday approved an open enrollment plan that would allow students to transfer to school districts where they don’t live starting in fall 2024.
“Quite frankly, this is just a continual attack on public education and these types of bills are ultimately eroding communities,†said Tim Dilg, superintendent of the Valley Park School District. “The timing of all of this seems like it’s a very intentional act to divide us rather than strengthen us.â€
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Under the legislation, which will now advance to the Missouri Senate, school districts can opt out of receiving transfer students. The number of students allowed to transfer out can total 3% of the prior year’s enrollment.
Opponents say open enrollment would only bolster disparities and segregation in districts.
The Valley Park community has supported the 800-student, single campus district for generations, Dilg said. Losing 24 students would take their share of state funding from the district’s budget.
“It makes it that much harder to continue to do the great work that we’re already doing,†Dilg said. “We are supported by our residents who have again paid substantial taxes to make sure we have the facilities, the teachers, and we love our small class sizes that allow us to personalize learning.â€
But more than the financial impact, open enrollment could upend the dynamic of schools as the centerpiece of communities, Dilg said. It could also jeopardize existing partnerships if school districts are forced to compete for students. Some Valley Park students are playing lacrosse for Parkway. Brentwood and Clayton announced they will combine their football teams next fall. Six local districts participate in the CAPS college and career training program.
Offering choices for families
Supporters of open enrollment say competition would force struggling districts to improve. Asked about fears the plan would cause smaller school districts to consolidate, House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, said the bill’s opponents often use “paranoia and drama†to try to set back the effort.
“I think parents should have choices; I think children should have choices,†Plocher told reporters on Thursday, adding he was “disheartened†by state test scores released last week that placed 20% of school districts and 40% of charter schools in the provisionally accredited range.
The legislation doesn’t allow traditional public school students to transfer to charter schools in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, Kansas City and Normandy, something that drew criticism from fervent school choice supporter Rep. Phil Christofanelli, R-St. Peters, in committee.
Rep. Brad Pollitt, a Sedalia Republican and sponsor of the open enrollment measure, cast the effort as a compromise between education reformers and those in support of traditional public schools.
“It tries to cut in the middle,†said Pollitt, a former Sedalia schools superintendent. “Open enrollment keeps the 850,000-plus public school students in the public school system, being taught by public school teachers paying into the public school retirement system.â€
The American Federation of Children, which backs school choice efforts, cheered passage of the open enrollment plan in the House. Last year, the group poured $690,000 into the Missouri Federation for Children political action committee, according to state ethics commission records.
Other major funders to the Missouri Federation for Children PAC included Rex Sinquefield, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ financier and political megadonor, and Quality Schools Coalition, a Kansas City-based nonprofit.
The federation ultimately spent $768,000 last election and made another $110,000 in political contributions, according to the group’s Dec. 8 filing with the state ethics officials.
Before the August primary, money was spread into GOP contests around the state.
Sen. Travis Fitzwater, R-Holt’s Summit, was a major beneficiary of the federation’s spending ahead of the primary, with the group spending $50,000 to support him two weeks before the primary.
Fitzwater ultimately took 31.5% of the vote in a five-way Republican primary and cruised in the general election to represent the 10th Senate District, from Wentzville west to Callaway County.
The federation’s investments didn’t always pay off. In the 111th House District, the group supported Cecelie Williams of Dittmer, who lost overwhelmingly to current state Rep. Gary Bonacker, R-House Springs, who took 52% of the vote in a four-way race.
Bonacker, a member of the Northwest School District’s Board of Education, last week spoke out against open enrollment on the House floor, among 22 Republicans who voted against it when it came up for final passage Thursday.
“This is a pretty good bill if you really don’t care what happens to the communities across Missouri,†he said.
Effort faltered in previous years
Similar open enrollment plans died in the Senate in 2021 and 2022 after receiving the same tepid levels of support in the House.
Pollitt, the bill sponsor and a former superintendent of schools in Sedalia, said this year could yield a different result, citing the upper chamber’s new composition following last year’s elections.
“We had some members that termed-out over there and some new members come in that support open enrollment,†Pollitt said. “I believe that it has a path.â€
Rep. Sarah Unsicker, D-Shrewsbury, questioned Pollitt on how children with individualized education plans, or IEPs, would be treated by receiving districts under the law.
“If the school district is unable to provide appropriate special education services, as required … for a child with disabilities seeking a transfer, the school district basically can reject that child,†she said.
“They can reject a child if they don’t have staff or a program already in place,†Pollitt said.
The Missouri legislation creates an $80 million “Parent Public School Choice Fund†to cover some special education and transportation costs, which educators say is inadequate.
“It will allow denial of services. I don’t understand how that’s even legally appropriate,†said Clint Freeman, superintendent of Dunklin School District in Jefferson County. “All means all, except for the special education students?â€
Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, said she was concerned the plan would divert money from the classroom.
“We have open enrollment today in our charter schools,†Nurrenbern said of ºüÀêÊÓƵ and Kansas City. “They spend considerable amount of resources marketing themselves. Less goes into the classroom, less goes into the education of students, more goes into marketing and recruitment.â€
Pollitt signaled he was OK with any move in this direction. “That is left up to a local decision,†he said.
Missouri’s school choice programs
It’s unknown how many districts would participate in open enrollment by accepting transfer students. Missouri already has certain open enrollment policies, such as allowing students to attend schools outside their attendance zone in the same district. Children of staff members are also typically allowed to enroll if there is space, regardless of residency.
Some school districts allow nonresident students to pay tuition to attend. Tuition in the Clayton School District for 2023-2024 is $18,300 for elementary and $19,400 for middle and high schools. Rockwood tuition is $12,603 for elementary, $12,968 for middle and $13,002 for high school.
Under state law, students can transfer out of unaccredited districts to higher-performing schools with the home district covering tuition and transportation costs. In 2013, about 2,200 students left the Normandy and Riverview Gardens districts for schools from south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County to Francis Howell in St. Charles, where students were met with angry parents saying they would “bring down†the more affluent district.
Normandy and Riverview Gardens paid out millions of dollars to other districts before gaining provisional accreditation within four years, which stopped new transfers.
A desegregation settlement in 1983 called for the voluntary transfer of thousands of Black students from ºüÀêÊÓƵ to ºüÀêÊÓƵ County and the creation of magnet schools within ºüÀêÊÓƵ Public Schools to attract white students from the county. This year, 2,800 Black students from the city attend county schools and 85 white students from the county attend magnet schools in the city.
The open enrollment bill as introduced included an exemption for SLPS because of its court-ordered desegregation plan, preventing students living in the city from transferring to outside districts. The approved bill removes the exemption under an amendment from Rep. Justin Hicks, R-Lake Saint Louis, who said the intent was “to insure that the open enrollment process is open to all students.â€
The legislation is .