2022 Missouri Legislative Session Preview

Preparing for the 2022 Missouri Legislative Session

By: Stacey Preis, Ph.D.

Missouri’s legislative session begins next month, and already more than 120 education-related bills have been pre-filed. With pre-filing, there are always two categories of bills one can expect to see: 1) bills that have been offered in past sessions and 2) bills that are aligned with current—and often controversial—issues.

Recurring Themes

Charter schools are a regular topic of legislation, and for the upcoming session there are pre-filed bills on charter school funding equity (SB 869, HB 1552) and charter school expansion (SB 650). Charter school funding equity was debated at length last session. After many weeks of negotiations, a compromise bill passed in the House and was voted out of the Senate Education Committee but did not get to a full Senate vote.

Early childhood education continues to receive positive attention and is a priority of both Governor Parson and the State Board of Education. SB 800 and SB 846 would repeal the sunset date from the Quality Assurance Report, a system for assessing early childhood program quality piloted from 2019 to 2021. SB 816 would allow more funding for early childhood to flow through the foundation formula. HB 1539 calls for all school districts to establish early childhood programs.

Inspired by Current Events

Anyone following education policy issues knows that critical race theory (CRT) is at the heart of heated discussions throughout the country, including in Missouri. Critical race theory was first introduced in law schools in the 1970s to examine foundational biases within the justice system. In the K-12 education debate, the term has been broadly applied to instructional dialogue that addresses systemic racism and inherent bias. Some of the legislation pre-filed for this session prohibits teaching CRT (HB 1634, HB 1815) and even specific curriculum associated with it such as the 1619 Project (HB 1457).

Other legislation reflecting the societal controversy surrounding CRT is written more broadly. A number of proposed bills prohibit “divisive language” and teaching of systemic inequities and bias related to race (SB 638, SB 645, SB 676, SB 694, SB 734, HB 1484, HB 1554, HB 1669, HB 1767, and HB 1835). HB 1484 and HB 1634 have included Missouri’s public institutions of higher education in the curriculum restrictions.

CRT is not the only issue creating consternation. Tensions between local officials and parents have surfaced or been exacerbated by current events. Attorney General and U.S. Senate candidate Eric Schmitt announced his intention to promote legislation for a “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” The attorney general cannot directly file legislation, but SB 776, SB 810, HB 1474, and HB 1755, all establish a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” to identify specific areas of their child’s schooling to which parents are entitled to receive information and make decisions. HB 1475 and SB 646 prohibit COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students and employees in public education. HB 1475 extends that prohibition to public institutions of higher education.

The Missouri School Boards’ Association made headlines in October for withdrawing from the National School Boards’ Association based on derisive comments written by the NSBA about the behavior of parents at school board meetings. SB 657 and HB 1747 establish procedures by which to recall school board members. HB 1748 outlines recourse available to individuals who feel they have been aggrieved by the willful neglect or refusal of an elected official to perform his or her duties.

Supporting Success

To wrap up this legislative preview on a positive note, the following bills offer examples of specific strategies for supporting student and school success. Some of these bills have been filed in prior sessions; others are being introduced for the first time.

SB 660 - Establishes the Show Me Success Diploma Program, the Competency-Based Education Grant Program, the Competency-Based Education Task Force, and a competency-based credit system for high school students.

SB 662 - Provides for school innovation waivers to exempt schools from specific requirements imposed by statute or regulation if those requirements can be addressed in a more effective, efficient, or economical manner.

SB 681, HB 1556 - Requires literacy and reading coursework for teacher education programs. Requires each local school district and charter school to have reading success plan policy to provide a reading success plan to each K-4 student who exhibits a reading deficiency.

SB 703 - Requires all students have an individual career and academic plan of study prior to 9th grade. Requires students to complete and submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid in order to receive a high school diploma. Requires establishing a procedure by which high school students enrolled in CTE programs can complete an application for aid through the Employment and Training Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor under the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

SB 957 - Establishes the "Workforce Diploma Program" to assist students in obtaining a high school diploma and in developing employability and career and technical skills

HB 1683 - Requires in-state public educational institutions to grant undergraduate course credit for students who score 3 or higher on advance placement examinations.

HB 1770 - Allows school districts to create a differentiated teacher salary schedule in order to recruit and retain teachers in hard-to-staff content areas and hard-to-staff schools.

HB 1814 - Establishes open enrollment procedures to allow students in public schools to transfer to other public schools outside of the district in which they reside.

HB 1856 - Establishes the Extended Learning Opportunities Act to allow students to earn credit toward graduation for approved out-of-classroom learning experiences.

Education policy legislation will vie for attention against other high profile issues certain to be discussed this year, namely redistricting due to population shifts reflected in the 2020 census and health mandates addressing vaccinations, masking, and school and business closures.

New legislation will continue to be filed over the coming weeks. Throughout the session, you can follow House bills here and Senate bills here.

*This information is current as of December 9, 2021.