2017 Missouri Revised Statutes
Title XI EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES
Chapter 167 Pupils and Special Services
Section 167.131 District not accredited shall pay tuition and transportation, when — amount charged.
Effective 28 Aug 2016
Title XI EDUCATION AND LIBRARIES
Chapter 167167.131. District not accredited shall pay tuition and transportation, when — amount charged. — 1. The board of education of each district in this state that does not maintain an accredited school pursuant to the authority of the state board of education to classify schools as established in section 161.092 shall pay the tuition of and provide transportation consistent with the provisions of section 167.241 for each pupil resident therein who attends an accredited school in another district of the same or an adjoining county or who attends an approved charter school in the same or an adjoining county.
2. The rate of tuition to be charged by the district attended and paid by the sending district is the per pupil cost of maintaining the district's grade level grouping which includes the school attended. The rate of tuition to be charged by the approved charter school attended and paid by the sending district is the per pupil cost of maintaining the approved charter school's grade level grouping. For a district, the cost of maintaining a grade level grouping shall be determined by the board of education of the district but in no case shall it exceed all amounts spent for teachers' wages, incidental purposes, debt service, maintenance and replacements. For an approved charter school, the cost of maintaining a grade level grouping shall be determined by the approved charter school but in no case shall it exceed all amounts spent by the district in which the approved charter school is located for teachers' wages, incidental purposes, debt service, maintenance, and replacements. The term “debt service”, as used in this section, means expenditures for the retirement of bonded indebtedness and expenditures for interest on bonded indebtedness. Per pupil cost of the grade level grouping shall be determined by dividing the cost of maintaining the grade level grouping by the average daily pupil attendance. If there is disagreement as to the amount of tuition to be paid, the facts shall be submitted to the state board of education, and its decision in the matter shall be final. Subject to the limitations of this section, each pupil shall be free to attend the public school of his or her choice.
3. For purposes of this section, “approved charter school” means a charter school that has existed for less than three years or a charter school with a three-year average score of seventy percent or higher on its annual performance report.
(L. 1963 p. 200 § 8-13 and p. 339 § 161.095, A.L. 1973 H.B. 158, A.L. 1993 S.B. 380, A.L. 2016 S.B. 638)
(Source: RSMo 1959 § 161.095, A.L. 1961 p. 345)
(2013) Section requiring unaccredited district to pay tuition for any resident pupil attending an accredited school did not impose a new or increased activity service and thus was not an unfunded mandate in contravention of the Hancock Amendment. Breitenfeld v. School Dist. of Clayton, 399 S.W.3d 816 (Mo.banc).
