SB 495 Summary

• Expands opportunities for students in unaccredited districts to transfer to accredited districts in the same or adjoining county, with tuition paid by the student's home district and performance data excluded from receiving district reports for two years.

• Establishes a clearinghouse system in metropolitan school districts and large counties to coordinate student transfers from unaccredited to accredited districts and assist parents with enrollment procedures.

• Modifies charter school sponsorship rules to allow multiple types of entities (universities, community colleges, vocational schools, and a new Missouri charter public school commission) to sponsor charter schools in specific district classifications.

• Creates a new individual school building accreditation system for unaccredited districts, allowing state board of education to accredit individual school buildings separately from the district as a whole.

• Allows unaccredited school districts to increase school day length, annual instructional hours, and school term length through board resolution to improve student achievement.