By a vote of 22-10, state senators agreed this week to a compromise that resulted in a new look for congressional districts in the Show-Me-State. U.S. Representative Emanuel Clever keeps a safe seat, Whiteman Air Force Base and Fort Leonard Wood stay in the 4th congressional district, and Boone County splits in two. On the eastern side of the Missouri, the 2nd congressional district in suburban St. Louis County gets a bit redder. The 1st congressional district in St. Louis City spreads farther into suburban enclaves of Webster Groves and Maryland Heights. 

During a press conference, Senate Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden acknowledged that while the congressional delegation may "not be thrilled," he said, "You had to get a map done."

The redistricting bill now returns to the House for further consideration.

Next up in Senate Education...

Buckle in for a bumpy hearing

Senate Education Chair Cindy O'Laughin will hear a slew of bills relating to curriculum and parental rights next Tuesday afternoon. Much of this legislation will center on critical race theory, divisive concepts, constitutionally-protected speech, face masks in schools, and single-sex athletics. You can see all the bills here. 

According to a report in Missouri Scout, former State Representative Kathie Conway formed a Political Action Committee on March 9th named Parents Bill of Rights PAC (PBOR) to support the advancement of some of these bills. PBOR PAC has bulked up its lobbying effort. In addition, American Viewpoint, released a polling memo that suggests significant support for these measures.

Expect a long and vigorous debate in committee.

In the House this week...

Extending Learning Opportunities Act

The House dedicated floor time Monday evening to debate HB 1856 (Baker). The bill establishes the Extended Learning Opportunities Act, which allows students to learn outside the classroom for credit. After brief debate and no amendments, the House provided its first of two necessary approval votes. The House dedicated floor time Thursday morning to revisit the language and then passed the bill by a 147-0 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate.

Educational Opportunities

The House Workforce Development Committee heard HB 1956 (Richey). The bill establishes the “Show Me Success Diploma Program” pilot program as an alternative to a traditional high school diploma. The bill also creates the “Competency-Based Education Grant Program,” which allows DESE to award grants to school districts that choose to participate in the pilot program. Finally, the bill creates the “Competency-Based Education Task Force” to create and develop competency-based education programs for Missouri and establish guidelines for school districts to follow when creating local competency-based education programs. The Missouri NEA, Aligned, Science Coach, and Excellence in Education in Action Organization provided supporting testimony. There was no opposition.  This is an Aligned Priority bill.

Read our Competency-based Education Issue brief.

Innovation Waivers

The House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee heard HB 2152 (Henderson). The bill allows school districts to submit innovation waivers for up to three years for certain courses and enables the state board of education to develop evaluation criteria to determine how to measure a waiver program's success. The Missouri NEA, Aligned, Excellence in Education, and Missouri School Boards Association provided supporting testimony. There was no opposition.

In Senate Committee on Education this week...

Charter School Funding

Committee members heard HB 1552 (Richey), a bill that would require school districts to pay for each student attending a charter school in that district based on the formula outlined in the bill. The Quality Schools Coalition, University Academy in Kansas City, Lift for Life Academy in St. Louis, the American Federation for Children, the St. Louis Charter Schools Association, Kansas City Public Schools, and two different parents of children in charter schools supported the bill. The St. Louis Public Schools Association, the St. Louis Public Schools’ Parents Action Council, Missouri Association of School Administrators, American Federation of Teachers in Missouri, and five parents of children in St. Louis Public Schools provided opposing testimony.

Extended Learning Opportunities

Senator Rick Brattin presented SB 1051, a bill that establishes the "Extended Learning Opportunities Act." This legislation allows students to earn credit through extended learning opportunities, including out-of-classroom learning experiences that provide enrichment, career readiness skills, or other approved educational opportunities. During the presentation, committee members questioned whether opportunities could be paid jobs or internships, whether the experiences must be approved in advance by local education authorities, and clarification over whether the experience meant outside of the classroom or outside of regular school hours. Aligned, Associated Industries of Missouri, and Yes, Every kid provided supporting testimony. There was no opposition.

Workforce Diploma Program

Senator Jason Bean presented SB 957 (Bean), the companion bill to HB 2325 (Patterson). This legislation establishes the "Workforce Diploma Program" within the Department of Higher Education and Workforce Development to assist students in obtaining a high school diploma and develop employability and career technical skills. In addition, the bill requires an adult high school to offer childcare for children of enrolled students on or off-site, requires each student to include a declaration of their postsecondary educational or career/workforce plans as part of the ICAP, and complete a FAFSA as a condition of graduation. Finally, the bill includes language from the Extended Learnings Opportunity Act. Graduation Alliance, Economic Development Corporation of Kansas City, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Associated Industries of Missouri, and Aligned provided supporting testimony. There was no opposition. 

Read the full Missouri Capitol weekly report.

This week, there was no movement on either the FY2022 second supplemental bill or the FY2023 budget from the House Budget Committee. However, the Senate Appropriations Committee convened Wednesday morning to review the numerous tax credit programs administered within the various departments. The tax credit program review moved reasonably quickly, although members asked to see listings of those receiving agricultural tax credits for the last two years. Surprisingly, there was no discussion regarding the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program. 

Late this week, House Budget Chair Cody Smith posted that the House Budget Committee would begin markup on the House Budget Bills on Monday of next week (3/28). We expect the committee will vote these bills out of committee by the end of next week and should have the full budget before the entire house the following week. This action would leave the Senate only four weeks to finalize the state’s budget. 

Let the 'Plasma Games' begin!

We found an interesting proposal in the budget recommendations from the Subcommittee on Appropriations. Representative Doug Richey proposes to use $2 million in federal stimulus funds for a chemistry and physical science 3D game-based learning platform for middle- and high-schoolers. The goal is to connect students to real-world technology learning with the hope of spurring interests in chemistry-dependent industries, including pharmaceutical, agricultural technology, biotechnology. textile, material science, energy, minerals and mining, and chemical manufacturing fields.

From the Plasma Games website, "Plasma’s mission is to equip teachers with rigorous, entertainment quality resources that allow them to engage students, improve learning, and inspire our next generation of STEM leaders. The United States currently ranks 25th in the world in science and 35th in math."

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. NO CHANGE

✔️ Early childhood quality

HB 2365 (Shields) - Makes the early learning quality assurance report permanent. Reported Do Pass from the House Committee on Rules-Administrative Oversight in 3-24-22.

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. Hearing conducted on 3/8/22. 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) - Reported Do Pass from Committee on House Consent and Procedure on 3-21-22.



SB 982 (Arthur) - Heard in Senate-Rules, Joint Rules, Resolutions and Ethics on 3-22-22.

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.  Referred to House Committee on Rules-Legislative Oversight. NO CHANGE.

SB 999 (Gannon) - Modifies provisions regarding employment of retired education personnel by school districts. Referred to Senate Committee on Education. NO CHANGE

Other bills with the Visiting Scholars provisions:

HB 2089 (Politte) - Modifies provisions governing teacher employment. Read second time on 1-6-22.

HB 2652 (Haffner) - Changes procedures and practices for public schools and school districts. Reported Do Pass from Rules-Legislative Oversight on 3-24-22

SB 1206 (Onder) - Modifies provisions related to school operations. Introduced and read first time on 2-28-22.

Read our Visiting Scholars Issue Brief.

💸 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. Scheduled for committee hearing in House Committtee on Elementary and Secondary Education on 3-28-22

SB 1098 (Burlison) Authorizes school districts to have differentiated teacher pay schedules. Referred to the Senate Committee on Education.

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. Scheduled for executive session on 3-28-22.

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. Voted "Do Pass" on 3-8-22. NO CHANGE

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. Voted "Do Pass" on 2-28-22. Referred to House Committee on Rules - Legislative Oversight. NO CHANGE

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".

House approves new map approved with bi-partisan support

Much to the surprise of those watching the redistricting process unfold across both Kansas (and Missouri, for that matter), Kansas lawmakers presented and passed a bipartisan map this week, sending it on to the Senate, where it's expected to be approved as well. 

Changes with this map, coined Freestate 3F, primarily represented the shift in population from rural to suburban areas in Johnson County. That new map will maintain the current bipartisan breakdown of the House with 86 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

Despite the 112-10 vote to approve this new map, a few were upset with the changes. New map lines place Representative Tatum Lee, R- Ness City, and Representative Jim Minnix, R- Scott City into the same western Kansas district.

While Representative Minnix supported this change, Representative Lee, one of the most conservative members of the House, appeared nothing short of enraged, stating, "What happened today was pure political retaliation." He went on to say, "Dictators don't like dissenters. How's that for a quote?"

Other changes noted include the combination of districts for House Speaker Ron Ryckman, R-Olathe, and Rep. Megan Lynn, R-Olathe. However, neither representative seemed to balk at the outcome.

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. Passed by House Committee of the Whole on March 23rd. Aligned testified in support of this bill.

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. Passed by House Committee of the Whole on March 23rd. Aligned testified in support of this bill.

Budget Update

The House passed its Education budget this week. House Sub for Sub HB 2512. There were some technical changes made on the floor and Rep. Sean Tarwater successfully amended in his Math Nation amendment. Rep. Jarrod Ousley also added an amendment increasing special education funding by $68 million on a 58-54 vote, but it was later taken out after a motion to reconsider the action and the amendment failed 50-70. 

Other education bills we are watching.

During our daily read of Missouri Scout this morning, we learned of an event earlier this week in Cape Girardeau to honor the creator of the Missouri State Flag, Marie Watkins Oliver. According to Wikipedia, "She envisioned a flag that featured the Missouri coat of arms, encircled by twenty-four stars that represented Missouri's status as the twenty-fourth state to enter the Union."

This editor was thrilled to learn that Marie Oliver is the great-grandmother of David Oliver, one of Aligned's founding board members and a friend to many. 

Held at the Oliver Family 'Flag House', attendees witnessed the unveiling of a bronze sculpture of Mrs. Oliver created by Lavetta Rhinehart for the Kellerman Foundation.



See the photo gallery published by the Southeast Missouri.

We are past the halfway mark for the legislative sessions in both Kansas and Missouri. As we march towards the finish line, let's hope that goodwill prevails and big wins emerge for our children.

Have a wonderful weekend!

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.

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