The Missouri State Board of Education approved legislative priorities Tuesday that signal support for "legislation on voluntary public school open enrollment."
What this means, though, is unclear.
Board members during a Tuesday morning meeting expressed differing opinions on open enrollment, a policy that broadly speaking would allow students to enroll in neighboring school districts. After debating the issue, the board initially seemed poised to remove it from its priorities for the upcoming legislative session but ultimately agreed to wave it through and make edits at a later date.
Board President Mary Schrag said the intention is to give the board and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education a "seat at the table" as lawmakers consider provisions that alter how open enrollment would be administered.
"We don't have to take a stance on (open enrollment)," she said. "I do think we need to make sure that we stay as a player and are at the table."
State lawmakers have filed open enrollment bills for the past five years, passing out of the House each time but coming to a standstill in the Senate. The proposal has evolved over the years, with changes like a cap on the number of students that may leave a district and who is responsible for the cost of transportation.
Commissioner of Education Karla Eslinger said if lawmakers move forward with open enrollment, she'd like the board to have a say in some of the details.
"(State lawmakers) continue to have conversations in the legislature about what is the best fit for Missouri and how do you create this opportunity for choice within the public system," she said. "So, by having this board have an opinion that open enrollment is something we want to have a conversation about, it makes us relevant."
She told state senators in a hearing about an unrelated issue last week that she "did not have a problem with" open enrollment as a concept.
"As a superintendent of schools, I can tell you that if a parent didn't feel like that I met their needs, I want them to be able to go someplace," she told the Senate Education Committee last Thursday.
Board member Pamela Westbrooks-Hodge, of Pasadena Hills, said Tuesday that she had concerns that she would like to enumerate in a clearer policy position.
"I want to be supportive of our board, but I am concerned about harming small communities, and that isn't reflected in this language," she said.
Board member Mike Matousek, of Kansas City, indicated that he supported the idea of open enrollment but he felt like approving the legislative priorities was premature.
"There are key issues that we just need to talk about first to understand what it is we're actually supporting here, and what are our priorities," he said.
He was the lone vote in opposition to approving the document.
Schrag said many of the priorities, like a focus on early childhood literacy, have come up in numerous board conversations.
"As board members, we are learning and absorbing and digging in all the time through all of our conversations," she said. "It doesn't require a specific agenda item, in some cases, to come to an understanding of a position."
The board has approved legislative priorities for four years, focusing on improving the programs offered by the state's education department.
Other priorities approved Tuesday include a recommendation to fully fund the formula that determines state aid for public schools and the creation of a program to improve math instruction statewide.
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, the nation's largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
