2022 Missouri Legislative Session Conclusions

Education Legislation Rises Above the Fray and Scores Significant Late Wins

By: Stacey Preis, Ph.D.

The Missouri General Assembly finished a tumultuous year on Friday, May 13. The Senate adjourned early Thursday evening after “relieving” the Senate redistricting committee from advancing the bill that will redraw U.S. congressional district boundaries taking it straight to the floor for a vote where it passed 22-11. Several non-education bills generated contentious debates that overshadowed most of the session, but none more so than the redistricting bill.

Federal Funds Boost Education Spending

With federal relief funds flowing into the state, the legislature passed a record $49 billion state budget that allowed them to fully fund Medicaid expansion, invest in infrastructure needs, and still provide a $500 tax credit to taxpayers earning less than $150,000 per year (less than $300,000 for a married couple filing jointly). PreK-12 education fared very well. Legislators appropriated $3.56 billion to fund the foundation formula. Student transportation received $328 million, the state’s full share of funding which was last fully funded in 1991.

Teacher salaries also received increases, both through a $22 million appropriation to raise starting salaries from $25,000 to $38,000 and through a $37 million appropriation to the Career Ladder program which provides salary stipends to teachers for additional duties. The teacher salary increase requires local districts to pay 30 percent of the cost of the increases.

In addition, federal relief funds were appropriated for aid to underperforming schools to improve student achievement ($5.8 million), “Close the Gap” grants of $1,500 to families to provide academic support for students ($50 million), mental health support initiatives ($19.1 million), “Read, Lead, Exceed” program ($26.9 million), and a number of other initiatives and programs.

A Strong Finish for Education Legislation

By mid-week of the final week, the General Assembly had not yet passed any education legislation. By the end of the week, SB 681--pre-filed in December as a reading improvement bill--would become the vehicle that would carry numerous provisions on various education issues across the finish line. In the end, SS #2/HCS/SS/SCS/SBs 681 & 662 passed by large margins (House 125-5, Senate 29-4). In addition to reading improvement, the bill includes

Get the Lead Out of School Drinking Water Act

· changes to adult high schools

· changes to the Missouri Advisory Board for Educator Preparation

· school innovation waivers

· Holocaust education

· school board community engagement

· reporting schools in the bottom 5% in achievement

· school board subdistricts

· gifted education programs

· special education reimbursement (high needs fund)

· dollar value modifier adjustment for certain school districts

· Braille instruction

· substance abuse recovery high schools

· Visiting Scholars certificate expansion

· substitute teaching requirements

· requirements of computer science courses

· computer science education task force

· suicide awareness and prevention

· attendance hour counts for half-day educational programs

· workforce diploma program

· Imagination Library of Missouri

· literacy advisory council

· definition of a “school bus” for the purpose of transporting students

· attendance options for property owners in multiple districts

· competency-based education grants and competency-based education task force

· mental health awareness training

· credit for AP examinations

· modifications of teacher and school employee retirement systems

· health plans for students with seizure disorders

· teacher and school employee retirement allowances

Another closely watched bill this session was HB 1552 which addressed charter school funding equity. After years of negotiation with stakeholders, the bill received final passage. It clarifies the local funds due to charter schools and how those funds will be distributed. Charter schools currently operate only within the boundaries of St. Louis Public Schools (SLPS) and Kansas City Public Schools. Stakeholders in Kansas City were engaged in the negotiations throughout the process. St. Louis stakeholders said that a pending lawsuit involving SLPS and St. Louis charter schools held them back from fully engaging. In the Senate floor substitute, language was added that made changes and clarifications on virtual schools including provisions on student enrollment and school accountability.

SB 718 designates the third week of September as “Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week” in Missouri. This bill became a vehicle that carried several additional provisions through to final passage including

· adding dual enrollment to the dual credit scholarship program and lifting the $500 cap on the scholarship

· requiring all 9th graders to complete an individual career and academic plan

· modifying the definition of computer science courses

· developing the “Workforce Diploma Program” for adult dropout recovery and workforce development

· printing suicide prevention and crisis lifeline information on student ID cards

· requiring public higher education institutions to award credit for a score of 3 on an advanced placement examination

· providing bankruptcy protection for MOST 529 plan beneficiaries.

An amendment for a Senate substitute that added the Save Women’s Sports Act would have barred transgender females from participating in female collegiate sports. The amendment was defeated 11-16 by a bipartisan majority in the Senate.

Other bills that had received much attention—and scrutiny—early in the session did not make it through final passage. HJR 110 was a proposed constitutional amendment to create a Parents’ Bill of Rights. Though initially perfected by voice vote, the bill was recommitted to the Committee on Rules-Legislative Oversight and was defeated 60-81 on the second perfection vote. Another Parents’ Bill of Rights bill, HB 1858, made it far along in the process but ultimately died in the Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee. Numerous bills restricting classroom instruction, either by explicitly prohibiting teaching “critical race theory” or by implication in prohibiting teaching using “divisive concepts”, received much attention early in the session. Many of those bills were voted out of committee but went no further.

Throughout the session, longtime observers of state politics questioned whether any substantive legislation would pass in the midst of such acrimony. However, a bipartisan group of legislators worked together tirelessly on education legislation throughout the session, and in the end, were rewarded for their efforts. Senator Cindy O’Laughlin, who displayed solid leadership throughout the session and grace under pressure in the final days, presumably will return as the chair of the Senate Education Committee next session. Representative Chuck Basye, Chair of the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee, served his final term this year. He navigated a very large and sometimes unwieldy committee through a wide range of education issues. Ending on a high note, he shepherded SB 681 through its final vote even sacrificing some of his own priorities along the way.