Superintendents from seven school districts that would be impacted by a charter school provision in Senate Bill 727 sent an opposition letter to Gov. Mike Parson on Friday, calling on him to veto the bill.

Superintendents for Columbia Public Schools, Fayette R-III School District, Hallsville R-IV School District, North Callaway R-I School District, Sturgeon R-V School District, Southern Boone School District, and Harrisburg R-VIII School are among those who signed the letter.

SB 727 was approved by the Senate in March and by the House in April. It includes major pieces of statewide education reform, including raising teacher baseline pay to $40,000 and a section that would provide state funding to expand charter schools into Boone County.

Charter schools are free, independent public schools that operates outside of a school district, according to the Missouri Charter Public School Commission. Charter schools are granted greater flexibility in return for greater accountability and are governed by independent boards and are nonprofit organizations.

There are currently no charter schools in Boone County, as the majority of them are located in Kansas City and the City of St. Louis.

Even though some of the school districts that signed the letter aren't in Boone County, their school boundaries cross into the county, therefore, according to the letter, they would be impacted.

The superintendents said they have many concerns about the bill, but their letter focuses on the "unconstitutional attempt to expand charter schools into Boone County."

"By proposing a new classification for where charter schools are permitted to operate, Senate Bill 727 expressly and impermissibly targets Boone County without explanation, justification, or rational basis," the letter states.

"Senate Bill 727 expands where charter schools may operate. But, because of a noticeable lack of political support, the Legislature did not attempt to expand the operations of charter schools throughout the entire state. Instead, Senate Bill 727 chooses a particular location for charter expansion," the letter continues.

Columbia School Board Vice President John Lyman said Columbia Public Schools is hopeful for Parson's support.

"Since (Parson) came into office, he's done a lot to support public schools across the state of Missouri, and we're hopeful that that support continues with a veto of [SB] 727," Lyman said.

Lyman said charter schools aren't the only concerning part of the bill.

"There are a handful of things that sound really, really good. Anything that would increase teacher pay would be awesome. The problem though, is where is that money going to come from?" Lyman said.

"If there's no way to pay for that, our rural public school districts are going to suffer," he said.

The superintendents believe there are better counties in the state to expand charter schools.

"As the eighth most populated county in the state, targeting Boone County for more charter schools skips over and ignores other counties with higher population and higher density," the letter states. "Also targeting Boone County for more charter schools affects a perplexing and arbitrary collection of eight different school districts, ranging in size from 600 to 19,000 students in both urban and rural settings."

The superintendents also claimed the bill will not survive legal challenges brought before Missouri courts.

Since the bill was delivered to Parson on April 24, during the legislative session, he has 15 days to sign the bill, which would be Thursday, May 9.