Summary of the Truly Agreed Version of the Bill

SCS HCS HB 1789 -- TRAVEL HARDSHIPS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL PUPILS

                  (Vetoed by the Governor)

This bill changes the laws regarding travel hardships of public

school students by prohibiting any current or retired school

administrator from appointment to a board of arbitration

regarding an appeal of a change in a school district’s boundaries

in which the voters in one of the districts votes against the

change and the voters in the other district vote for the change.

Any reassignment granted before August 28, 2012, by the

Commissioner of Education within the Department of Elementary and

Secondary Education because of a travel hardship must remain in

effect until the student and any sibling of the student completes

his or her course of study or the parent or guardian withdraws

the student.

The bill establishes a process to make reassignment mandatory for

any pupil or sibling of a pupil living in St. Albans, St.

Elizabeth, or Gravois Mills if the actual driving distance is 17

miles or more from the student’s residence to the current school,

the other school is at least seven miles closer, and the transfer

will not cause the receiving district to exceed its class size

restrictions. A reassignment must be made in the order that

applications are received. If a parent withdraws a student after

receiving a travel hardship, any subsequent hardship assignment

is discretionary. A pupil must be eligible to apply for

reassignment under the specified enrollment requirements

established in the bill, and the sending district must pay the

tuition amount which cannot exceed the pro rata cost of

instruction to the receiving district.

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