SCHOOL CHOICE BILL FAILS BY VOTE OF 7-6

JEFFERSON CITY -- A school choice bill proposed by Sen. Peter Kinder fell to defeat Tuesday after the chairman of the Senate Education Committee held the voting board open to allow senators who were not present to vote later on it.

Kinder's measure was one of three bills heard Tuesday by the education panel. Once hearings were completed, the committee took action on sending several bills to the Senate floor. Near the end of the meeting, Kinder moved that his proposal, SJR-21, be approved.

Following discussion and the addition of one amendment the bill was approved on a 6-4 vote with five committee members absent. However, Committee Chairman Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler, used his discretion as chairman to give absent members an opportunity to vote later.

Because senators often have committee meetings that overlap, allowing members to vote on items in committee later is common practice, though at the discretion of the chairman. The final vote on Kinder's bill was 7-6, with three of the five absent senators voting no and two others not voting.

While the Cape Girardeau Republican said he was disappointed with the outcome, Kinder said, "We will redouble our efforts to try and find something acceptable."

It is possible that all or part of Kinder's measure could be re-considered later. But Kinder maintained it is too early to make any decisions. "I will reassess the situation," said Kinder.

Few issues in the Missouri General Assembly are ever completely dead until after adjournment. The 1994 session runs until May 13.

Caskey is a staunch opponent of school choice, but Kinder said he had no ill feelings toward his colleague for letting absent senators vote later.

"He is the chairman of the committee and that is his prerogative as chairman," Kinder said.

Under SJR-21, a fixed scholarship of one-half the per-pupil public education costs would be available to parents wanting to send their child to a private school that participates in the scholarship program.

Before the school choice plan would take effect, voters would have to approve it as an amendment to the state constitution.

Kinder said the measure has safeguards to prevent the state from interfering in private schools. As part of that safeguard, the resolution contained a provision that any additional regulation of private schools would require a three-fourths vote of the General Assembly. A committee amendment, offered by Sen. Steve Danner, reduced that to a simple majority.

Kinder argued that his bill "is designed to better provide for the students' constitutionally guaranteed education, regardless of one's economic profile. It's time we gave to poor and middle-income parents the same choice wealthy parents have always enjoyed."

Proponents of the bill testified during an hourlong hearing Tuesday that the measure would improve public schools by increasing competition and parental involvement in their children's education.

But opponents contended the proposal could destroy the public school system and violates constitutional provisions regarding separation of church and state.

Kinder said that even with increased funding for education public schools were still having serious problems. He said that despite all the money spent on desegregation in Kansas City some schools still have a 60 percent dropout rate. He also offered a newspaper clipping from St, Louis saying a teacher had told students to "run for your lives" because students brought loaded guns into a classroom.

The senator told his colleagues on the education panel that since 1980 the state has spent $22 billion on public schools, not counting money spent on desegregation and local property taxes.

Said Kinder, "We are looking for a new paradigm in education and we think school choice will provide that."

Representatives of Catholic schools from the St. Louis area spoke out strongly in favor of school choice and cited examples of how Catholic schools were having much higher graduation rates and college attendance than public schools, even after spending considerably less money.

Sister Gail Tripplett, principal of the St. Nicholas Central Catholic Community School in St. Louis, said parents are looking to schools like hers because of its proven success rate and because they fear for safety in public schools.

"Catholic schools have a proven record of success with students, spending just one-fourth of what public schools do," said Tripplett. She argued that parents should also have an opportunity to educate children in schools that focus on God.

Geraldine Stewart, a single parent with two high-school-age children attending a Catholic high school in St. Louis, explained how she had made many personal sacrifices in order to have the money to send her girls to the kind of school she wanted.

"I am not looking for your sympathy," she told the panel, "but what I want for my children public schools cannot provide. What use is having a constitutional right to choose the education for your children if you can't afford it?"

Dr. Louis Peters, representing 193 Catholic schools in the St. Louis Arch Diosese, contended this was not about education but "an issue of parents' rights. Many middle class and poor families are finding it near impossible to exercise their option of choosing where they want to educate their kids," said Peters.

Russ Butler, executive director of a school choice organization in St. Louis, said there is no desire to destroy public schools, but because they are not doing a good job parents are seeking other options, even starting their own schools.

Mark Middleton, an attorney from St. Louis and a member of Missourians for School Choice, warned there is "an emerging pattern of abandonment of public schools."

Among the opponents of the plan were representatives of the Missouri School Boards Association and the National Education Association.

Sen. Lacy Clay, D-St.Louis, told Kinder he feared the bill would take money away from public schools. But Kinder disagreed, and reminded Clay that public schools would still receive half of what they were receiving for each pupil that chose to attend a private school with a scholarship.

Clay ultimately voted against the measure, but he agreed with Kinder's contention that there are serious problems in public schools. Clay told how he had 70 students in his office last week visiting the capitol who expressed the need to carry guns to school for protection against gangs and other students carrying guns.

Kinder said he believes providing school choice would have the same impact on schools today that the G.I. Bill did years ago.

"This is the G.I. Bill for kids," said Kinder.