Open Enrollment Controversy

Intro:	The Joint Committee on Education met Tuesday and were met with controversy over open enrollment.
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Description: "Open enrollment may be our answer."

Open enrollment in Missouri schools opened for debate Tuesday night.

Mother of two Lois Wankum (WANK-UM) says she lives a few miles from a school but her children must attend another.

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Description: "It was hard to put a child on the bus for an hour and a half every day when St. Louis Smith is seven miles away."

She says it has been an uphill battle to transfer school districts.

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Description: "We did that in 2001, 2003 and 2006. We lost every time when we went to the arbitration."

Others at the meeting were against the bill because they say the law would need to be changed every year.

From the state Capitol, I'm Christine Slusser.

Intro:	The Joint Committee on Education met to discuss open enrollment Tuesday night. One Missouri School Representative disagreed.
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Description: "I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly with open enrollment."

The Missouri Council of School Administrators or MCSA spokesperson Penney Rector says there is no benefit to a child if they transfer schools.

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Description: "We find little or no evidence to show significant improvement student performance by creating open enrollment. And so we question whether there is a need for open enrollment policies."

But one St. Louis mother says open enrollment would aid her two children because they are forced to attend a school that's an hour and a half away instead of one seven miles away.

From Jefferson City, I'm Christine Slusser.

Intro:	A Superintendent for a Southern Missouri school spoke <STRONG>for</STRONG> open enrollment at a Joint Committee hearing Tuesday night.
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Description: "Why open enrollment? We feel like it's needed."

Superintendent Steve Cookson from Southern Missouri says open enrollment would not ruin the public school system.

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Description: "To paint this whole notion about open enrollment with just one brush that it's gonna be negative, it's going to cause the wheels to fall off of public education ... I do not believe that would be the case."

Another superintendent at the meeting said there were fifteen states with full open enrollment.

One St. Louis mother says she wishes Missouri was one of them.

Reporting from the state Capitol, I'm Christine Slusser.