SCS/HCS/HB 2255 - CAREER READINESS COURSE TASK FORCE: This act establishes the Career Readiness Course Task Force to explore the possibility of a course for 8th and 9th grade students covering topics related to various career and educational opportunities. The Task Force shall be composed of members as set forth in the act and shall serve without compensation. The Task Force shall consider a course that contains certain components, as described in the act. Before December 1, 2019, the Task Force shall present its findings and recommendations to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Joint Committee on Education, and the State Board of Education. Upon presenting such findings and recommendations the Task Force shall dissolve.
These provisions are identical to SCS/SB 873 (2018) and to provisions contained in SCS/HCS/HB 1663 (2018), the truly agreed SS/HCS/HB 1606 (2018), and similar to HCS/HB 1245 (2018), the truly agreed HCS/SS/SCS/SBs 894 & 921 (2018), and HCS/HB 1113 (2017).
STEM INITIATIVE: This act also changes the law regarding the Missouri Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Initiative. Missouri taxpayers who hire a STEM student attending a Missouri college for an internship in the state, or a STEM graduate from a Missouri college for a full-time STEM position in the state, may apply to have up to $10,000 of state tax liability placed in the STEM Fund, subject to appropriation by the General Assembly and approval by the Department of Higher Education. The cumulative amount of taxes that may be transferred to the Fund is capped at an annual total of $200,000 in tax year 2019 and adjusted annually for inflation in each subsequent tax year.
The act repeals provisions allowing endowed teaching professor programs and career enhancement programs to be included on the list of programs eligible for moneys from the STEM Fund.
Subject to appropriation, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) shall create the "STEM Career Awareness Program" to increase STEM career awareness among students in grades six through eight. The statewide program shall introduce students to a wide variety of STEM careers and technology through an online-based STEM curriculum. Before January 1, 2019, DESE shall solicit proposals and select a provider for the online program using specified criteria or choose a third-party nonprofit entity to implement the program, solicit proposals, and select a provider. The program shall be funded by the "STEM Career Awareness Program Fund" and shall be promoted beginning with the 2019-2020 school year.
This provisions are similar to SB 1056 (2018), HB 1532 (2018), HB 1135 (2017), and SB 471 (2017), and substantially similar to provisions contained in SCS/HCS/HB 1623 (2018) and HCS/SS/SCS/SBs 894 & 921 (2018).
JAMIE ANDREWS