The shutdown in the Senate ended this week following a private meeting between Senate Leader Dave Schatz and Senator Mike Moon, where they worked out their differences. By calling a truce, the Missouri General Assembly was able to approve a $4.6 billion spending bill that includes nearly $2 billion in federal aid for Missouri schools.

HB 3014 passed out of the Senate by a 25-7 vote. The House then quickly took up the Senate version and approved the spending package by a vote of 133-11. Governor Mike Parson's quick signature releases billions in time to meet the federal ARP ESSER deadline and before the Medicaid coffers ran dry.

"We are happy to sign the supplemental budget bill into law today," Parson said. "This bill not only gives our dedicated state team members a long-overdue pay increase but also appropriates critical funding to our K-12 schools and child care system."

What's in the bill? 

HB 3014 totals over $4.6 billion, including $401.5 million in general revenue, $4.1 billion in federal funds, and $45.3 million in other funds. 

Funding for several high priority areas include:

• A statewide pay plan for state team members, including a 5.5 percent cost of living adjustment 
• $1.9 billion for distribution to local public school districts
• Nearly $100 million for distribution to non-public schools
• $444 million for child care services
• $219 million for school food programs
• Funding for MO HealthNet, including funding to ensure eligibility re-determinations can occur promptly

With this approval, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has the necessary authority needed to award these federal relief funds to Missouri public schools.

"DESE appreciates the work of the legislature and Governor Parson to make these much-needed ARP ESSER dollars, commonly known as ESSER III funds, available to our schools as they continue to support pandemic recovery efforts in their communities," said Commissioner of Education Margie Vandeven.

DESE has approved all but six spending plans from the LEAs (local education agency), and the department is providing technical assistance to those remaining six.

Visiting Scholars

The House Elementary and Secondary Education convened Tuesday morning to discuss HB 1928 (Pollitt).  This bill expands the current licensing process for the visiting scholar’s teacher certification to fill vacant positions in hard-to-staff schools and subject areas. Aligned testified in support. There was no testimony in opposition.

The committee reconvened later in the week to consider the bill. Members added language during the discussion allowing DESE to certify teachers who have failed the MEGA test but have otherwise passed their other evaluations. Once modified, the committee passed the bill by a 20-1 vote.

Read our Visiting Scholars issue brief.

Competency-Based Education

The Senate Education Committee convened Tuesday afternoon to discuss SB 660 (Arthur). The bill establishes the Show-Me Success Diploma Program and Competency-Based Education Grant Program and Task Force, creating alternative pathways for students to complete required courses or achieve equivalency for graduation requirements.

Under the proposed legislation, students wishing to obtain a Show-Me Success Diploma may choose an alternative to traditional graduation from high school by attaining required credits and graduating at the end of tenth grade. In addition, students completing a show me success diploma would qualify for 90% of their state education funding to be placed in higher education savings accounts for use in completion of a postsecondary program. The legislation also establishes competency-based education program eligibility for school districts.

Aligned, MO NEA, MO School Boards Association, Associated Industries of MO, Excellence in Education, and Science Coach testified in support of the bill. There was no testimony in opposition.

Read our Competency-based education issue brief.

Reading Success

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee convened Wednesday afternoon to consider the passage of HB 1556 (Gregory). This legislation requires school districts to develop and implement reading success programs with guidelines for those programs established by the State Board of Education. After a brief discussion, the committee passed the bill by a 19-0 vote. 

Read the full Missouri Capitol weekly report.

The House Budget Committee convened Tuesday afternoon to continue to hear testimony from Budget Director Dan Haug regarding the America Rescue Plan Act Funds. Budget requests include:

• $9 million to invest in broadband for state parks across Missouri. 

• $410 million for political subdivision wastewater projects.  

• $250 million for broadband infrastructure.   

• Over $126 million to upgrade the state’s IT systems.

• $69 million to develop the Rock Island Corridor for bike and tourism activity in Missouri.  

• $4.5 million for mental health records as the current system fails to meet CMS reporting standards.

• $24 million for VOCA (Victims of Crimes Act) funding is supplemental to the federal grant the state receives, which would last for a 2.5-year grant cycle.  

Chairman Cody Smith would like to hold one more hearing before the committee drafts amendments to make sure all members have a firm understanding of how departments plan to spend the money.

Early Care and Education

💵 Pre-K funding

Legislation to increase the state aid calculation for Pre-K.

SB 816 (Arthur) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22 NO CHANGE

HB 2341 (Shields) - Modifies the calculation of average daily attendance for early childhood programs. Referred to House Committee on Rules-Administrative Oversight.

✔️ Early childhood quality

HB 2365 (Shields) - Makes the early learning quality assurance report permanent. Referred to House Committee on Rules-Administrative Oversight.

SB 846 (Eslinger) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22. NO CHANGE

SB 800 (Hegeman) - Repeals the expiration date on the early learning quality assurance report program. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education on 1-20-22. NO CHANGE

🏛️ Early childhood governance

The legislation moves the Coordinating Board for Early Childhood (CBEC) away from DSS and places that board under DESE to align with the new Office of Childhood.

HB 2151 (Shields) - Scheduled for Executive Session on 2-28-22.



SB 982 (Arthur) - Scheduled for hearing on 3-2-22.

Teacher Shortages

🧑🏻‍🏫 Alternative certifications

The following bills include language to amend the current visiting scholars' provisions.

HB 1928 (Pollitt) - Modifies requirements for a visiting scholar's certificate of license to teach. Voted "Do Pass" as substituted on 2-23-22.

SB 999 (Gannon) - Modifies provisions regarding employment of retired education personnel by school districts. Referred to Senate Committee on Education.

💸 Pay flexibility  

Differentiated pay will give school superintendents and local school boards greater flexibility to address teacher shortages.

The following bill permits an alternative pay structure.

HB 1770 (Lewis) allows school districts to create differentiated teacher salary schedules. Read second time on 1-6-22. NO CHANGE

SB 1098 (Burlison) Authorizes school districts to have differentiated teacher pay schedules. Introduced and read first time on 1-27-22. NO CHANGE

Read our Differentiated Pay Issue Brief.

Personalized Learning

📝 Competency-based education

A competency-based approach awards students credits within a more individualized time frame and demonstration of mastery. 

HB 1956 (Richey) - Establishes the Competency-based Education Grant Program and Competency-based Education Task Force. Referred to the House Committee on Workforce Development on 1/27/22. NO CHANGE

SB 660 (Arthur) - Establishes the Show Me Success diploma Program, The Competency-Based Education Grant Program, The Competency-Based Education Task Force, and a competency-based credit system for high school students. Hearing conducted on 2/22/22.

Read our Competency-based Education Issue Brief

👷Work-based learning

District-provided liability coverage ensures students are protected during work-based learning experiences.

HB 2190 (Henderson) creates provisions related to liability claims in educational settings. Scheduled for an executive session on 2-28-22.

Reports

See the current status of all Aligned Priority legislation.

See the status of all the bills we are tracking.

See all upcoming hearings on education-related bills.

See all the bills which we have testified "in support".

Kansas Commissioner of Education Randy Watson. Photo credit: Kansas City Star

State board rejects Watson's resignation

The Kansas State Board of Education rejected the resignation submitted by Dr. Randy Watson over regrettable remarks he made regarding Native Americans. As reported in the Sunflower State Journal, State School Board Chairman Jim Porter said, "We looked at the entire history of the commissioner. We looked at his leadership in the area of dealing with each student. We believe that this particular incident was serious and needed to be addressed. We didn't feel like it was career-ending."

The board elected to suspend Watson for 30 days without pay.

The Kansas State Board of Regents released a legislative update this week to summarize the status of bills related to education. The report covers both the school finance budget and more than 50 pieces of legislation.

The board highlighted two particular bills that could affect school funding and operations: 

• HB 2615 would allow families to use public tax dollars to send students to private schools, creating an unequal two-tier education system. And it would allow any student in any district to attend any other district while also creating new mandates on school boards. 

• HB 2662 would set up new requirements on districts posting information about classroom learning and activities and place further restrictions on giving students surveys and questionnaires.

Budget 

Budget committees had a light load this week and only met on Monday before leaving for Turnaround break. The House and Senate have completed most of the subcommittee work. The full House Appropriations and Senate Ways and Means Committees will finish their discussions to complete the first round of the state budget in the coming weeks. Two large budget bills typically finish out the session. The first should be completed before they take their April spring break. They will return and complete the remaining budget issues by the end of April or the first part of May.

Read the full report from our Kansas team.

Status of Kansas Priorities

Aligned Priorities

HB 2596  - Allows school districts to contract with a transportation network company (TNC) to transport eight or fewer students to and from school functions. Under this bill, the same State Board of Education rules and regulations used to govern school buses would be changed to address single-passenger cars and vans.  

Withdrawn from Calendar; Referred to Committee on Appropriations.

HB2525 - Revising childcare subsidy access for custodial parents.  

After a hearing on January 31, the Committee Report recommended the bill be passed as amended by Committee on Children and Seniors. Aligned submitted written testimony in support of this bill. Committee of the Whole - Motion to recommend favorably for passage failed Yea: 53, Nay: 66. Stricken from Calendar by Rule 1507.

HB2414 - Eliminating child daycare assistance tax credit reduction in subsequent years and limitations on eligible corporations and providing credit for employer payments to organizations for child daycare services access. Due to a change in tax policy in 2013, only large corporations and financial institutions are eligible for the credit. HB 2414 would allow any business – large or small – to offset the cost of providing childcare for their employees. NO CHANGE.

Other education bills we are watching.

Left to right: Stacey Preis, Rep. Brad Pollitt, and Linda Rallo

Where were you at 2:22?

This past Tuesday, our Aligned team was in the Missouri Capitol. We thought it would be fun to capture the moment when the clock struck at 2:22 p.m. If the National Weather Service says this kind of super palindrome won't happen again for 400 years, this was a definite "Polaroid Moment."

As luck would have it, we were meeting with one of our favorite lawmakers, Rep. Brad Pollitt, who hails from Sedalia and is carrying the Visiting Scholars expansion language. He kindly indulged in our request.

Despite our levity this week, we acknowledge these are some scary days for our allies in Eastern Europe. We are grateful for our freedoms here at home and pray for peace in Ukraine.

🇺🇦 ☮️

Be well,

Torree Pederson

President

Aligned

Torree@WeAreAligned.org

(913) 484-4202

Linda Rallo

Vice President

Aligned

Linda@WeAreAligned.org

(314) 330-8442

Download our 2021 Annual Report.