CORRECTS name of senator involved in telephone hearing to 2nd, 6th, 7th grafs

JEFFERSON CITY — A snippy exchange between two Missouri state senators tells you everything you need to know about the clash between those who defend the public schools and those who want to change them.

Sen. Yvonne Wilson is a Kansas City Democrat who generally stands with the school administrators and teachers unions in opposing competition in public schools through open enrollment and merit pay for teachers.

Sen. Jane Cunningham, a suburban Republican from Chesterfield, is on the opposite side, pushing various changes to fix what she says are failing public schools.

Last Tuesday, the two of them called in on the telephone to a legislative hearing that was taking testimony on the issue of open enrollment.

Cunningham, in the brusque manner that is her calling card, asked a critic of the open enrollment concept whether he had bothered to read the bill that was the subject of the hearing.

Wilson took offense.

"I would hope we wouldn't be criticizing our witnesses," she lectured.

So it is with the concept of education reform.

The lines are drawn, and the opponents don't play nice.

Listen to the yearly debate in the Missouri Capitol about public schools, and the rhetoric more often than not gets personal.

The administrators and teachers whom we entrust with our children each day are belittled as opponents of change who have a stranglehold on the Legislature.

And St. Louis political activist Rex Sinquefield, who helps fund some of the groups and lawmakers pushing for change, is derided as a shadowy figure who throws his money around and hopes to "buy" favor with his cash.

But the reality of open enrollment — the concept that would allow parents to enroll their children in neighboring districts for whatever reason — is that many states have adopted it as a tool to make schools more accountable. At least two of Missouri's border states — Iowa and Arkansas — have it, and the results, according to some of the superintendents who testified before a joint legislative committee on Tuesday, are mixed.

It seems to work OK for Iowa, said Gary Battles, a Nodaway County superintendent who used to work in the state, but lawmakers there have had to make many changes since they first adopted it in 1990.

"It's a living, breathing document," Battles said.

Similarly, Steve Cookson, a superintendent in southern Missouri, said that his colleagues in Arkansas were nervous about open enrollment, but that it's worked out fine.

It's hardly a panacea, but things don't fall apart overnight, either, they said.

On the other side, lobbyist Penney Rector, representing school administrators, told the Missouri panel that open enrollment is fraught with problems, from who pays for transportation to who picks up the tab for more expensive special education students.

"It seems you would have losers and winners," Rector said, "no matter how it breaks down."

That open enrollment would create winners and losers is sort of the point.

Proponents believe competition will make some schools better.

Opponents suggest school closures will be inevitable and devastating.

There's not much middle ground.

It's one reason why the absence of former Sen. Jeff Smith was so apparent at Tuesday's meeting. The St. Louis Democrat who resigned earlier this year after pleading guilty to federal obstruction of justice charges served as a bridge between people like Cunningham and Wilson.

During the last legislative session, Smith was one of the few lawmakers who could speak the language of education reform without bashing the public schools in the process.

"He was a vocal proponent, and we'll miss his support," said Sen. Rob Mayer, R-Dexter, who pushed one of the open enrollment bills last year.

Even without Smith, though, the issue faces an uphill battle.

Rep. Maynard Wallace, R-Thornfield, said he won't even bring open enrollment up in his House Education Committee unless it first passes the Senate.

With Cunningham and Wilson already drawing lines in the playground sand, that doesn't seem very likely.