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Missouri House and Senate Send Student Transfer Bill to Governor Nixon

Gov. Jay Nixon's has pumped millions into higher education.
stephenconn
/
Flickr
Gov. Jay Nixon's has pumped millions into higher education.

Missouri lawmakers made changes to the state’s law regarding student transfers and now await Governor Jay Nixon’s approval.

The Missouri House and Senate narrowly passed a bill Tuesday that would allow students to transfer from struggling districts to more accredited districts. It would also lower the cost of tuition paid by the struggling district, who currently have to cover all tuition and travel costs for students who transfer away to outside districts. 

The bill gives accreditation status to individual buildings instead of districts, allowing students to transfer to an accredited school within their district.

Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles is the sponsor of the bill.  He said despite some opposition, he still thinks the bill is likely to become law.

“We all have our thoughts and beliefs as to how we should best treat this issue,” said Wood. “This is actually probably the best bill we have sent to the Governor at the state.”

In addition, the bill gives expanded options for students that wish to transfer from unaccredited schools or districts. The bill states it will offer expanded options for charter schools and virtual schools to students that transfer.

The bill passed with an 84-to-73 vote in the House, with the majority of Democrats voting “No.”  Rep. Gina Mitten, D-St. Louis said many were opposed because of the expansion to charter schools and virtual schools, as well as the uncertainty of tuition costs. She said she is concerned that the many amendments to the bill made it more complicated.

“Why the General Assembly seems to be unwilling to produce a clean transfer bill that addresses the issues of the transfers instead of going into what are obviously disagreeable education policy, I don’t understand,” said Mitten.

Wood said he wished the bill would have been smaller also, but he wanted to get the bill passed before the legislative session ended.

“Obviously, we went well beyond what transfer is in the bill, but that’s part of the legislative process,” said Wood. “That’s just the way things work in the House and the Senate in the last two weeks of the year.”

Governor Nixon now has 15 days to approve or veto the bill.  He vetoed the earlier version of the bill last year.