Missouri Senate

Perfected

GRADUATION RATE DEFINITION: This act changes the definition of "graduation rate" to be the graduation rate determined by the annual performance report required by the Missouri School Improvement Program.

This provision is identical to a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015). (Section 160.011)

SCHOOL ACCREDITATION: When the State Board of Education assigns classification designations to school districts, it must use one of the following designations: unaccredited, provisionally accredited, accredited, and accredited with distinction.

The State Board of Education must develop and implement a process to provide assistance teams to borderline districts, as determined by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and to underperforming districts upon assignment of such classification or determination by the Department. Teams must have at least ten members, including two active classroom teachers in the district, two principals, and one parent of a student in the district. The Department staff member assigned to the region may be included in the team activities but must not be formally assigned to the team. Teams must provide an analysis of the assessment data, classroom practices, and the communication processes within buildings, in the district, and the community, and also provide prescriptions for improvement based on the district's and community's needs. The team must provide recommendations by June 30, 2016. Assignment of teams must be prioritized so that districts with lower APR scores are addressed first. Suggestions are mandatory for underperforming districts but not for borderline districts. If an underperforming district disagrees with any suggestion of the assistance team, the district must propose a different method of accomplishing what the team has suggested.

This section is identical to a provision in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015), CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014) and is similar to SB 64 (2015), SB 856 (2014) and a provision in SB 993 (2014), and HB 1856 (2014). (Section 161.087)

ATTENDANCE CENTER ACCREDITATION: The State Board of Education must adopt and implement a system of classification that accredits individual attendance centers within a district separately from the district as a whole. Attendance centers must be assigned one of the following classification designations: unaccredited, provisionally accredited, accredited, or accredited with distinction.

The State Board of Education may consider the classification designation of an attendance center in its accreditation classification system to exempt attendance centers with classification numbers outside the range of numbers assigned to high schools, middle schools, junior high schools, or elementary schools. Public separate special education schools within a special school district are exempted from these accreditation requirements. However, a special school district must report all scores on its annual performance report to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for all of its schools. Juvenile detention centers within a special school district are exempt from these accreditation standards.

Any attendance center that does not offer classes above the second grade level will be exempt from the attendance center accreditation requirements and from any requirements relating to statewide assessments.

This act waives the statutory two year delayed effective date for school accreditation rules for this system.

This section is identical to a provision in CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014) and is similar to a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015). (Section 161.238)

STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION INTERVENTION POWERS: This act allows the State Board of Education to lapse the corporate organization of all or part of an unaccredited school district. If the State Board appoints a special administrative board for the operation of a part of an unaccredited school district, the State Board of Education must determine an equitable apportionment of state and federal aid for the part of the district. In addition, the school district must provide local revenue in proportion to the weighted average daily attendance of the part governed by the special administrative board.

The State Board of Education may appoint members of the elected board to a special administrative board but members of the elected board must not comprise more than forty-nine percent of the special administrative board's composition.

Nothing in this provision of law must be construed to permit either the State Board of Education or a special administrative board to raise, in any way not specifically allowed by law, the tax levy of the district or any part of the district without a vote of the people.

This act provides that when the State Board of Education determines another form of governance for an unaccredited district, that other form of governance will be subject to the following provisions of law: it will retain the authority granted to a board of education; it will expire at the end of the third year of its appointment unless reauthorized; it will not be deemed to be the state or a state agency; and it will not be considered a successor entity for purposes of employment contracts, unemployment compensation or any other purpose.

If the State Board of Education reasonably believes that a school district is unlikely to provide for the minimum school term required by section 163.021 because of financial difficulty, the State Board may, prior to the start of the school term, allow continued governance by the existing district school board under terms and conditions established by the state board of education. As an alternative, the State Board may lapse the corporate organization of the district and implement one of the options available to the State Board to intervene in an unaccredited district. However, this provision will not apply to any district solely on the basis of financial difficulty resulting from paying tuition and providing transportation for transfer students.

These provisions are substantially similar to provisions contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015) and CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). (Section 162.081)

VIRTUAL EDUCATION: Currently, when a resident student completes a virtual course offered by his or her school district, the student's attendance upon course completion is calculated as ninety-four percent of the hours of attendance for such class delivered in a non-virtual program. This act provides that when a student is a candidate for A+ tuition reimbursements, the school must attribute no less than ninety-five percent of attendance to the student's completion of the virtual course.

This provision is identical to HB 1895 (2014) and a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015) and CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). (Section 162.1250)

Unaccredited districts are responsible for notifying students and parents or guardians of the school district funded virtual school option. However, the decision to enroll in virtual school coursework is up to the student and parent or guardian. The availability of a virtual school program in an unaccredited district must not be used by the district to prevent a student from transferring to an adjoining district. (Section 162.1250)

A parent or guardian residing in a lapsed school district or a district that has scored either unaccredited or provisionally accredited, or a combination thereof, may enroll his or her child in a virtual school operated by a district or charter school that meets the requirements of section 162.1250. (Section 167.121)

TRANSIENT STUDENT TEST SCORES: This act establishes how the test scores of a transient student are included in a district's overall scores. This act defines a transient student as a student who transfers from one school building to any other school building two or more times in one school year.

In the first year of attendance in a district, a transient student's score on a statewide assessment will not be included when calculating the status or progress scores on the district’s annual performance report scores. The growth score will be weighted at one hundred percent. In the second year of attendance, a transient student’s score on a statewide assessment will be weighted on fifty percent when calculating the district’s performance for purposes of the district's annual performance report status or progress score, with the growth score weighted at one hundred percent. (Section 162.1305)

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must compile and maintain student performance data scores of all transient students and students enrolled in a district other than the district of residence. This data must be available on the Missouri comprehensive data system but no personally identifiable data must be accessible there. (Section 167.890)

HOME VISITS: The school board of any district that operates an underperforming school must adopt a policy regarding the availability of home visits by school personnel. The school board's policy may offer to the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in any such school the opportunity to have at least one annual home visit and must offer an opportunity for a meeting at the school or a mutually agreeable site.

This section is identical to a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015) and CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). (Section 162.1312)

WEIGHTED AVERAGE DAILY ATTENDANCE & CHARTER SCHOOLS: When a local school board sponsors a charter school, it may only submit an estimate of the district's weighted average daily attendance for the current year. The school board will be prohibited from using a weighted average daily attendance count from any preceding year for purposes of determining state aid.

This section is identical to a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015), CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014) and is identical to SB 547 (2014) and SB 390 (2013).

K-8 SCHOOL DISTRICTS: Currently, the school board of a school district that does not maintain an accredited school is required to pay the tuition and transportation of resident pupils who attend an accredited school in another district of the same or an adjoining county. This provision of law currently applies to both unaccredited school districts and K-8 school districts that do not offer high school grades. This act repeals the provisions applicable to unaccredited school districts so that the statute only applies to K-8 school districts. (Section 167.131)

TUITION RATES FOR TRANSFER STUDENTS: A school district or approved charter school that receives transfer students from an unaccredited district may negotiate with the unaccredited district to accept a reduced tuition rate. If the receiving district or school chooses to accept a reduced tuition rate, it will receive students based solely on the parent request and available seats. The calculation for the reduced tuition rate is described in the act. (Section 167.132)

TRANSPORTATION: Currently, the school board of an unaccredited district must designate accredited districts to which it will provide transportation for transfer students. This act instead requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to identify at least one accredited district to which an unaccredited district must provide transportation. If the designated district reaches full capacity, the Department must designate at least one additional district.

This section is identical to a provision contained in the introduced version of SB 49 (2015) and is substantially similar to SB 535 (2014). (Section 167.241)

READING, PERSONALIZED LEARNING PLANS, STUDENT RETENTION: This act requires, beginning July 1, 2016, all public schools in the St. Louis City School District and Kansas City School District, including charter schools, to use a response-to-intervention tiered approach to reading instruction for students determined by their school to be struggling readers. At a minimum, the reading levels of students in kindergarten through tenth grade must be assessed at the beginning and middle of the school year. Students who score below district benchmarks must be provided with intensive, systemic reading instruction.

Beginning on January 1, 2016, and each January thereafter, each public school in the St. Louis City School District and Kansas City School District, including charter schools, must prepare a personalized learning plan for any kindergarten or first grade student whose most recent school-wide reading assessment result shows the student is below grade level. Certain exceptions exist from this requirement for students with an IEP or a Section 504 Plan. For any student with a personalized learning plan, the student's main teacher must consult with the student's parent or guardian about the plan and must have consent to implement it. If a student is still performing below grade level through the end of the first grade year, the school must refer him or her for assessment to determine if an IEP is necessary. If an IEP is not necessary, the personalized learning plan must remain in place until the student is at grade level.

Any student who is not reading at the second grade level in the St. Louis City School District and the Kansas City School District by the end of second grade may be promoted to third grade only if: the school provides additional reading instruction during the summer and demonstrates the student is ready for third grade at the end of summer school; if the school provides a "looping" classroom in which the student remains with the same teacher for multiple years and the student is not reading at the third grade level by the end of third grade, the student must be retained; or the student's parents or guardians may sign a notice that they prefer to have the student promoted except that the school will have final determination to retain.

The St. Louis City School District, the Kansas City School District, and each charter school located in them must provide in the annual school accountability report card the numbers and percentages by grade of any students at grade level who have been promoted but who have been determined as reading below grade level.

School districts and charter schools subject to this requirement may provide for a student promotion and retention program and a reading instruction program that are equivalent to those which are described in this section with the oversight and approval of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

This section is identical to a provision contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015), SB 161 (2015), and is substantially similar to a provision contained in CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014) and is substantially similar to HB 2214 (2010). (Section 167.730)

STUDENT TRANSFERS FROM UNACCREDITED DISTRICTS: A student who is enrolled in and has attended an unaccredited school in an unaccredited district for at least one semester may transfer to another accredited school in the district of residence that offers the student's grade level of enrollment. As an alternative, such a student may transfer to an approved charter school in an adjoining county or in St. Louis City or to an accredited district in the same or an adjoining county or in St. Louis City that agrees to accept transfers for a reduced tuition rate, as described in the act. However, student transfers from an unaccredited school to an accredited school in the student's district of residence cannot result in a class size and assigned enrollment in the receiving school that exceeds the standard level for class size and assigned enrollment under the Missouri School Improvement Program resource standards. The school board of each unaccredited district must determine the capacity at each of the district's accredited schools. The district's school board is responsible for coordinating transfers from unaccredited schools to accredited schools within the district. The school board must report to the appropriate education authority the number of available slots in accredited schools, the number of students who request to transfer within the district, and the number of transfer requests that are granted. The sponsor of any approved charter school or the board of any accredited district in the same or an adjoining county or that elects to accept transfers for the reduced tuition rate may limit the number of transfer students accepted at the reduced tuition rate. (Section 167.826)

A student who is enrolled in and attends for at least one semester an unaccredited school in an unaccredited district who is unable to transfer to an accredited school in the district of residence or to an approved charter school or another district at the reduced tuition rate may apply to the appropriate education authority to transfer to an accredited school in an accredited district in the same or an adjoining county. A student may also enroll in an approved charter school. A student who is eligible to begin kindergarten or first grade at an unaccredited school in an unaccredited district may apply to the appropriate education authority for a transfer if he or she resides in the attendance area of an unaccredited school in an unaccredited district on March 1 preceding the school year of first attendance. A student who does not apply by March 1 is required to enroll and attend for one semester to become eligible. Any transfer student who does not maintain residence in the attendance zone of his or her unaccredited school in the unaccredited district will lose transfer eligibility. In addition, a student who withdraws from the transfer will also lose transfer eligibility. (Section 167.826)

Unaccredited and provisionally accredited districts and schools are not eligible to receive transfer students. However, a student who chooses to attend a provisionally accredited school in the unaccredited district may do so if there is an available slot. In addition, no district or school with a three-year average score of seventy-five percent or lower on its annual performance report is eligible to receive transfer students, except for any student who was granted a transfer prior to the effective date of this act. A student may transfer to an accredited school within an unaccredited or provisionally accredited district if the accredited school applies for and is granted a waiver by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to receive transfer students. (Section 167.826)

Districts that receive student transfers are not required to do any of the following (unless they choose to do so): exceed the class size and assignment enrollment standards of a district-approved policy on class size; hire additional classroom teachers; or construct additional classrooms. (Section 167.826)

Each receiving district and charter school has the right to establish a policy for desirable class size and student-teacher ratios based on objective means and will not be required to accept any transfer students that would violate its policy. A policy may allow for estimated growth in the resident student population. A charter school may use the class size, student-teacher ratios, and growth projections for student enrollment in its charter and charter application. A district or charter school that adopts a policy must do so by January 1. If a transfer student is denied admission based on a lack of space under a policy, the student may appeal to the State Board of Education. The State Board may limit the policy if it finds the policy is unduly restrictive to student transfers. The State Board's decision is final. (Section 167.826)

Each receiving district must adopt a policy establishing a tuition rate by February first annually. (Section 167.826)

If an unaccredited district becomes classified as provisionally accredited or fully accredited, any resident student who transferred will be permitted to continue his or her educational program in the receiving district or charter school through the completion of middle school, junior high school, or high school, whichever occurs first, as described in the act. (Section 167.826)

Any student who was participating in the school transfer program prior to January 1, 2015, will have the option to transfer to a virtual school, approved charter school, or another public school in the district of residence that offers the student's grade level of enrollment. (Section 167.826)

When costs associated with the provision of special education and related services to a student with a disability exceed the tuition amount, the unaccredited district is responsible for paying the excess costs to the receiving district. When the receiving district is a component district of a special school district, the unaccredited district must contract with the special school district for the entirety of the costs to provide special education and related services, excluding transportation. The special school district may contract with an unaccredited district for the provision of transportation. A special school district must continue to provide special education and related services, with the exception of transportation, to a student with a disability transferring from an unaccredited district within the same or a different component district. (Section 167.826)

If the St. Louis City School District is unaccredited, it is responsible for the provision of special education and related services, including transportation to students with disabilities. A special school district may contract with the St. Louis City School District, as described in the act. (Section 167.826)

Regardless of whether transportation is identified as a related service, a receiving district that is not part of a special school district is not responsible for providing transportation. An unaccredited district may contract with a receiving district that is not part of a special school district for transportation. When districts other than St. Louis City are unaccredited, they may contract with a receiving district that is not part of a special school district for the reimbursement of special education services. (Section 167.826)

By August 1, 2015, and by January 1 annually, each accredited district in the same or an adjoining county as an unaccredited district must report to the appropriate regional education authority the number of its available enrollment slots by grade level. Each unaccredited district must report the number of available enrollment slots in the district's accredited schools. Each charter school in the unaccredited district that wishes to receive transfer students must do so as well. (Section 167.827)

Each education authority with an unaccredited district in its geographic area must make information and assistance available to parents who intend to transfer their child to an accredited district or to an approved charter school. Parents who intend to transfer their child must send initial notification to the appropriate education authority by March 1. The education authority will assign transfer students, as space allows. The education authority will give first priority to students who live in the same household with family members within the first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity who have already transferred to an accredited school and apply to transfer to the same accredited school. If insufficient enrollment slots are available for a student to transfer, that student will receive first priority the following school year. The authority is only able to disrupt student and parent choice for transfers if a receiving district's available slots are requested by more students than there are slots available. The authority must consider the following factors in assigning schools: the student's or parent's choice of the receiving school (most important); the best interests of the student; the availability of transportation funding; and distance and travel time. The authority must not consider student academic performance; student free and reduced lunch status; or athletics. (Section 167.827)

An education authority may deny a transfer to a student, who in the most recent school year, has been suspended from school two or more times or has been suspended for an act of school violence, as described in the act. A student whose transfer is initially precluded because of suspension for an act of school violence may be permitted to transfer on a provisional basis as a probationary transfer student, as described in the act. (Section 167.827)

These provisions are substantially similar to provisions contained in CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). (Sections 167.826 & 167.827)

REGIONAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES: This act creates three separate regional education authorities to coordinate student transfers, one for the St. Louis region, a second authority for the Kansas City area, and a third authority for the rest of the state. Each authority will consist of five members who must be residents of their covered area, as described in the act, appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, who will serve for a term of six years. The Education Authority must coordinate and collaborate with local districts and local governments for the student transfers. Parents who want to transfer their child must notify the appropriate regional education authority by March 1. The education authority will assign students to districts using an admissions process, as described in the act.

These provisions are substantially similar to provisions contained in SCS/SBs 1, 22, 49 & 70 (2015) and are similar to provisions contained in CCS/HCS/SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). (Sections 167.830 to 167.845)

DEFINITIONS: Definitions governing the student transfer portions of this act are provided. (Section 167.848)

CONVEYANCE OF SCHOOL DISTRICT FACILITIES: This act requires the school board of any district in which a charter school may be operated to convey to any charter school in the district any school building and grounds that is not occupied by the district for a sum equal to the fair market value based on an independent appraisal. A district's building will be deemed "occupied" if it is used for the education of children between the ages of four and twenty-one for at least three hours a day for a school term.

The charter school must submit to the district a written proposal for the charter school to bring the property into compliance with all applicable building and occupancy codes and for paying the costs for operating a school, as described in the act. The district will have sixty days from receipt of this proposal to respond. If the district does not affirmatively reject the proposal within the sixty day period, the proposal will be deemed to be accepted and the district must convey fee title to the property to the charter school.

The district may reject the proposal by providing a letter to the charter school within sixty days specifically stating the grounds for rejection. The charter school may appeal within thirty days to the Commissioner of Education, as described in the act. The Commissioner's decision may be appealed to a circuit court.

For any property conveyed to a charter school, the district will retain a reversionary interest in the event the charter school ceases operations.

The district's school board must list on its website any buildings that are not occupied. (Section 177.031)

This act contains an emergency clause.

MICHAEL RUFF