SB 49 - This act modifies provisions relating to elementary and secondary education. SCHOOL DISTRICT 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. This section is substantially similar to SB 856 (2014) and a provision contained in SB 993 (2014). (Section 161.086) SCHOOL BUILDING ACCREDITATION: The State Board of Education must adopt a system of classification that accredits individual school buildings within a district separately from the district as a whole. (Section 161.238) MISSOURI PARENT/TEACHER INVOLVEMENT PROGRAM: This act creates the Missouri Parent/Teacher Involvement Program to provide grant awards to schools to develop and build trusting relationships between families and school staff. The goal of the program is to improve the academic and social success of pupils. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must coordinate and administer the program. Priority for distribution of grant moneys will be given to unaccredited and provisionally accredited school districts. Schools serving grades K-12 must operate programs that meet the following requirements: at least fifty percent of the staff employed at the school site must voluntarily agree to participate in home visits; prior to the commencement of home visits, a school must establish a compact in which parents and legal guardians agree to participate in periodic home visits; a teacher who participates in the program must receive certain training, as described in the act; school personnel must be compensated for their participation in home visits, as described in the act; and all home visits must be conducted by a pair or team that includes the pupil's classroom teacher and one other full-time school employee. Beginning in the 2016-2017 school year, each school board must adopt a policy on parental involvement in the schools of the district. The policy must be designed to build consistent and effective communication between the parents and guardians of district pupils and the teachers and administrators. The policy must provide the opportunity for parents and guardians to be actively involved in the pupil's education, as described in the act. The provisions of this program will sunset in six years unless reauthorized. These sections are identical to SCS/SB 759 (2014) and are similar to HB 1170 (2014) and HB 904 (2013). (Sections 161.950 to 161.956) STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION INTERVENTION POWERS: The State Board of Education may appoint members of an elected school board to serve on a special administrative board. However, no more than forty-nine percent of a special administrative board may be composed of a district's elected school board members. 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. (Sections 162.081) PARENT NOTIFICATION OF UNACCREDITED DISTRICT STATUS: When a district or school building becomes unaccredited, the district must promptly notify the parent or guardian of students enrolled in the district or school and district taxpayers. The notice must also include an explanation of the option to transfer to another accredited school in the district or to another accredited district, and any services for which the student may be eligible. This notice must be posted in district school buildings and must be sent to each political subdivision located in the boundaries of the school district. (Section 162.1310) HOME VISITS: The school board of any district that operates an unaccredited school, provisionally accredited school, or any school with a three year average annual performance report consistent with unaccredited or provisionally accredited must adopt a policy regarding the availability of home visits by school personnel. The school board's policy must provide that the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in any such school will be offered the opportunity to have at least one annual home visit. (Section 162.1313) USE OF CERTAIN DATA FROM NEGLECTED CHILDREN AND DELINQUENT CHILDREN IN THE AGGREGATE DATA OF A SCHOOL DISTRICT: This act restricts the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education from creating a report or publication related to the Missouri School Improvement Program that includes the data of any children in facilities serving neglected children or delinquent children in a district's aggregate scores unless the Department creates an annotation with the data collected only from the district's regularly enrolled students and an explanation. This section is identical to SB 566 (2014), SB 427 (2013) and SB 737 (2012). (Section 167.127) TRANSPORTATION FOR STUDENT TRANSFERS FROM UNACCREDITED DISTRICTS: 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. (Section 167.241) SCHOOL DISTRICT IMPROVEMENT MEASURES: Any unaccredited district, provisionally accredited district, or any district with a three year average annual performance report score consistent with unaccredited or provisionally accredited must offer free tutoring and supplemental education services to underperforming and struggling students. In addition, such a district or school may do any of the following: implement a new curriculum, as described in the act; retain an outside expert to advise the district or school on regaining accreditation; enter into a contract with an education management organization with a proven record of success; or enter into a collaborative relationship with an accredited district in which teachers from both districts exchange positions for two school weeks. (Sections 167.685 & 167.687) 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 such district 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. This section is substantially similar to HB 2214 (2010). (Section 167.730) STUDENT TRANSFERS: 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) Any student enrolled in and attending an unaccredited school may transfer to another accredited school in his or her district of residence that offers the student's grade level of enrollment. 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. (Section 167.825) If a student residing in an unaccredited district and living within the attendance boundaries of an unaccredited school is unable to transfer to an accredited school within his or her district of residence, he or she may transfer to an accredited school in an accredited district in the same or an adjoining county. To be eligible to transfer, the student must provide proof that he or she has resided in the unaccredited district and within the attendance boundaries of an unaccredited school for at least twelve months. (Section 167.826) Provisionally accredited districts, provisionally accredited schools, unaccredited districts, and unaccredited schools are not eligible to accept transfer students. However, any student who received a transfer to a district or school with a current year APR score of seventy-five or less under MSIP 5 prior to the effective date of this section may remain enrolled. (Section 167.826) The district of residence must pay the student's tuition, as calculated in the act. However, the school board of a receiving district may choose to charge a rate of tuition less than the amount that would otherwise be calculated under the statutory calculation. If any receiving district chooses to charge a rate of tuition that is at least thirty percent less than the rate of tuition that would otherwise be calculated, then the statewide assessment scores and all other performance data for those students whom the district received will not be used for five school years when calculating the performance of the receiving district for purposes of the Missouri school improvement program. This act creates the Supplemental Tuition Fund in the state treasury. If the school board of a receiving district chooses to charge a rate of tuition that is less than ninety percent of the rate that would otherwise be charged under the statutory calculation, ten percent of the receiving district's tuition rate will be paid from the Supplemental Tuition Fund. (Section 167.826) Each district has the right to establish a policy for desirable class size and student-teacher ratios and will not be required to accept any transfer students that would violate its policy. If a transfer student is denied admission based on a lack of space under a district policy, the student may appeal to the State Board of Education. The State Board must review the policy's appropriateness and may limit it. The State Board must give special consideration to a district with a greater than average population of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. The State Board's decision is final. (Section 167.826) Unaccredited districts are required to contract with any special school district located in the same or an adjoining county for the reimbursement of special education services provided by the special school district for transfer students who are residents of the unaccredited district. (Section 167.826) By January 1 annually, each accredited school district in the same or an adjoining county as an unaccredited district must report the number of its available enrollment slots by grade level to the appropriate regional education authority for the affected district. The education authority must make information and assistance available to parents who intend to transfer their child to an accredited district. 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 to accredited districts, 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 who have already transferred to an accredited school. Next, the education authority will assign transfers in the order in which they are received. Finally, if insufficient enrollment slots are available, any students who are not able to transfer will receive first priority the following year. If sufficient enrollment slots are available, the education authority will provide each student a choice of three accredited schools. An education authority may deny a transfer to a student with a history of school discipline policy violations. (Section 167.827) REGIONAL EDUCATION AUTHORITIES: This act creates three separate regional education authorities to coordinate student transfers from unaccredited districts to accredited districts, one for St. Louis County and St. Louis City, a second authority for Jackson County, and a third authority for the rest of the state. Each authority will consist of three members who must be residents of their covered area, appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, who will serve for a term of six years, as described in the act. The Authority must coordinate and collaborate with local districts and local governments for the student transfers. Parents who want to transfer their child to another district must notify the appropriate regional education authority. The education authority will assign students to districts using an admissions process, as described in the act. (Sections 167.830 to 167.845) DEFINITIONS: Definitions governing the student transfer and school accreditation portions of this act are provided. (Section 167.848) LENGTH OF SCHOOL DAY AND HOURS OF INSTRUCTION: The school board of any district with a provisionally accredited school or unaccredited school may, by a majority vote, increase the length of the school day by ten percent and also increase the number of instruction hours above the statutory minimum requirement of 1044 hours. To be eligible to do this, the school must have a student population in which seventy-five percent of the students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, or have been eligible for free and reduced lunch in any of the previous three years. This act creates the Extended Learning Time Fund in the state treasury. Money in the fund will be used for schools that extend their school day or hours of instruction. (Section 171.031) This act contains an emergency clause (Section B). This act is substantially similar to the perfected version of SCS/SBs 493 et al. (2014). MICHAEL RUFF