Missouri Senate

House Committee Substitute

MABEP: This act establishes the "Missouri Advisory Board for Educator Preparation" (MABEP) within the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to advise the State Board of Education and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education regarding matters of mutual interest in the area of quality educator preparation programs in Missouri. (Section 161.097)

LAW SCHOOL ACCREDITATION: This act repeals the authority of the State Board of Education to accredit a graduate law school. (Section 161.097)

COMMUNITY COLLEGES: Beginning in fiscal year 2016, at least ninety percent of an increase in core funding over the appropriated amount for the previous fiscal year must be distributed in accordance with institutional performance measures.

The Department of Higher Education is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the community college resource allocation model and submit a report to the Governor, the Joint Committee on Education, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tem of the Senate by October 31, 2019. (Section 163.191)

INTERSTATE RECIPROCITY FOR THE DELIVERY OF POSTSECONDARY DISTANCE EDUCATION: This act grants the Coordinating Board for Higher Education the responsibility to enter into agreements for interstate reciprocity regarding the delivery of postsecondary distance education. The Coordinating Board will have responsibility for approving or disapproving applications from postsecondary education institutions with their principal campus located in Missouri to participate in such agreements.

The Coordinating Board must establish standards for institutional approval, including the following: a definition of physical presence for non-Missouri institutions serving Missouri residents consistent with other states' definition of physical presence; establishment of consumer protection policies for distance education addressing recruitment, marketing activities, disclosure of tuition, fees, admission processes and procedures; and student complaints. The Coordinating Board must establish policies for the review and resolution of student complaints.

The Coordinating Board may charge fees to any institution that applies to participate in an interstate reciprocity agreement. Fees cannot exceed the Coordinating Board's cost of reviewing and evaluation the applications.

INSTITUTIONAL PERFORMANCE MEASURES: This act repeals the requirement that performance measures for higher education institutions be adopted by July 1, 2008. Instead, this act references the performance measures that the Coordinating Board has adopted for each public four-year institution of higher education, each community college, and State Technical College of Missouri for performance funding purposes. Five measures have been adopted for each institution. Institutional performance measures must include, but need not be limited to, student retention, graduation rates, student job placement in a field or position associated with the student's degree level, and pursuit of a graduate degree. However, the job placement measure may not be used in any year in which the state unemployment rate has increased from the previous year's state unemployment rate.

The Coordinating Board must evaluate and revise, if necessary, the performance measures every three years beginning in calendar year 2019 or more frequently. The Department of Higher Education is responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of the performance funding measures and must submit a report to the Governor, the Joint Committee on Education, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the President Pro Tem of the Senate by October 31, 2019. (Section 173.1006)

PUBLIC FOUR-YEAR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION: This act requires each public four-year institution of higher education to annually prepare an institutional budget request and submit it to the Department of Higher Education. The Department must review them and prepare annual appropriation recommendations for each public four-year institution of higher education.

This act requires the cooperative development of an increase allocation model by the public four-year institutions of higher education and the Department of Higher Education. The Department must recommend the model to the Coordinating Board for Higher Education for its approval by October 31, 2014.

The appropriation of core-funding increases in state funding to public four-year institutions of higher education must be in accordance with the increase allocation model. The core funding level for each institution public four-year institution will be the appropriated amount for fiscal year 2015. Increases must be incorporated into the core funding level in accordance with the increase allocation model in fiscal year 2016.

This act establishes parameters for how annual increases in appropriations are distributed through the increase allocation model. No more than ten percent of any increase in core appropriations will be distributed to address inequitable state funding on a per student basis, as determined by calculating full-time equivalency or on such bases as determined by the Department and institutions. Any inequity that results from performance funding measures must not be considered when distributing funds to address inequitable state funding. No more than ten percent of any increase in core appropriations will be distributed based on weighted full-time equivalent credit hours so as to provide enrollment, program offering, and mission sensitivity on an ongoing basis. At least ninety percent of the increase will be distributed based on the institutional performance measures.

The Department must evaluate the increase allocation model's effectiveness and submit a report to the Governor, the Joint Committee on Education, the President Pro Tem of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by October 31, 2019 and every four years thereafter. (Section 173.1540)

STATE TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF MISSOURI: Beginning in fiscal year 2016, at least ninety percent of any annual increase in core funding over the previous year will be distributed in accordance with the institutional performance measures. (Section 178.638)

This act contains provisions similar to HCS/HB 1390 (2014), SB 699 (2014), HCS/HB 1389 (2014), and HCS/HB 1949 (2014).

MICHAEL RUFF