MO HB939

Allows parents/guardians in public school districts to enroll their child in another public school district beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, with notification required by January 15th of the preceding year.

Permits late transfer requests until the third Friday in July if good cause exists, including change of residence, change in marital status, foster care placement, adoption, substance abuse/mental health treatment, or classification of resident district as unaccredited.

Requires receiving districts with insufficient capacity to use fair lottery admissions process, with preference allowed for siblings of already-enrolled open enrollment students.

Establishes payment mechanism where district of residence pays up to 25 percent of per pupil cost difference (or $1,000 maximum) plus federal/state aid to receiving district; receiving district must notify parties within five days of approval.

Requires receiving district to verify special education students' individualized education program needs can be met and class sizes maintained; exempts large urban school districts with population over 350,000 from participating in open enrollment.