SB 33 – This act creates the Missouri Strive to Succeed Graduation Program, to be implemented and administered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The Department must establish procedures to allow certain school districts to apply for grants to implement drop-out prevention strategies. The Department must give preference for grants to school districts that propose to target students across the age spectrum and that would adopt the following: a collaborative approach with various community organizations as described in the act; early intervention strategies; the implementation of various core strategies for drop-out prevention as described in the act; and the implementation of early intervention strategies for students not likely to graduate. To qualify for a grant award, a school district must meet one of these three criteria: be classified as unaccredited, provisionally accredited, or interim accredited; have obtained an annual performance review score consistent with unaccredited or provisionally accredited; or have not met the graduation rate performance standard as indicated on its most recent annual performance review. Grants may be awarded for one to five consecutive years and are renewable. The Department may stop grant payments to a district if it determines that the district is misusing funds or if the district's program is deemed ineffective. The Department must provide written notice thirty days prior to cessation of funds. The Department must report annually to the General Assembly the recipients and amount of grants and data for the preceding five years for each recipient district. The General Assembly must annually appropriate an amount sufficient to properly fund this act, a minimum of five million dollars in any fiscal year. The provisions of this act will expire in six years unless reauthorized. This act is similar to SB 1128 (2008). MICHAEL RUFF