KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Missouri lawmakers are working to resolve issues with the state’s school transfer law that are causing financial headaches for the state’s unaccredited K-12 schools.

Two school districts – Normandy and Riverview Gardens – are in a financial crisis because state law requires unaccredited districts to pay full tuition and transportation costs for students who request to attend an accredited school, the Kansas City Star reports. Many students have been exercising that option.

St. Louis Public Schools and Kansas City Public Schools are also in danger of falling into the same predicament.

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Missouri lawmakers continue to address the issue, but ideological differences have prevented a solution.

One bill currently in the legislature has a provision that causes heartburn for defenders of the public school monopoly: allowing students from unaccredited districts to attend nonreligious private schools with state funds, according to the Star.

“If we can give those kids another option close to home, that’s a good thing,” Kit Crancer of the reform group StudentsFirst told the Star.

But the Missouri School Boards’ Association and others in the state’s education establishment object to the idea, obviously because it would mean a loss of more students, and more state money, for public schools. The labor unions attached to those schools would also lose members and revenue.

“We can’t be subsidizing private schools,” MSBA spokesman Bret Ghan told the Star. “We can’t be going down that road.”

But lawmakers can, and they’re headed in that direction.

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The bill would set up three education authorities – one for Kansas City, one for St. Louis, and one for the rest of the state – to coordinate student transfers from unaccredited districts.

The bill would limit tuition payments from unaccredited schools to 70 percent of the cost, which would provide financial relief for those troubled districts.

It would also require authorities to attempt to send transfer students to accredited public schools within their home districts. If a spot is not available, students would then be transferred “to public or nonreligious private schools within the county or an adjoining county,” the Star reports.

Missouri Federation of Teachers Director Bob Quinn contends the private school option is bad for public schools.

“Obviously there is a lot of frustration … (and) people reach the point of, ‘Heck, I’ll try anything,’” Quinn told the Star. “Hopefully we could do something that actually addresses problems.”

Quinn is right about one thing – many families are frustrated and have reached the point where they will try anything to get their kids into decent schools. They should be supported in that effort, even if it means moving their kids to private schools.

This debate is not about what’s best for the public schools that have already failed so miserably. It’s about what’s best for students who need quality instruction as soon as possible. There should be no other consideration in this discussion.

The sad fact is that the legislation doesn’t go far enough.

Students (not just those from unaccredited districts) should have the option to attend any private school that exceeds the performance of their unaccredited public school, at state expense. The legislation would have a much stronger impact on the quality of education if it wasn’t restricted to nonreligious private schools.

“I wouldn’t say this is a real school choice bill,” Republican state Rep. Jay Barnes told the Star.

The House is expected to vote on an amended version of the legislation soon, and if passed the bill would likely head to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and Senate versions, according to the news site.

Yet even if lawmakers ultimately approve the bill, there’s a good chance Gov. Jay Nixon could veto the measure.

“Our voices must be clear and united … Public funds belong in public schools,” the Democratic governor told St. Louis educators earlier this year, according to the Star.