CCS/HCS/SS/SCS/SB 894 - This act renders several alterations to the state's education policy. SECTION 160.775: This act requires every school district to adopt an anti-bullying policy no later than September 1, 2007. The act defines the term "bullying" and asserts that the policy shall not contain specific lists of protected classes of students. The policy shall require district employees to report any bullying instance of which the employee has firsthand knowledge. This section is similar to SB 674 (2006). SECTION 163.011(2): This act disallows summer school physical education hours that do not count as credit toward graduation for students in grades nine, ten, eleven, and twelve to be utilized when calculating a district’s average daily attendance. SECTION 163.011(10)(b): When calculating the local effort component of a district's state aid calculation, the formula utilizes information from fiscal year 2005. In subsequent years, this figure is adjusted to include any increase in the amount received for school purposes from fines. This act adds a provision that would adjust the local effort figure to include any decrease in the amount received for school purposes from fines in any school district located entirely in St. Charles county, provided that the county creates a county municipal court after January 1, 2006. This section is similar to SB 970 (2006). SECTION 163.021: This act requires any school district that levies an operating levy for school purposes that is less than the performance levy to provide written notice to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education asserting whether or not such district is providing an adequate education to the students of the district. If a district asserts that it is not providing an adequate education, such inadequacy shall be deemed to be a result of insufficient local effort. The performance levy is $3.43. The provisions of this section shall not apply to any Special School District. This act is identical to the perfected SCS/SB 894 (2006). SECTION 163.031.4(7): Currently, the phase-in period of the SB 287 formula contains a provision that reduces current-year funding for any district that decreases its summer school average daily attendance below 15 percent of the district's 2005-2006 summer school average daily attendance. The level of such funding reduction is pegged to the district's drop in summer school attendance from the 2005-2006 summer school attendance. This act alters the aforementioned policy by phasing the threshold for allowable decreases in summer school attendance upward in the following intervals: 20 percent for the 2006-07 summer school term; 30 percent for the 2007-08 summer school term; and 35 percent for the 2008-09 through the 2011-12 summer school terms. The act applies the aforesaid reduction only to the percent reduction that is in excess of the threshold rather than the reduction from the base 2005-2006 summer school amount. The amendment exempts from the funding reduction provision any school district eligible to receive a small school grant and any school district with a regular term average daily attendance of three hundred fifty students or fewer. Further, the act asserts that the funding reduction provision shall not be construed to permit any reduction that results in any hold harmless district receiving a current-year payment that is less than their hold harmless payment amount. This section is similar to SB 644 (2006). SECTION 1: This act requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to develop a "ready to work" endorsement program no later than June 30, 2007. The program will award a certificate to students who complete the program. The act delineates the program’s components and the stakeholders who shall be involved in policy development. SECTION 2: This act requires the City of St. Louis School District to report to the Children's Division within the Department of Social Services any student younger than 17 years of age who incurs 15 or more absences in any one school year. The division will contact the parents or guardians regarding the absences and the possibility that they are subject to the educational neglect provisions under Section 210.145, RSMo. This section is identical to HB 1946 (2006). SECTION 3: If a school district has been classified as unaccredited within the previous five school years and the district is subsequently classified as provisionally accredited, the district shall be subject to lapse on June 30 of any school year in which the state board of education withdraws provisional accreditation or at a later date as determined by the state board of education. The provisions of this section shall become effective January 1, 2010. DONALD THALHUBER