FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 208
90TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS HOUSE AND EHLMANN.
Read 1st time January 6, 1999, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
S0670.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 160.545, 161.097, 173.005 and 173.210, RSMo 1994, relating to higher education, and to enact in lieu thereof seven new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Sections 160.545, 161.097, 173.005 and 173.210, RSMo 1994, are repealed and seven new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 160.545, 160.546, 161.097, 161.100, 173.005, 173.006 and 173.210, to read as follows:
160.545. 1. There is hereby established within the department of elementary and secondary education the "A+ Schools Program" to be administered by the commissioner of education. The program shall consist of grant awards made to public secondary schools that demonstrate a commitment to ensure that:
(1) All students be graduated from school;
(2) All students complete a selection of high school studies that is challenging and for which there are identified learning expectations; and
(3) All students proceed from high school graduation to a college or postsecondary vocational or technical school or high wage job with work place skill development opportunities.
2. The state board of education shall promulgate rules and regulations for the approval of grants made under the program to schools that:
(1) Establish measurable district-wide performance standards for the goals of the program outlined in subsection 1 of this section; and
(2) Specify the knowledge, skills and competencies, in measurable terms, that students must demonstrate to successfully complete any individual course offered by the school, and any course of studies which will qualify a student for graduation from the school; and
(3) Do not offer a general track of courses that, upon completion, can lead to a high school diploma; and
(4) Require rigorous coursework with standards of competency in basic academic subjects for students pursuing vocational and technical education as prescribed by rule and regulation of the state board of education; and
(5) Have a partnership plan developed in cooperation and with the advice of local business persons, labor leaders, parents, and representatives of college and postsecondary vocational and technical school representatives, with the plan then approved by the local board of education. The plan shall specify a mechanism to receive information on an annual basis from those who developed the plan in addition to senior citizens, community leaders, and teachers to update the plan in order to best meet the goals of the program as provided in subsection 1 of this section. Further, the plan shall detail the procedures used in the school to identify students that may drop out of school and the intervention services to be used to meet the needs of such students. The plan shall outline counseling and mentoring services provided to students who will enter the work force upon graduation from high school, address apprenticeship and intern programs, and shall contain procedures for the recruitment of volunteers from the community of the school to serve in schools receiving program grants.
3. By rule and regulation, the state board of education may determine a local school district variable fund match requirement in order for a school or schools in the district to receive a grant under the program. However, no school in any district shall receive a grant under the program unless the district designates a salaried employee to serve as the program coordinator, with the district assuming a minimum of one-half the cost of the salary and other benefits provided to the coordinator. Further, no school in any district shall receive a grant under the program unless the district makes available facilities and services for adult literacy training as specified by rule of the state board of education.
4. For any school that meets the requirements for the approval of the grants authorized by this section and specified in subsection 2 of this section for three successive school years, by August first following the third such school year, the commissioner of education shall present a plan to the superintendent of the school district in which such school is located for the waiver of rules and regulations to promote flexibility in the operations of the school and to enhance and encourage efficiency in the delivery of instructional services in the school. The provisions of other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the plan presented to the superintendent shall provide a summary waiver, with no conditions, for the pupil testing requirements pursuant to section 160.257 in the school. Further, the provisions of other law to the contrary notwithstanding, the plan shall detail a means for the waiver of requirements otherwise imposed on the school related to the authority of the state board of education to classify school districts pursuant to subdivision (9) of section 161.092, RSMo, and such other rules and regulations as determined by the commissioner of education, except such waivers shall be confined to the school and not other schools in the school district unless such other schools meet the requirements of this subsection. However, any waiver provided to any school as outlined in this subsection shall be void on June thirtieth of any school year in which the school fails to meet the requirements for the approval of the grants authorized by this section as specified in subsection 2 of this section.
5. Within the amount appropriated for the program, in addition to the grants to public schools authorized by subsections 1 to 3 of this section, the commissioner of education shall, by rule and regulation of the state board of education and with the advice of the coordinating board for higher education, establish a procedure for the reimbursement of the cost of tuition, books and fees to any public community college or vocational or technical school or four-year approved public or private institution of higher education defined in section 173.205, RSMo, for any student:
(1) Who has attended a public high school in the state for at least three years immediately prior to graduation that meets the requirements of subsection 2 of this section; and
(2) Who has made a good faith effort to first secure all available federal sources of funding that could be applied to the reimbursement described in this subsection; and
(3) Who has earned a minimal grade average while in high school as determined by rule of the state board of education, and other requirements for the reimbursement authorized by this subsection as determined by rule and regulation of said board.
6. The reimbursement provided pursuant to subsection 5 of this section for students attending schools other than public community colleges or vocational or technical schools shall be limited to the cost of books plus the statewide average tuition and fee charges at the in-district rate at Missouri public community colleges as determined by the coordinating board for higher education for the previous year.
7. The commissioner of education shall develop a procedure for evaluating the effectiveness of the program described in this section. Such evaluation shall be conducted annually with the results of the evaluation provided to the governor, speaker of the house, and president pro tempore of the senate.
160.546. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is promulgated under the authority of this chapter, shall become effective only if the agency has fully complied with all of the requirements of chapter 536, RSMo, including but not limited to, section 536.028, RSMo, if applicable, after the effective date of this act. All rulemaking authority delegated prior to the effective date of this act is of no force and effect and repealed as of the effective date of this act, however nothing in this act shall be interpreted to repeal or affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act. If the provisions of section 536.028, RSMo, apply, the provisions of this section are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to section 536.028 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule or portion of a rule are held unconstitutional or invalid, the purported grant of rulemaking authority and any rule so proposed and contained in the order of rulemaking shall be invalid and void, except that nothing in this act shall affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act.
161.097. 1. The state board of education shall establish standards and procedures by which it will evaluate all teacher training institutions in this state for the approval of teacher education programs. The state board of education shall not require teacher training institutions to meet national or regional accreditation as a part of its standards and procedures in making those evaluations, but it may accept such accreditations in lieu of such approval if standards and procedures set thereby are at least as stringent as those set by the board. The state board of education's standards and procedures for evaluating teacher training institutions shall equal or exceed those of national or regional accrediting associations. The state board of education shall approve any teacher education programs of any institution defined in section 173.205, RSMo.
2. Upon approval by the state board of education of the teacher education program at a particular teacher training institution, any person who graduates from that program, and who meets other requirements which the state board of education shall prescribe by rule, regulation and statute shall be granted a certificate or license to teach in the public schools of this state. However, no such rule or regulation shall require that the program from which the person graduates be accredited by any national or regional accreditation association.
3. Notwithstanding any provision in the law to the contrary, the state board of education may accredit a graduate law school and any graduate of such an accredited law school shall be allowed to take the examination for admission to the bar of Missouri.
161.100. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is promulgated under the authority of this chapter, shall become effective only if the agency has fully complied with all of the requirements of chapter 536, RSMo, including but not limited to, section 536.028, RSMo, if applicable, after the effective date of this act. All rulemaking authority delegated prior to the effective date of this act is of no force and effect and repealed as of the effective date of this act, however nothing in this act shall be interpreted to repeal or affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act. If the provisions of section 536.028, RSMo, apply, the provisions of this section are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to section 536.028 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule or portion of a rule are held unconstitutional or invalid, the purported grant of rulemaking authority and any rule so proposed and contained in the order of rulemaking shall be invalid and void, except that nothing in this act shall affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act.
173.005. 1. There is hereby created a "Department of Higher Education", and the division of higher education of the department of education is abolished and all its powers, duties, functions, personnel and property are transferred as provided by this act.
2. The commission on higher education is abolished and all its powers, duties, personnel and property are transferred by type I transfer to the "Coordinating Board for Higher Education", which is hereby created, and the coordinating board shall be the head of the department. The coordinating board shall consist of nine members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate, and not more than five of its members shall be of the same political party. None of the members shall be engaged professionally as an educator or educational administrator at the time appointed or during his term. The other qualifications, terms and compensation of the coordinating board shall be the same as provided by law for the curators of the University of Missouri. The coordinating board may, in order to carry out the duties prescribed for it in subsections 1, 2, 3, 7, and 8 of this section, employ such professional, clerical and research personnel as may be necessary to assist it in performing those duties, but this staff shall not, in any fiscal year, exceed twenty-five full-time equivalent employees regardless of the source of funding. In addition to all other powers, duties and functions transferred to it, the coordinating board for higher education shall have the following duties and responsibilities:
(1) The coordinating board for higher education shall have approval of proposed new degree programs to be offered by the state institutions of higher education;
(2) In consultation with the heads of the institutions of higher education affected and against a background of carefully collected data on enrollment, physical facilities, manpower needs, institutional missions, the coordinating board for higher education shall establish guidelines for appropriation requests by those institutions of higher education; however, other provisions of this act notwithstanding, all funds shall be appropriated by the general assembly to the governing board of each public four-year institution of higher education which shall prepare expenditure budgets for the institution;
(3) No new state supported senior colleges or residence centers shall be established except as provided by law and with approval of the coordinating board for higher education;
(4) The coordinating board for higher education shall establish admission guidelines consistent with institutional missions;
(5) The coordinating board shall establish policies and procedures for institutional decisions relating to the residence status of students;
(6) The coordinating board shall establish guidelines to promote and facilitate the transfer of students between institutions of higher education within the state;
(7) The coordinating board shall collect the necessary information and develop comparable data for all institutions of higher education in the state. The coordinating board shall use this information to delineate the areas of competence of each of these institutions and for any other purposes deemed appropriate by the coordinating board;
(8) Compliance with requests from the coordinating board for institutional information and the other powers, duties and responsibilities, herein assigned to the coordinating board, shall be a prerequisite to the receipt of any funds for which the coordinating board is responsible for administering; and
(9) If any public institution of higher education in this state[, public or private,] willfully fails or refuses to follow any lawful guideline, policy or procedure established or prescribed by the coordinating board, or knowingly deviates from any such guideline, or knowingly acts without coordinating board approval where such approval is required, or willfully fails to comply with any other lawful order of the coordinating board, the coordinating board may, after a public hearing, withhold or direct to be withheld from that institution any funds the disbursement of which is subject to the control of the coordinating board, or may remove the approval of the institution as an "approved institution" within the meaning of section 173.205, but nothing in this section shall prevent any institution of higher education in this state from presenting additional budget requests or from explaining or further clarifying its budget requests to the governor or the general assembly[.]; and
(10) The coordinating board shall not restrict any approved private institution of higher education, as defined in section 173.205, from creating or modifying a course or program of study or adding a new location or from receiving state or federal student financial assistance, except as provided in subsection 2 of section 173.210.
3. The coordinating board shall meet at least four times annually with an advisory committee who shall be notified in advance of such meetings. The coordinating board shall have exclusive voting privileges. The advisory committee shall consist of twenty-two members, who shall be the president or other chief administrative officer of the University of Missouri; the chancellor of each campus of the University of Missouri; the president of each state supported four-year college or university, including Harris-Stowe State College, Missouri Southern State College, Missouri Western State College, and Lincoln University; three representative public junior college presidents, selected by the public junior college presidents each biennium and representatives of each of five accredited private institutions selected biennially, under the supervision of the coordinating board, by the presidents of all of the state's privately supported institutions; but always to include at least one representative from one privately supported junior college, one privately supported four-year college, and one privately supported university. The conferences shall enable the committee to advise the coordinating board of the views of the institutions on matters within the purview of the coordinating board.
4. The University of Missouri, Lincoln University, and all other state governed colleges and universities, chapters 172, 174 and 175, RSMo, and others, are transferred by type III transfers to the department of higher education subject to the provisions of subsection 2 of this section.
5. The state historical society, chapter 183, RSMo, is transferred by type III transfer to the University of Missouri.
6. The state anatomical board, chapter 194, RSMo, is transferred by type II transfer to the department of higher education.
7. All the powers, duties and functions vested in the division of public schools and state board of education relating to junior college state aid and the supervision, formation of districts and all matters otherwise related to the state's relations with junior college districts and matters pertaining to junior colleges in public school districts, chapters 163 and 178, RSMo, and others, are transferred to the coordinating board for higher education by type I transfer. Provided, however, that all responsibility for administering the federal-state programs of vocational-technical education, except for the 1202a post-secondary educational amendments of 1972 program, shall remain with the department of elementary and secondary education. The department of elementary and secondary education and the coordinating board for higher education shall cooperate in developing the various plans for vocational-technical education; however, the ultimate responsibility will remain with the state board of education.
8. The administration of sections 163.171 and 163.181, RSMo, relating to teacher-training schools in cities, is transferred by type I transfer to the coordinating board for higher education.
9. All the powers, duties, functions, personnel and property of the state library and state library commission, chapter 181, RSMo, and others, are transferred by type I transfer to the coordinating board for higher education, and the state library commission is abolished. The coordinating board shall appoint a state librarian who shall administer the affairs of the state library under the supervision of the board.
10. All the powers, duties, functions, and properties of the state poultry experiment station, chapter 262, RSMo, are transferred by type I transfer to the University of Missouri, and the state poultry association and state poultry board are abolished. In the event the University of Missouri shall cease to use the real estate of the poultry experiment station for the purposes of research or shall declare the same surplus, all real estate shall revert to the governor of the state of Missouri and shall not be disposed of without legislative approval.
173.006. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is promulgated under the authority of this chapter, shall become effective only if the agency has fully complied with all of the requirements of chapter 536, RSMo, including but not limited to, section 536.028, RSMo, if applicable, after the effective date of this act. All rulemaking authority delegated prior to the effective date of this act is of no force and effect and repealed as of the effective date of this act, however nothing in this act shall be interpreted to repeal or affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act. If the provisions of section 536.028, RSMo, apply, the provisions of this section are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the general assembly pursuant to section 536.028 to review, to delay the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule or portion of a rule are held unconstitutional or invalid, the purported grant of rulemaking authority and any rule so proposed and contained in the order of rulemaking shall be invalid and void, except that nothing in this act shall affect the validity of any rule adopted and promulgated prior to the effective date of this act.
173.210. 1. The coordinating board shall be the administrative agency for the implementation of the program established by sections 173.200 to 173.235. The coordinating board shall promulgate reasonable rules and regulations for the exercise of its functions and the effectuation of the purposes of sections 173.200 to 173.235. It shall prescribe the form and the time and method of filing applications and supervise the processing thereof. The coordinating board shall determine the criteria for eligibility of applicants and shall evaluate each applicant's financial need. It shall select qualified recipients to receive financial assistance, make such awards of financial assistance to qualified recipients and determine the manner and method of payment to the recipient. The coordinating board shall determine eligibility for renewed assistance on the basis of annual applications and annual evaluations of financial needs, giving priority to renewal applicants over new applicants in dispensing available funds in a given year. In awarding renewal grants, the coordinating board may increase or decrease the amount of financial assistance to an applicant if such action is warranted by a change in the financial condition of the applicant, his spouse or parents or the availability of funds for that year. As a condition to consideration for initial or renewed assistance, the coordinating board may require the applicant, his spouse and parents to execute forms of consent authorizing the director of revenue of Missouri to compare financial information submitted by the applicant with the Missouri individual income tax returns of the applicant, his spouse and parents for the taxable year immediately preceding the year for which application is made, and to report any discrepancies to the coordinating board.
2. The aggregate total of an applicant's financial assistance, including private and public scholarships but excluding loans and work study, shall not exceed the aggregate total of an applicant's anticipated expenses including tuition, mandatory fees, books, room and board while attending an approved public or private institution for postsecondary education. Each approved public or private institution, as defined in section 173.205, shall decrease the amount of an applicant's public financial assistance provided pursuant to this chapter such that the aggregate total of all financial assistance is no greater than the total aggregate of the applicant's anticipated expenses. Each approved public or private institution, as defined in section 173.205, shall conduct a self-audit of compliance with the requirements of this subsection, using a sampling method approved by the coordinating board, as a part of each periodic audit or review required due to participation in federal student financial aid programs and shall provide the results of such audit to the coordinating board on forms provided by the coordinating board for that purpose. The coordinating board shall establish, by rule, standards for compliance with this subsection which shall specify a maximum allowed cohort rate of noncompliance. Any institution which is found not in compliance with such standards shall ensure that funds received in violation of this section are refunded to the institution within twelve months following the determination of noncompliance to an extent sufficient to satisfy the compliance rate or the institution's status as an "approved institution" pursuant to section 173.205 shall be suspended until such time as documentation is provided to the coordinating board that funds received in violation of this section have been refunded to the institution to an extent sufficient to satisfy the compliance rate.