JEFFERSON CITY — An open-enrollment plan for public school students is moving forward in the Missouri Senate after clearing the House earlier this year.
The Senate Education Committee held a hearing Thursday on the proposal, which would allow children to enroll in school districts outside of the districts where their families reside.
The measure is part of Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe’s school-choice agenda and passed the House on an 86-73 vote Jan. 31.
“All the states in the Midwest have open enrollment except for Missouri,†said Rep. Brad Pollitt, R-Sedalia, the bill sponsor.
Proponents say the measure would empower parents to choose better educational options for their children, while opponents argue the plan masks the larger problem of the state’s chronic underfunding of schools.
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The bill would allow students beginning kindergarten or public-school students up to grade 12 to transfer to schools in nonresident districts.
Districts wouldn’t be required receive students if they decline to participate in the open-enrollment program. And districts would be allowed to limit the number of students leaving to 3% of the district’s previous school year enrollment.
The legislation would require the state to create an online resource for the transfer program, including a feature showing how many open seats there are in participating school districts.
The measure would also allow nonresident districts to reject students who had been suspended at least twice in the most recent school year.
For special education students, the legislation allows nonresident districts to recoup the costs of services from the state parent public school choice fund.
Sen. Tracy McCreery, D-Olivette, said there needed to be coordination with St. Louis County’s Special School District under the program. The special school district works within St. Louis County districts to educate students with intellectual and physical disabilities.
McCreery said the Special School District “could be negatively impacted by a school in St. Louis County accepting students before we know if Special School District has the capacity and the funding to take on those additional students.â€
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.
The legislation has earned mixed reviews in the Legislature over multiple years and has repeatedly died in the Senate.
The Education Committee didn’t vote on the legislation Thursday. The Senate will need to approve it by May 16 for it to head to Kehoe’s desk for consideration.
The legislation is .
Blythe Bernhard of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
