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Missouri lawmakers will debate whether parents should be allowed to pick the public school their children attend in the upcoming legislative session.

The open enrollment legislation would allow parents to transfer children to neighboring school districts, without paying tuition.

Schools losing students would pay districts receiving their students.

Missouri's proposal would require schools to set ideal class sizes and wouldn't force schools to accept new students if they have no room.

Supporters of the legislation say open enrollment gets parents more involved and improves academic performance.

We talked with some local superintendents to get their take on the issue.

How do you feel about possibility of open enrollment in State of Missouri?

Hannibal Superintendent Jill Janes said, "I have mixed feelings about it. There are some positives, especially for parents point of view, its always good to be able to chose where your child goes to school. It will have a big financial impact on schools. How do you play out that money situation as kids transfer, especially if its a high needs child who has several special ed issues, you don't really get recouped on that money."

Palmyra Superintendent Eric Churchwell said, "It's scary for public schools, especially the possibilities financially. There's a lot of unanswered questions...and lot of planning issues that it would complicate things. And when you talk about special ed kids moving from district to district and the cost associated with those it causes a whole lot of problems for public schools it worries me."

But local superintendents are concerned about what this could do to year to year financial planning.

Churchwell said, "I think when you're trying to plan a budget, not knowing how many kids you're going to have, it complicates everything. Not only the kids coming in, but the kids you may foresee leaving. State funding is tied to average daily attendance and so when you're talking about finding and trying to plan for a school year it would complicate things drastically."

Would this make it more difficult to plan financially for the future?

Janes said, "I think for smaller districts it will have a big impact, because two students can impact your ADA in a small school district. A school district the size of Hannibal could probably absorb that, but I would want to see a deadline for when people could apply or transfer so you could plan ahead."

Both Superintendents we spoke with were also concerned this would allow athletic powerhouses to recruit athletes from neighboring districts unchecked.

More than a dozen states let parents pick school districts.

The same type of bill was voted down during Missouri's legislative session last year.