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After being loaded up with amendments on Wednesday afternoon, the bill appeared to collapse under its own weight. The upper chamber can still return to the proposal but just 10 days remain in the legislative session. 

Open enrollment has passed in the Missouri House five consecutive years now without winning approval from the Senate. This year, even with the backing of Gov. Mike Kehoe, it was only narrowly approved in the House by 88-69 vote with 22 Republicans joining the opposition.

The plan would allow students to transfer to school districts outside of their own. Once fully implemented, districts can choose not to accept any new students but wouldn’t be allowed to keep students from leaving unless more than 5% leave in a given year.

After transferring, students would have to attend the new school for at least two years with some exceptions. The new school could remove students if their attendance falls below 80% in one quarter and 90% in the next. With a few exceptions, students would also be restricted from competing in varsity sports for a year after transferring.

Transfer students would be responsible for transportation to the new district’s area, then the school in the new district would provide transit from one of their existing bus stops.

The measure would also allow nonresident districts to reject students who had been suspended at least twice in the most recent school year or once if it was for a violent action. For special education students, the legislation allows nonresident districts to recoup the costs of services from a state fund. 

Sen. Rick Brattin, R-Harrisonville, equated open enrollment to business, where companies compete to stay alive.

“Districts are going to do everything they can to offer the best education possible, to receive the most students they possibly can (and) to receive the most amount of funding they possibly can,� Brattin said.

While presenting the bill, Sen. Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, added a potpourri of educational policies from other bills. One provision asks educators to use phonics to teach reading and writing. Another requires schools to develop plans to manage active shooter situations. Also, municipalities, counties, and school districts wouldn’t be able to block charter schools from using property for educational purposes, under the updated legislation. And the bill would allow public school districts in St. Louis and St. Louis County to select a start date for the new school year. 

Sen. Doug Beck, D-Affton, a former school board president, said it is not “fiscally responsible or conservative� to initiate an open enrollment program while public school funding is in question. 

Beck’s concern for the future of public school funding comes as Kehoe is pushing for $50 million to expand a private-school voucher program. The 2021 program which has been funded by donations and tax credits to this point gives parents a scholarship to help cover the cost of private or home school. Almost 2,000 students scholarships in the most recent complete budget year, exceeding the state’s expectations. 

Other senators had concerns about how the bill would affect communities. 

“They know it’s going to lead to the further segregation of their communities,� Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, said. “They know it’s going to lead to the further breakdown of their communities.�

St. Louis Public Schools wouldn’t have to participate in the open-enrollment program because of a court-ordered desegregation plan for the district enacted in 1983.

The desegregation plan allows for the voluntary transfer of Black students from St. Louis to St. Louis County and for SLPS magnet schools to enroll white students from the county.

As of Jan. 8, 2025, there were 1,932 city-to-county transfer students and 47 county-to-city transfer students.

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, attached an amendment by a razor-thin margin to block the bill’s implementation when public schools and transportation aren’t fully funded in the budget.

Hough said he wants the state to “back up financially the policies that it implements.� The governor’s proposed budget didn’t fully fund a major education bill passed by the Legislature last year. Hough has made it a priority to “pay the bill� when the Legislature approves costly policies.  

But Trent argued that attaching the program to public school funding “second-guesses the judgment of future General Assemblies.�

After Hough’s amendment, which passed 14-13, Sen. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, argued charter schools have delivered good enough outcomes, as she proposed a provision blocking them from open enrollment.

The Senate adjourned shortly thereafter without considering her amendment. 

At a press conference Thursday, Trent said “there's a lot of complications on (open enrollment) that still have to be worked through," but that he doesn't think "the issue is completely over yet." Senate President Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, didn't list open enrollment as one of her top priorities over the last two weeks of session.

The legislation is .

Jack Suntrup and Blythe Bernhard of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.