By Otto Fajen, MNEA legislative director
HOUSE REPUBLICAN PRIORITY CAUCUS
House Speaker Dean Plocher recently created a new, thirty-member policy development caucus. This group of Republican caucus members will consider which bills will become caucus priorities. Those bills on a substantive issue with at least two-thirds support in the caucus will become priorities that will be allowed to come to the House floor and be approved without significant changes. The caucus chair is Speaker Pro Tem Mike Henderson.
SENATE DEFEATS RULE CHANGE
The Senate voted down Senate Resolution 552 (Bill Eigel) on January 10. The rule change would require the Senate to wait two legislative days after distribution before a floor substitute could be offered and acted on. The resolution was defeated by a vote of 7-23.
CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION
The newly created House Special Committee on Education Reform will hear three charter school expansion bills on January 17:
HB 1485 (Brad Christ) authorizes the establishment of charter schools in school districts in St. Louis County without sponsorship by the local school board.
HB 1764 (Justin Hicks) authorizes the establishment of charter schools in school districts in St. Charles County without sponsorship by the local school board.
HB 1941 (Cheri Toalson Reisch) authorizes the establishment of charter schools in the Columbia school district without sponsorship by the local school board.
The Association opposes all three bills. The Association believes that charter schools should be sponsored by and accountable to the local community through the elected school board and approved only after an impact study is conducted by the district to consider the proposal.
TAX CREDIT STYLE SCHOOL VOUCHERS
The Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development heard two tax credit-style school voucher bills on January 10. The committee is scheduled to vote on the bills on January 17.
SB 727 (Andrew Koenig) expands the existing tax credit voucher enacted in 2021. The bill expands the program to include all counties in the state, increases the allowable annual amount of credits to $75 million, and raises the qualifying income threshold to 400% of the income eligibility for reduced-price school lunch. The bill also increases the maximum per student award by multiplying the State Adequacy Target (currently $6375) by the formula factors for students with an IEP (175%), limited English proficiency (160%), and free or reduced-price school lunch eligibility (125%).
SB 729 (Andrew Koenig) would create a new tax-credit-style voucher that allows a taxpayer a 100% credit for private school expenses up to the State Adequacy Target amount. Prop C revenues will be deducted from each district in the amount of such credits granted to taxpayers residing in the district.
The committee will also hear SB 867 (Rick Brattin) on January 17. SB 867 creates a new tax-credit-style voucher similar to SB 729 but does not affect school district Prop C revenues.
The Association believes that tax credit tuition plans and voucher plans compromise free, equitable, universal, and quality public education for every student. The Association opposes SB 727, SB 729, and SB 867.
ACCREDITATION AND ASSESSMENT REFORMS
The Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development will hear SB 814 (Jill Carter) on January 17. The bill seeks to reduce the negative effects of the misuse and overuse of standardized testing. The Association supports the bill. The bill limits the use of statewide assessments strictly to the uses required under the federal ESSA Act, including identifying schools for support and improvement. Public schools will create or adopt local assessments that will also be included in school report cards. The State Board of Education will select at least two national accreditation agencies from which public schools may seek accreditation.
TEST, BLAME AND PUNISH BILL
The Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development heard SB 804 (Curtis Trent) on January 10. This bill specifies a detailed methodology for calculating school building performance scores based primarily on student scores on standardized tests. The bill does not provide any structure to provide support to help schools improve. This bill hearkens back to the now-abandoned "test, blame and punish" mindset of the former, federal NCLB Act. The Association opposes the bill.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education heard HB 1989 (Pollitt) on January 10. The committee is scheduled to vote on the bill on January 17. The bill would create a public school open enrollment program. The Missouri NEA believes that public school choice plans with state funding may harm students and our public schools unless essential criteria are in place for implementing, monitoring, and evaluating their effectiveness.
As filed, HB 1989 would not transfer local funds from the sending district. School districts would have the option to specify the number of transfer students they are willing to receive. The bill does not authorize transfers to charter schools or to full-time virtual schools.
HB 1989 includes some specific provisions to mitigate the potential for open enrollment to increase racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic segregation. Rep. Pollitt told the committee that he intends to follow the requirement of the House Republican policy development caucus and ask the committee to remove the provisions to mitigate re-segregation. Assuming this change takes place when the bill is taken up, the Association will oppose the bill.
HONESTY IN EDUCATION/PARENT RIGHTS/DON'T SAY GAY BILL
The Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development will hear SB 728 (Andrew Koenig) on January 17. The bill contains provisions relating to parent access to school information. The bill also creates state law prohibitions affecting teacher and student interactions and includes penalties on school staff that could include loss of certification and liability to parent lawsuits. The Association is concerned that the bill would adversely affect the freedom of teachers to provide the honest education our students deserve. The Association opposes the bill.
PERSONAL PROPERTY TAXES
The Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tax Policy will hear two similar bills to reduce personal property taxes on January 16. Both bills would significantly reduce local taxes on personal property, including school taxes. The Association opposes both bills. The bills would permanently eliminate the taxes on personal property in most or all counties by reducing the personal property assessment ratio for the county in order to offset revenue produced by real property assessment growth. This provision will stagnate local school revenues and local property taxes each year until all personal property tax revenues are eliminated. Current data show that personal property accounts for between 16% and 46% of total tangible assessed property value across Missouri's counties.
HOMESTEAD PROPERTY TAXES
The Senate Committee on Economic Development and Tax Policy will also hear SB 756 (Tony Luetkemeyer) on January 16. SB 756 revises the senior citizen property tax credit enacted in 2023 in SB 190. The bill clarifies that any such homestead credit starts when a county acts to adopt the optional property tax credit and is not retroactive to a prior year when a taxpayer might have otherwise become eligible based on age qualification. The bill also clarifies that a taxpayer must be 62 years or older to qualify, rather than being Social Security-eligible. Qualifying taxpayers must also not have delinquent taxes in order to qualify.
TEACHER SALARY PROVISIONS
The House Committee on Government Efficiency and Downsizing heard HB 1648 (John Black) regarding public employee compensation on January 10. The bill allows state agencies and school districts to offer financial incentives for employee retention and to reward "exemplary achievement". The bill also includes language from HB 1447 (Ed Lewis) to allow school districts to identify hard-to-staff schools and hard-to-staff subject areas and designate a higher placement on the salary schedule when hiring such teachers. The Association believes decisions regarding extra compensation and salary schedule placement should be a matter for collective bargaining at the local level.
SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FILING PROVISIONS
The House Committee on Elections and Elected Officials heard two bills affecting school board candidate filings on January 9:
HB 1744 (Renee Reuter) would change the filing location for school board candidates to the county election clerk's office, rather than the school board office. As filed, this change only applies to school districts located entirely within a single county. The change addresses issues that can arise for candidates filing at the end of the filing window in late December when most schools are closed for a holiday break.
HB 1604 (Dave Hinman) would change the filing window for school board candidates by moving both the starting and ending dates one week later. The result would be a filing window that extends from mid-December to the first week of January.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION FUNDING
The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education will hear HB 1486 (Brenda Shields) on January 17. The bill would increase funding to public schools for pre-K pupils eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL). The Association supports the bill.
SCHOOL SAFETY REQUIREMENTS
The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education will hear HB 1761 (Justin Hicks) on January 17. The bill requires every school district to comply with enhanced safety and security standards. The bill creates specifications for primary entrances, construction of exterior doors and windows, roof access doors, ground-level windows, interior doors with access to gathering spaces, and locking mechanisms. Specified windows and doors must be covered in either bullet proof or riot proof laminate as specified. The Association is concerned that if the mandates in the bill are not funded by state appropriations, the bill would harm the ability of some districts to recruit and retain qualified staff.
ALLEGATIONS OF MISCONDUCT INVOLVING PRIVATE SCHOOL EMPLOYEES
The Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development will hear SB 766 (Holly Thompson Rehder) on January 17. The bill establishes consequences for a private school that fails to disclose allegations of sexual misconduct against a former employee when furnishing a job reference for the employee. The liability created is similar to existing law regarding the failure of a public school to disclose allegations against a former employee.
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