Senate Committee Substitute

CURRICULUM (Section 160.516)

This act provides that each local school board and charter school governing board shall be required to approve and adopt the curriculum at least two months prior to implementation. Each school board and governing board shall adopt policies to ensure that the approved and adopted curricula are properly implemented in the classroom.

At least five years of data relating to students' state assessment scores shall be posted in the same section as the curricula on the district's or charter school's website. The assessment data shall also be posted on the newly created Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal.

PARENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS ACT OF 2023 (Section 161.841)

This act creates the "Parents' Bill of Rights Act of 2023", which shall be construed to empower parents to enforce rights, as delineated in the act, to access records maintained by public schools in which their children are enrolled. The act defines a "school" as a public school, school district, charter school, or virtual school authorized under the provisions of the Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program.

No school shall require nondisclosure agreements for a parent's review of curricula, and each school shall allow parents, upon request, to make a copy of curriculum documents or to receive such documents in an electronic format, provided that no request would cause an infringement of federal copyright protections. Where the curricular materials being made available to parents for review are subject to copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property protection, the review process shall include technical and procedural safeguards to ensure that the materials are not able to be widely disseminated to the general public in violation of the intellectual property rights of the publisher and that content validity is not undermined.

No school shall collect any biometric data of a minor child without obtaining parental consent, except for biometric data necessary to create and issue appropriate school identification cards.

Finally, each school shall notify parents of all reported incidents directly pertaining to their student's safety that result in any criminal charge against a teacher, school employee, or any visitor or guest.

This provision is similar to provisions in HCS/HB 482 (2023), HCS/SS#2/SB 761 (2022), SS/SCS/SB 741 (2022), HB 2195 (2022), HB 1858 (2022), and HB 1474 (2022).

MISSOURI EDUCATION TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY PORTAL (Section 161.852)

The Commissioner of Education shall establish the Missouri Education Transparency and Accountability Portal to provide citizens with access to every school district's curriculum, textbooks, source materials, and syllabi, as provided in the act. The act defines a "school" as a public school, school district, charter school, or virtual school authorized under the provisions of the Missouri Course Access and Virtual School Program.

The portal shall include the cost associated with speakers and guests used by a school in its professional development activities. The portal shall include names of presenters and distributed materials from all administrator, teacher, and staff professional development and instructional programs offered to schools regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion or social and emotional learning. The portal shall include information about school board members and their terms of office. The portal shall also include an easy-to-search database of certain public school financial transactions. Finally, for programs offered to schools by third-party contractors, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall maintain data on such programs as described in the act.

This provision is similar to provisions in SB 158 (2023), HB 482 (2023), SB 645 (2022), SB 810 (2022), HCS/HB 1858 (2022), HCS/HBs 1995 & 1474 (2022), and HCS/HB 2189 (2022).

DISCUSSION OF CERTAIN CONCEPTS AND BELIEFS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS (Section 170.355)

The act provides that no school or school employee, as the term "school" is defined in the act, shall compel teachers to teach, or compel a student or teacher to personally adopt or profess, a position or viewpoint that a reasonable person would conclude violates certain public policies described in the act. Such viewpoints include, but are not limited to, the notion that individuals of any race, ethnicity, color, or national origin are inherently superior or inferior to others, or that individuals, by virtue of their race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by others. No school may require a student or employee to attend or participate in a training, instruction, or therapy that a reasonable person would believe violates this provision.

Courses on critical race theory or units of study on critical race theory within a course shall not be offered by any public elementary or secondary school or by any preschool, early childhood education program, or pre-kindergarten program offered by a public school district or charter school.

The provisions of the act shall not be construed to prohibit constitutionally protected speech, access to research or study materials, or the discussion or assignment of materials for educational purposes.

Any employee of a school district that discloses a violation of this provision shall be protected from any manner of retaliation as provided by current law.

If a parent learns that a teacher is in violation of the act, and such violation is occurring throughout the school district, the parent may file a complaint with the Department, which shall send the complaint to the State Board of Education. The Board shall hold a contested case hearing between the parent and the school district within 30 days of receiving such complaint. Upon a determination by the Board that a violation is occurring, a penalty as stated in the act shall apply.

If a public school or public charter school knowingly violates this provision, or if an employee of a public school or public charter school knowingly violates this provision, the public school or public charter school where such violation occurred shall be liable to the injured party in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, and subject to a civil penalty of five hundred dollars per occurrence. Any person injured under the act shall have standing to pursue an action in the circuit court of Cole County. The court shall hold a hearing on the motion for temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction within thirty days of service of the petition. In such action, the court may award the pursuing party, other than the state of Missouri or any political subdivision of the state, reasonable attorney fees and costs.

This provision is similar to provisions in SB 158 (2023), HCS/HB 482 (2023), HCS/SS#2/SB 761 (2022), HCS/HB 1858 (2022), HCS/HBs 1995 & 1474 (2022), and HCS/HB 2428 (2022).

PATRIOTIC AND CIVICS TRAINING PROGRAM (Section 170.370)

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall develop a patriotic and civics training program to prepare teachers to teach the principles of American civics and patriotism. Subject to appropriation, each teacher who completes the training shall receive a one-time bonus of three thousand dollars to be paid by the Department. This provision is similar to SB 137 (2023), SB 1175 (2022) and HB 2902 (2022).

OLIVIA SHANNON