CAPITOL ACTION DAYS
Capitol Action Days are part of the Association's plan to promote positive policy for public education. MNEA's Capitol Action Days continued April 17 when members from Governance Districts 7 and 10 visited the Capitol and met with their legislators. For more information, please visit https://www.mnea.org/CAD
HOUSE PASSES VOUCHER/CHARTER EXPANSION BILL
The House voted to approve SS#2/SCS/SB 727 (Andrew Koenig) on April 18 by a vote of 82-69. The bill will soon be delivered to the Governor for his approval or veto. Since the legislature is still in session, Governor Parson will have fifteen calendar days from that date to return the bill to the legislature with his approval or veto. The Association opposes the bill and urges Governor Parson to veto the bill.
SB 727 expands the existing tax credit voucher enacted in 2021 and authorizes the establishment of charter schools in any district in Boone County without sponsorship by the local school board. The Association recognizes that positive provisions were added during Senate floor action but remains opposed to the bill.
HOUSE PASSES FULL-TIME VIRTUAL BILL
The House voted to approve the Senate substitute version of HB 2287 (Phil Christofanelli) on April 18 by a vote of 105-32. The House version of HB 2287 pertains to full-time virtual schools. The Senate version was intended to be a "fix" for the issues concerning SB 727, but the Senate substitute includes only a few minor changes that fail to address the primary concerns with SB 727.
The SS includes minor tweaks to address concerns about gun regulations extending to home schools and technical changes to the online teacher certification for private schools. The SS allows the voucher program to continue even if transportation funding is reduced by more than $200 million from the current full funding back to the 40% figure from the budget three years ago.
BULLYING IN SCHOOLS
The House finally passed HCS/HBs 1715 & 2630 (Tricia Byrnes) on April 15. The bill pertains to school anti-bullying policies. The bill requires certain changes in district anti-bullying policies, including disallowing zero-tolerance discipline policies. The HCS also requires that incident reports be reduced to writing and includes additional reporting requirements within schools and districts. The perfected version extends the current requirement to provide education, resources and referrals to students who are victims of bullying to also apply to students who commit acts of bullying.
HIGHER EDUCATION COURSE TRANSFER
The House finally passed HCS/HB 2310 (Cameron Parker) on April 15. The bill would increase the amount of lower-division core curriculum credit hours that a student may transfer among public institutions of higher education from 42 credit hours to 60 credit hours. A transferring student who completes the 60 credit-hour block of courses at one institution shall receive academic credit toward the degree program, rather than simply receiving academic credit.
PUBLIC SECTOR BARGAINING
The House Emerging Issues Committee heard HB 2876 (Ben Baker) on April 17. The bill enacts many new provisions regarding public sector bargaining. The cumbersome new language would interfere with existing bargaining in school districts and local governments across the state. The bill also prohibits public employers from deducting union dues as directed by union members who are employees. The Association opposes the bill.
PROTECTION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION
The Senate General Laws Committee heard SB 787 (Razer) on April 17. The bill would revise the Missouri Human Rights Act regarding employment, disability, and housing to make discrimination based upon a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity an unlawful discriminatory practice. The Association supports the bill.
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON EMPOWERING MISSOURI PARENTS AND CHILDREN
The committee heard two bills on April 15:
SB 1297 (Jason Bean) would require the State Board of Education to be responsible for handling appeals of decisions made by statewide activities associations such as MSHSAA.
SB 1462 (Curtis Trent) would require school districts and charter schools to provide instruction in cursive writing by the end of fifth grade and ensure each student passes a teacher constructed test demonstrating competency in both reading and writing cursive.