HOUSE BILL NO. 1787 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE GRAGG.
4748H.01I JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk
AN ACT To repeal section 171.051, RSMo, and section 171.031 as enacted by senate bill no. 727, one hundred second general assembly, second regular session, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to school closures on election days.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Section 171.051, RSMo, and section 171.031 as enacted by senate bill no. 2 727, one hundred second general assembly, second regular session, are repealed and two new 3 sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 171.031 and 171.051, to read as 4 follows: 171.031. 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term, 2 specifying the opening date, days of planned attendance, and providing a minimum term of at 3 least one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance, and, for a school district that is 4 located wholly or partially in a county with a charter form of government or a school district 5 that is located wholly or partially in a city with more than thirty thousand inhabitants, a 6 minimum of one hundred and sixty-nine school days, unless the district has adopted a four- 7 day school week as provided in section 171.028, in which case the district school term shall 8 have a minimum of one hundred forty-two school days. In addition, such calendar shall 9 include six make-up days for possible loss of attendance due to inclement weather as defined 10 in subsection 1 of section 171.033. In school year 2019-20 and subsequent years, such 11 calendar shall include thirty-six make-up hours for possible loss of attendance due to 12 inclement weather, as defined in subsection 1 of section 171.033, with no minimum number 13 of make-up days.
EXPLANATION — Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in the above bill is not enacted and is intended to be omitted from the law. Matter in bold-face type in the above bill is proposed language. HB 1787 2
14 2. Each local school district may set its opening date each year, which date shall be no 15 earlier than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September. No public school 16 district shall select an earlier start date unless, for calendars for school years before school 17 year 2020-21, the district follows the procedure set forth in subsection 3 of this section. The 18 procedure set forth in subsection 3 of this section shall be unavailable to school districts in 19 preparing their calendars for school year 2020-21 and for subsequent years. 20 3. For calendars for school years before school year 2020-21, a district may set an 21 opening date that is more than fourteen calendar days prior to the first Monday in September 22 only if the local school board first gives public notice of a public meeting to discuss the 23 proposal of opening school on a date more than fourteen days prior to the first Monday in 24 September, and the local school board holds said meeting and, at the same public meeting, a 25 majority of the board votes to allow an earlier opening date. If all of the previous conditions 26 are met, the district may set its opening date more than fourteen calendar days prior to the first 27 Monday in September. The condition provided in this subsection must be satisfied by the 28 local school board each year that the board proposes an opening date more than fourteen days 29 before the first Monday in September. 30 4. If any local district violates the provisions of this section, the department of 31 elementary and secondary education shall withhold an amount equal to one quarter of the 32 state funding the district generated under section 163.031 for each date the district was in 33 violation of this section. 34 5. The provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section shall not apply to school 35 districts in which school is in session for twelve months of each calendar year. 36 6. The state board of education may grant an exemption from this section to a school 37 district that demonstrates highly unusual and extenuating circumstances justifying exemption 38 from the provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section. Any exemption granted by the state 39 board of education shall be valid for one academic year only. 40 7. For the 2026-27 school year and each subsequent school year, when preparing 41 a calendar for the school term under this section, each school district and charter school 42 shall set the general municipal election day and the general election day, as such days 43 are established under section 115.121, as a school holiday on which school is not in 44 session. 171.051. School holidays include Thanksgiving Day, December twenty-fifth, the 2 third Monday in February, July fourth, the general municipal election day and the general 3 election day as such days are established under section 115.121, and may include 4 November eleventh at the discretion of the school district. ✔
Statutes affected: