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2007
REGULAR SESSION SUMMARY
Missouri
NEA fought throughout the 2007 legislative session for its
priorities for children and public education. The Association
also sought to build relationships with legislators in support
of a consensus to support children and public education. The
2007 session contained many strong anti-public education efforts
in both chambers. Many of the Association’s legislative
successes this session were in the defeat of those harmful
proposals. Hundreds of members supported the Association’s
efforts by coming to the new Missouri NEA Capital Action Days,
calling legislators or sending e-mails in response to legislative-action
alerts. In addition, the daily Legislative Update provided
timely information by e-mail to more than one thousand MNEA
members and other education stakeholders. This final weekly
update summarizes the outcome of legislative work on MNEA
priority issues and several other relevant issues from the
2007 regular session.
TAX CREDIT
VOUCHERS
MNEA opposed the out-of-state extreme agenda to impose
tax-credit vouchers, also known as “charitable scholarships.”
House Bill 808 (Carl Bearden) and Senate Bill 698 (Luann Ridgeway)
would have created a tax credit for donations to private scholarship
funds providing payments for low-income students in unaccredited
and provisionally accredited districts to attend private or
religious schools or out-of-district public schools. MNEA
opposed both bills. House Bill 808 was defeated on the House
floor, following strong lobbying efforts by MNEA members and
other public education supporters.
SCHOOL
RETIREMENT
The 25 and Out option for PSRS and PEERS systems
and the enhanced PSRS benefit factor for 31+ years of service
were extended for five more years in SB 406 (Jason Crowell).
Both provisions will be extended until June 30, 2013 if the
bill is signed into law. Missouri NEA strongly supported extension
of both of these provisions. The PSRS/PEERS provisions were
filed in two bills, SB 244 (Rob Mayer) and HB 625 (Tom Dempsey)
but neither of the original bills was passed. SB 406 also
includes a limit on annual increases in final average salary
used for calculating PSRS retirement benefits to no more than
ten percent, unless a member changes to a longer contract
or reaches a higher level of educational attainment.
ABCTE
AND TEACHING STANDARDS
Legislation to mandate that the State Board recognize
the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence
(ABCTE) certification was filed in two bills: HB 620 (Scott
Muschany) and SB 480 (Luann Ridgeway). Similar provisions
were included in SB 64 (Jack Goodman) but stripped out in
conference due to MNEA’s opposition. Such a mandate
would lower state standards for teaching practice. Missouri
NEA strongly opposed the ABCTE mandate in every bill in which
it was included, and the language did not become law.
Legislation to
require state standards for mentoring of new teachers was
enacted in SB 64 (Jack Goodman). Missouri NEA also supports
establishing state teaching standards so that state policy
is clear on what teachers are supposed to know and be able
to do, how those standards will be assessed, and how mentoring,
beginning teacher assistance programs and other professional
development will help teachers meet those teaching standards.
An amendment to establish state teaching standards in law
was offered to bills in both the House and Senate, but both
amendments were defeated.
BUDGET
AND FORMULA
MNEA supports common sense, data-driven revisions to the state’s
school funding formula. However, legislative leaders had no
interest in improving the inadequate formula enacted by Senate
Bill 287 in 2005. The Augenblick adequacy study shows that
Missouri’s formula would be more than $900 million short
of adequate funding if fully funded. The current formula is
now about $800 million underfunded. The new formula base-level
funding and at-risk aid should be raised, and the new formula
should be funded within two years. One small correction was
enacted in 2007: SCS/SB 456 (Chuck Gross) ensures that all
hold harmless districts in St. Charles County will be compensated
for reduced local fine revenues due to establishment of a
municipal court.
SUBSTANTIVE
DUE PROCESS
Legislation to establish substantive due process for tenured
teachers was filed as SB 561 (Kevin Engler). The bill was
heard by the Senate Education Committee but did not pass.
Missouri NEA requested the legislation and strongly supports
the bill. Substantive due process takes the politics out of
the tenure process by allowing either a teacher or school
board to ask for a preliminary hearing by an impartial hearing
officer on a teacher’s status, rather than a politically-charged
hearing before the school board.
COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
SB 607 (Jeff Smith) would have established collective bargaining
rights for all public employees. The bill was filed but did
not get a hearing. Collective bargaining is a fair process
that promotes shared decision making and results in agreements
that are binding for both educators and school boards. This
process ensures that important decisions affecting our schools
are made at the local level. Local educators are the experts
on what students need and how to attract and retain highly
qualified teachers.
MINIMUM
WAGE
SS/SCS/SBs 255, 249 & 279 would have reinstated the Federal
overtime standards in place before the passage of Proposition
B (2006) including exemptions for firefighters, commissioned
employees, and flex-time rates. Proposition B inadvertently
removed the overtime exemption for these employees, which
will force some public employers to reduce wage rates, which
will reduce some corresponding benefits for those employees.
The bill passed the Senate, but was held up and died in the
House when Speaker Jetton sided with the Missouri Chamber
of Commerce in seeking to undermine the intent of Proposition
B by also repealing the indexing of the minimum wage to fluctuations
in the Consumer Price Index. The House version also sought
to lower wages for tipped employees back to pre-Proposition
B levels if their total compensation, including tips, equals
the Missouri minimum wage.
TABOR
MNEA strongly opposes the spending limitation known as the
Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights or TABOR. House Joint Resolution
20 (Carl Bearden) would have placed this constitutional amendment
before the voters in November but the measure did not pass.
MNEA opposed the joint resolution. TABOR limits spending increases
to Consumer Price Index growth plus population growth. TABOR
is a proven failure in Colorado, where voters recently suspended
the measure for five years due to the harmful effects the
limit had on education and other services. TABOR would force
further cuts in K–12 and higher education and healthcare.
ELECTIONS
AND PETITION SIGNATURE GATHERING
SB 598 (Kevin Engler) would have revised the standards
for initiative petition signature gatherers. The bill did
not pass. The bill requires that all such signature gatherering
shall be subject to the general supervision of the office
of the Secretary of State, that all signature gatherers shall
be U.S. citizens, Missouri residents and registered voters,
and that the signature gatherers should not be paid by the
signature. The bill also ensures that signature gatherers
sign a sworn statement that they are legally responsible for
their signature gathering activities and may be held legally
responsible for fraudulent or deceptive signature gathering
practices. Missouri’s initiative petition process should
be used to express genuine, grassroots policy initiatives
from citizens within the state. The initiative process should
have safeguards to ensure that signature gathering practices
are open and honest and signature gatherers are Missouri citizens.
TAX AND
SERVICE CUTS
HB 444 (Rod Jetton) eliminates state income tax on Social
Security and other public pensions, but only for taxpayers
over 62 years of age. The bill caps the pension income tax
exemption at an income level of $85,000 for single taxpayers
and $100,000 for combined returns. The bill will have a high,
long term cost to state revenues, in excess of $150 million.
Missouri NEA believes taxes should be fair, adequate and sustainable.
Accordingly, Missouri NEA opposed HB 444. Low-income seniors
who rely heavily on Social Security payments will not pay
lower taxes under this bill. Overall, this is a regressive
change and undermines tax fairness. Worse, the permanent tax
cut will significantly reduce state revenues and force more
cuts in vital services as the tax cut is phased in.
HEALTH
CARE
SB 577 (Charlie Shields) was enacted on the last day of session.
The bill creates the “MO HealthNet” program. The
bill restores some of the cuts in state health care service
enacted in 2005 including some disabled workers and new eligibility
criteria that will provide health coverage to more children.
The bill also restores Medicaid services for dental care and
eyeglasses, but many other services were not restored. For
many legislators, the bill presented a difficult decision:
oppose the bill and wait for full Medicaid restoration later,
or vote for the bill so some people can regain their health
coverage now. The original SB 577 bill focused on reforming
Medicaid to make it more fiscally efficient and to promote
more preventive health care. Amendments to restore health
coverage for poor working parents were defeated in both the
House and Senate. SB 577 will not truly address the problem
of the hundreds of thousands of uninsured in Missouri. Missouri
NEA supports universal health care for all Missourians.
ATTACK
ON COURTS/ “BACK DOOR” VOUCHER
HJR 1 (Jane Cunningham) was an obvious attempt to avoid accountability
for the failure to meet the constitutional demand to adequately
and equitably appropriate funds for public education. The
resolution was also an attempt to allow private school vouchers
by indirectly repealing constitutional prohibitions on spending
public funds on private schools. Missouri NEA strongly opposed
HJR 1. The HJR did not pass both chambers this year, but opponents
expect a renewed effort to pass a similar provision in 2008.
INCLEMENT
WEATHER AND SCHOOL CALENDARS
SB 376 (John Griesheimer) offers blanket, statewide forgiveness
from make up of any days missed during the period from January
11 to January 22, 2007. The bill also waives the two-thirds
make up requirement for the school calendar for next school
year. More comprehensive, long-term requirements regarding
school calendars and make up days, were enacted in HCS/SCS/SB
64 (Jack Goodman). SB 64 also requires a school board to hold
a hearing prior to establishing a school start date more than
ten calendar days prior to Labor Day.
VIRTUAL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
SB 64 (Jack Goodman) will allow students in unaccredited and
provisional districts to take classes from the Missouri Virtual
Public School. The student’s district of residence will
continue to receive state aid for the student and will pay
tuition to the Virtual Public School for the student.
“MERIT”
AND DIFFERENTIAL PAY
MNEA opposes merit pay and repeal of the salary schedule law.
House Bill 417 (Jane Cunningham) was voted out of committee
but was never taken up by the House for floor debate. Similar
language was amended onto SB 161 (Charlie Shields) but did
not pass. Merit pay leads to perceived subjectivity of the
compensation process. Merit pay represents a narrow focus
on student test scores. This focus sacrifices the supportive
environment of teacher mentoring and collaboration and creates
stronger incentives to teach to standardized tests.
MOHELA
Several provisions pertaining to higher education were enacted
in SB 389 (Gary Nodler), but the most notable and controversial
portion addresses the sale of loan assets of MOHELA and the
use of such proceeds for capital projects at various public
colleges and universities. The bill also contains language
that caps college tuition increases to the percentage increase
in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unless a waiver is obtained
from the Coordinating Board for Higher Education. Missouri
NEA opposed the tuition caps due to their impact on the quality
of programs. The Association opposed the MOHELA asset sale
based on the potential to diminish the ability of that entity
to fulfill its core mission of providing financial assistance
to Missouri students.
Missouri NEA supported some provisions in the bill, including
extending the purview of the Joint Committee on Education
to higher education issues, the regulation of out-of-state
institutions operating programs in Missouri, and the consolidation
of the Gallagher and College Guarantee student loan programs
into a single program with increased funding. The bill also
contains other provisions relating to transfer of credits
among public institutions, fines for institutions disregarding
Coordinating Board policy, capping student financial assistance
at the cost of attendance, requiring institutions to submit
to binding dispute resolution and requiring institutional
performance measures.
“INTELLECTUAL
DIVERSITY” MANDATE
HB 213 (Jane Cunningham) would have created a state mandate
to promote “intellectual diversity.” Missouri
NEA opposes this additional layer of bureaucracy and unneeded
intrusion on local control of our public higher education
institutions. These mandates do not serve an academic purpose;
rather, they serve a political agenda to promote controversy
at all costs and the politicization of educational programs.
This undermines an institution’s pursuit of excellence
and, instead, promotes controversy and politics in the hiring
process.
SEX EDUCATION
MANDATE
HB 1055 (Therese Sander) includes various provisions relating
to abortion services and alternatives to abortions and includes
the provisions of SB 432 (Gary Nodler) to establish additional
mandates on human sexuality instruction in public schools.
The bill was only passed when Senate debate was closed using
the “nuclear option” known as moving the “previous
question.” Missouri NEA opposed the additional mandates
and restrictions on human sexuality instruction contained
in the bill as unneeded restrictions on local control of curriculum
and instruction. The law now allows districts to either provide
a comprehensive program of human sexuality instruction or
an “abstinence only” program. The law also forbids
school districts from using, in its human sexuality instruction,
any materials or instructors from certain entities that also
provide abortion services, including Planned Parenthood.
EARLY
CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
MNEA supports statewide universal access to quality pre-kindergarten
instructional programs for all children. Senate Bill 161 (Charlie
Shields) would have established a quality rating system (QRS)
for early child care programs. MNEA supported the bill. However,
the bill was laden with unrelated provisions in the House
and did not pass. SB 112 (Scott Rupp) was enacted and removes
the unneeded sunset on the Early Childhood Special Education
(ECSE) placement fix enacted in S.B. 500 from 2005. MNEA supported
this version of the bill.
FOSTER
CHILDREN IN RESIDENTIAL CARE
HB 827 (Scott Muschany) and SB 515 (Jolie Justus) revise the
law regarding the educational needs of foster children placed
in licensed residential care facilities. After extensive discussions
throughout the session involving representatives of various
interested parties, the bills did not pass, but language was
enacted in SB 84 (Norma Champion) calling for a comprehensive
interim study committee to study issues involved in the education
of all foster children in the state.
Missouri NEA supports
the assumption expressed in the bill that every child in public
school deserves a full educational school day. The Association
believes that representatives of residential care facilities
and school staff should collaborate in decision-making regarding
educational services and that school districts and residential
facilities must be fully compensated for all services provided
to such students.
SCHOOL
VISION SCREENING
SCS/SB 16 (Delbert Scott) requires that each child enrolled
in kindergarten or first grade shall receive a comprehensive
vision examination. The bill was passed into law. Missouri
NEA opposed the bill. The Association supports the objective
of ensuring that all students have a vision screening and
all vision problems are diagnosed and treated as early as
possible. However, the bill allows parents to “opt”
their students out of the vision exam. A concern remains that
needy children may be opted out and remain unserved and thus
struggle in school with impaired vision while school staff
are busy dealing with paperwork to ensure that other students
have had the eye exams. Proper vision correction is essential
to learning to read and ultimately to school success. Testimony
indicated that the current vision screenings work well but
could benefit from further investment in training and education.
The Association believes the state should invest funds to
ensure that all beginning students are in school and ready
to learn and that needy students get the vision exams and
eyeglasses they need to see properly in school and learn to
read.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
HB 807 (Jane Cunningham) and HB 690 (Brian Baker) would have
established an open enrollment policy for public school inter-district
transfers. The bill was voted out of House committee. The
HCS version would have required school districts to accept
out of district transfers until their class sizes exceeded
the DESE “minimal” standard. This would have betrayed
and undermined district efforts to lower class sizes by building
more classroom space and hiring more staff.
SEATBELTS
ON SCHOOL BUSES
HB 110 (Tim Flook) requires new school buses to have shoulder
harnesses and seat belts for all occupants. The bill also
imposes a surcharge on all moving traffic violations and uses
the funds to help districts buy buses with shoulder harnesses
and seat belts. Missouri NEA believes that any mandate for
shoulder harnesses and seat belts on school buses should be
accompanied by full state funding for any additional district
costs and full immunity for districts and school employees
for any student’s failure to use or to misuse a shoulder
harness and seat belt.
STATE
BOARD INVESTMENTS
HB 264 (Jane Cunningham) allows the State Board of Education
greater flexibility in investing funds deposited in the State
Public School Fund. The bill was passed as a Consent Bill.
VIDEO
CAPTIONING
HB 181 (Therese Sander) requires closed or open captioning
on electronic video instructional materials designed for use
in educational institutions. The bill was enacted and will
apply to materials purchased on or after January 1, 2008.
WHAT’S
NEXT?
It is vital that public educators continue to oppose extreme
attacks on education and the public sector. Association members
must step up and lead by initiating further discussion with
legislators during the interim. Legislators need to see public
educators at work first hand to understand the realities of
public education. Only in this way can legislators become
grounded and less vulnerable to the extreme and unworkable
proposals of the opponents of public education. The Association
must also support those with the courage to work toward real,
inclusive solutions and support pro-education candidates with
time and money to help elect a legislature that will lead
Missouri forward to workable solutions for prosperity, access
and possibility.
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