How to deal with unaccredited school districts has been an ongoing issue in our state for years. The Legislature has debated numerous measures over multiple sessions on how to address a problem that is seriously affecting students and families in certain areas of Missouri. Complicating the matter even further is a 1993 law that allows students in unaccredited districts to transfer to accredited schools in adjoining districts or counties.

The entire situation came to a head in 2013 when thousands of children in Normandy and Riverview Gardens school districts transferred out of an unaccredited district to nearby schools. What was always a pressing problem suddenly became an immediate one, and remains one. Just this week, a St. Louis County Circuit Court Judge ruled that area schools couldn’t reject transfer students from the Normandy School Collaborative, and that the “state oversight district” is indeed unaccredited. This is still very much an ongoing issue, further necessitating legislative action.

During the 2014 session, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle came together, worked through numerous differences and passed bipartisan legislation that contained various provisions regarding unaccredited school districts and the current problems associated with the transfer law. Unfortunately, the governor vetoed the measure, putting us back to square one.

As lawmakers, one of our most important duties is putting in place a system by which every child in Missouri has the chance to receive the best possible education. For those children longing for successful schools, it demands our immediate attention and warrants action.

This year, I filed Senate Bill 1, which deals with student transfers, retention in unaccredited school districts, charter schools, accreditation by building, and the power of the State Board of Education to intervene in the organization of unaccredited districts. At an education hearing, we merged Senate Bill 1 to three other bills, Senate Bills 22, 49 and 70, also dealing with transfers of unaccredited districts.

Thankfully, I’m not alone in recognizing how urgent an issue this is. The President Pro Tem highlighted this as a priority for the 2015 session, and other senators have filed bills to also tackle the problem. In the Education Committee, which I chair, we’ve already gathered public testimony on those measures. This week, the committee gave its approval to those bills, sending them to the full Senate for debate.  

I cannot stress enough the importance of solving these issues within our educational system. They have gone on for far too long. I hope as the Legislature works toward a solution, the governor will stay involved and voice concerns he has with the bill.

We need to work together, across the aisle, and between both branches of state government, to find a fix to an educational quagmire that has bogged down Missouri, and severely limited the future of thousands of children. I’m hopeful my colleagues recognize this and work to enact a long-overdue solution.

As always, please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions or concerns at any time. We look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions and trying to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us by phone at 866-277-0882 (toll-free) or (573) 751-2272, or by fax at (573) 526-7381.

Senator David Pearce serves Caldwell, Carroll, Howard, Johnson, Lafayette, Livingston, Ray and Saline counties in the 21st State Senatorial District.