Section 162.1060

Title XI EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES

Chapter 162

Effective - 28 Aug 2011   

  162.1060.  Transfer corporation, board, powers and duties, funding — termination of corporation, funds to lapse to general revenue — regional attendance zones. — 1.  There is hereby established a "Metropolitan Schools Achieving Value in Transfer Corporation", which shall be a public body corporate, for the purpose of implementing an urban voluntary school transfer program within a program area which shall include a city not within a county and any school district located in whole or in part in a county with a population in excess of nine hundred thousand persons which district chooses to participate.  The corporation shall be governed by a board of directors consisting of one representative from each school district that participates in the urban voluntary school transfer program selected by the governing body of each such district.  The vote of each member of the board shall be weighted proportionately to the percentage of the total of transfer students who attend school in the member's district.

  2.  (1)  The corporation's board of directors shall design and operate an urban voluntary school transfer program for all participating districts.  The board shall make provision for transportation of all the students and for payment to school districts for the education of such students.  Acceptance of students into the program shall be determined by policies enacted by the corporation's board of directors, provided that first preference for acceptance of students shall be granted to students currently attending a district other than the district of residence pursuant to a voluntary transfer program established pursuant to federal desegregation order, decree or agreement.  All provisions of this section shall be subject to a settlement incorporated into a final judgment, provided that the financial provisions of this section shall not be superseded by such settlement.

  (2)  Each district, other than a metropolitan school district, participating in an urban voluntary school transfer program shall place before voters in the district a proposal to continue participation in the urban voluntary school transfer program at the April election during the sixth year of operation of the program.  Unless a majority of district voters voting thereon votes to continue participation in the program, each district, other than a metropolitan school district, shall file a plan, no later than the end of the seventh year of the operation of the program, for phase-out of the district's participation in the program, and such plan shall be provided to the state board of education, the transitional school district and the board of directors of the corporation.  Each such plan shall provide for elimination of transfers to the district pursuant to this section no later than the following schedule:

  (a)  The ninth year of the program for grades one through three;

  (b)  The tenth year of the program for grades four through six;

  (c)  The eleventh year of the program for grades seven through nine; and

  (d)  The twelfth year of the program for grades ten through twelve.

  3.  (1)  Other provisions of law to the contrary notwithstanding, each student participating in the program shall be considered an eligible pupil of the district of residence for the purpose of distributing state aid, except that students attending school in a metropolitan school district in a program established pursuant to this section shall be considered eligible pupils of the district attended, and provided that the department shall determine the increased state aid eligibility created by including pupils attending school in a program established pursuant to this section as eligible pupils of the district of residence and shall distribute the full amount of such state aid to the metropolitan schools achieving value in transfer corporation and shall not distribute state aid on the basis of such pupils to the district of residence.

  (2)  For each student participating in the program, the corporation shall receive the total of all state and federal aid that would otherwise be paid to the student's district of residence, including, but not limited to, state aid provided pursuant to section 148.360, section 149.015, and sections 163.031 and 163.087.  The corporation shall pay a school district that receives a nonresident student from the funds of the corporation in accordance with the provisions of this section and agreements between the corporation and the participating school districts.

  4.  (1)  In each of the first two fiscal years, the corporation shall also receive a payment of twenty-five million dollars.

  (2)  For the third year of operation and thereafter, the corporation shall receive transportation state aid, for each student that participates in the program, which shall be in the same amount and on the same basis as would be received by the student's district of residence if the student were attending a school in the attendance zone in the student's district of residence, provided that such reimbursement shall not exceed one hundred fifty-five percent of the statewide average per pupil cost for transportation for the second preceding school year.

  (3)  Funds received by the corporation pursuant to this subsection may be used for any purpose and need not be expended in the year received.

  5.  The corporation created herein shall have all powers of a public body corporate, except that it shall have no paid employees.  The corporation, by contract with any public entity, school district, or private entity, may retain the services of a fiscal agent, make provisions for accounting, transportation management, or other assistance that the corporation may need to carry out its functions, except that no contractor or employee of any contractor acting in a policy-making function shall have ever have been a contractor or employee of the voluntary interdistrict coordinating council or any other program established by the federal district court; except that this restriction shall not apply to transportation contractors or their employees.  When a school district located in whole or in part in a county with a population in excess of nine hundred thousand persons ceases to participate in the urban public school transfer program, its representative shall be removed from the corporation's board of directors.  When none of the students who reside in a school district in a city not within a county opt to participate in the program, the school district's representative shall be removed from the board of directors.  When all of the school districts have ended their participation in the program, in accordance with this subsection, the corporation's operations shall cease, and any funds of the corporation remaining shall be paid to the state of Missouri to the credit of the general revenue fund, except such amounts as the commissioner of education shall determine should be paid to particular school districts under the regulations applicable to federal programs or returned to the federal government.

  6.  All funds received by the corporation shall become funds of the corporation and paid for the purposes set forth in this section and in accordance with agreements entered into between the corporation and participating school districts and other entities, provided that funds received for particular purposes, under federal or state categorical programs benefitting individual students, shall be paid to the district or entity providing services to the students entitled to such services.  The proportionate share of federal and state resources generated by students with disabilities, or the staff serving them, shall be paid to the district where the child is attending school, unless the district of residence is required by law to provide such services to the individual students, except that a special school district containing the district where the child is attending school shall be paid for all unreimbursed expenses for special education services provided to students with disabilities.  Funds held by the corporation at the close of a fiscal year may be carried over and utilized by the corporation in subsequent fiscal years for the purposes set forth in this section.

  7.  The board of directors may establish regional attendance zones which map the regions of a district in a city not within a county to corresponding recipient districts within the remainder of the program area.  In establishing the regional attendance zones, the board of directors may solicit comments and suggestions from residents of the program area and may adopt one or more regional attendance zones previously established in the program area pursuant to a federal court desegregation order, decree or agreement.

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(L. 1998 S.B. 781, A.L. 2011 H.B. 464)