By Otto Fajen, MNEA Legislative Director
CAPITOL ACTION DAYS BEGIN!
Capitol Action Days are part of the Association's plan to promote positive policy for public education. MNEA's Capitol Action Days occur regularly on Wednesdays during legislative session and begin next week on February 7th! For more information and to register for your Capitol Action Day, please visit https://www.mnea.org/CAD
SENATE APPROVES INTERIM APPOINTMENTS
The Senate approved the remaining interim gubernatorial appointments on January 31, two days prior to the deadline of February 2. Further appointments made during the legislative session must be approved by the end of the regular session but are not subject to the 30-day limitation that applies to interim appointments.
SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE
Sen. Rowden added Sen. Elaine Gannon to the Select Committee on Empowering Parents and Children. The Select Committee now includes Senator Curtis Trent as chair, Mary Elizabeth Coleman as vice-chair, and Senators Lauren Arthur, Doug Beck, Jill Carter, Travis Fitzwater, Elaine Gannon and Caleb Rowden.
Sen. Rowden referred more than fifty education-related bills to the Select Committee Empowering Parents and Children on January 25, while no additional bills have been referred to the Committee on Education and Workforce Development.
BUDGET
The House Subcommittee on Appropriations - Education met for several hours on January 29 and 30 to hear budget presentations from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development.
OPEN ENROLLMENT
The House gave final approval (Third Reading vote) to HCS/HB 1989 (Brad Pollitt) on January 31 by a vote of 86-73. The bill now moves to the Senate for consideration. 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. HB 1989 included some specific provisions to mitigate the potential for open enrollment to increase racial, ethnic or socioeconomic segregation. However, the HCS removed the provisions to mitigate re-segregation. The Association opposes the bill.
The Senate Select Committee on Empowering Parents and Children is scheduled to hear SB 1051 (Curtis Trent) regarding public school open enrollment on February 6. SB 1051 shares many provisions in common with HB 1989. Unlike HB 1989, SB 1051 allows non-resident pupils to transfer to charter schools as well as to other school districts. The bill also lacks a number of other essential criteria contained in HB 1989. The Association opposes SB 1051.
ACCREDITATION AND ASSESSMENT REFORMS
The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education heard HB 1851 (Paula Brown) on January 31. The bill seeks to reduce the negative effects of the misuse and overuse of standardized testing. The Association supports the bill. HB 1851 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 House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education also heard HB 2184 (Haffner) on January 31. The Select Committee on Empowering Parents and Children is scheduled to hear SB 1366 (Curtis Trent), a similar bill, on February 6. The bills specify a detailed methodology for calculating school building performance scores based primarily on student scores on standardized tests. The bills do not provide any structure to provide support to help schools improve. Both bills hearken back to the now-abandoned "test, blame and punish" mindset of the former, federal NCLB Act. The Association opposes the bills.
CHARTER SCHOOL EXPANSION
The House Special Committee on Education Reform met on January 29 and approved an HCS (committee substitute version) for HB 1485 (Brad Christ). The HCS would authorize the establishment of charter schools in St. Louis County, St. Charles County, Columbia school district without sponsorship by the local school board.
The Association opposes the bill. 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.
EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION
The House Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education approved HB 1486 (Brenda Shields) on January 31. The bill would revise funding for early childhood education programs through the school funding formula. The bill would increase funding for early learning programs around the state. The Association supports the establishment of fully funded early childhood education programs in public schools and supports the bill.
INITIATIVE PETITION
The committee substitute (SCS) version of SJR 74 (Mary Elizabeth Coleman) was reported to the Senate floor on January 31. The joint resolution is now on the Senate calendar and is likely to be taken up soon by the Senate. The joint resolution seeks to change the initiative petition process and the process of amending the Constitution. The SCS raises the approval requirement for constitutional amendments to add a concurrent majority in a least a majority of Missouri House districts.
The Association is concerned that the resolution will make it more difficult for Missouri citizens to bring forward and gain approval on measures of interest brought by the initiative petition process and opposes the joint resolution.
SCHOOL SAFETY
The House Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee heard HB 1946 (Brenda Shields) on February 1. The bill includes several new provisions regarding school safety, including comprehensive emergency operations plans and traumatic blood loss protocols. The bill also requires that school districts and charter schools equip each interior door with anti-intruder door locks and each exterior door with bullet-resistant window film, provided that the state appropriates full funding for installation. The bill requires behavioral risk assessments to be included in the records requested by school officials when enrolling a pupil. The bill revises provisions regarding school reporting of student offenses and notifications to schools of offenses by students. The Association supports the provisions requiring that a student’s records relevant to violent behavior, or potential for such behavior, be provided to all school employees prior to the student’s being admitted to the school.
HOUSE-SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION REFORM
The committee is scheduled to hear the following bills on February 5:
HB 1502 (Gretchen Bangert) to require school districts to provide instruction in cursive writing by the end of the fifth grade, including a proficiency test of competency in reading and writing cursive.
HB 2156 (Philip Oehlerking) to add two charter school members to the board of trustees of the St. Louis Public School Retirement System. The Missouri Public Charter School Association would appoint the new members.
SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATE FILING PROVISIONS
The House Committee on Elections and Elected Officials approved HB 1604 (Dave Hinman) on January 30. The bill 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. The bill was approved as a Consent Bill. Consent bills must be approved unanimously in committee and designated by unanimous vote as a Consent Bill by the committee. Consent bills are placed on a special calendar and are not subject to amendment once taken up for floor debate.
The Senate Local Government and Elections Committee will hear SB 774 (Elaine Gannon), a similar bill, on February 5.
OMNIBUS ELECTIONS BILL
The House Committee on Elections and Elected Officials approved a committee substitute (HCS) version of HB 2140 (Peggy McGaugh) on January 30. The bill modifies provisions related to elections. The bill shifts the candidate filing period for school board candidates one week later in the same manner as HB 1604 (Dave Hinman). The bill also allows officers calling an election to contact election authorities by email, allows absentee voting on election day for presidential and vice presidential electors, increases the privacy of absentee voters with permanent disabilities, ensures provisional ballots are available at all elections, extends restrictions on electioneering to in-person absentee voting locations, and creates the offense of tampering with an election official as a class one election offense.
The Association believes that barriers that reduce access to voting and participation in the political process should be removed to allow for involvement by all eligible citizens and supports the bill as filed.
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