Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
                        HOUSE BILL NO. 1748
                               103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY


                               INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE MILLER.

     4621H.01I                                                                    JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk


                                                AN ACT
     To repeal sections 135.714, 151.150, 163.011, and 166.131, RSMo, and to enact in lieu
           thereof four new sections relating to gifted education pupils.


     Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

             Section A. Sections 135.714, 151.150, 163.011, and 166.131, RSMo, are repealed and
 four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 135.714, 151.150, 163.011,
 and 166.131, to read as follows:
             135.714. 1. Each educational assistance organization shall:
         (1) Notify the state treasurer of such organization's intent to provide scholarship
 accounts to qualified students;
         (2) Demonstrate to the state treasurer that such organization is exempt from federal
 income tax under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
         (3) Provide a state treasurer-approved receipt to taxpayers for contributions made to
 the organization;
         (4) Ensure that grants are distributed to scholarship accounts of qualified students in
 the following order:
         (a) Qualified students who received a scholarship grant in the previous school year;
         (b) Qualified students who are siblings of qualified students who will receive a
 scholarship grant in the current school year;
         (c) Qualified students that have an approved "individualized education [plan]
 program" (IEP) developed under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
 (IDEA), 20 U.S.C. Section 1400, et seq., as amended, or who have been diagnosed with
 dyslexia, as the term "dyslexia" is defined in section 633.420;

     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.
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         (d) Qualified students who are eligible for free lunch as approved by the department
 of elementary and secondary education in accordance with federal regulations and who reside
 in an unaccredited or provisionally accredited school district;
         (e) Qualified students who are eligible for reduced price lunch as approved by the
 department of elementary and secondary education in accordance with federal regulations and
 who reside in an unaccredited or provisionally accredited school district;
         (f) Qualified students who are eligible for free lunch as approved by the department
 of elementary and secondary education in accordance with federal regulations;
         (g) Qualified students who are eligible for reduced price lunch as approved by the
 department of elementary and secondary education in accordance with federal regulations;
         (h) Qualified students who are active duty military dependents who have relocated to
 Missouri and are enrolling in a school in the state for the first time; and
         (i) All other qualified students;
         (5) Ensure that:
         (a) One hundred percent of such organization's revenues from interest or investments
 is spent on scholarship accounts;
         (b) At least ninety percent of such organization's revenues from qualifying
 contributions is spent on scholarship accounts; and
         (c) Marketing and administrative expenses do not exceed the following limits of such
 organization's remaining revenue from contributions:
         a. Ten percent for the first two hundred fifty thousand dollars;
         b. Eight percent for the next five hundred thousand dollars; and
         c. Three percent thereafter;
         (6) (a) Distribute scholarship account payments either four times per year or in a
 single lump sum at the beginning of the year as requested by the parent of a qualified student,
 based on the state adequacy target as defined in section 163.011 and calculated by the
 department of elementary and secondary education, subject to the following total grant
 amount limits:
         a. For a qualified student who meets the criteria to be included in a school district's
 limited English proficiency pupil count as set forth in subdivision [(8)] (9) of section 163.011,
 not more than one hundred sixty percent of the state adequacy target;
         b. For a qualified student who is eligible for free or reduced price lunch as approved
 by the department of elementary and secondary education in accordance with federal
 regulations, not more than one hundred twenty-five percent of the state adequacy target;
         c. For a qualified student who has an approved individualized education [plan]
 program developed under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), 20
HB 1748                                            3

 U.S.C. Section 1400, et seq., as amended, not more than one hundred seventy-five percent of
 the state adequacy target; and
         d. For all other qualified students, not more than the state adequacy target;
         (b) Scholarship account payments distributed under this subdivision shall be in the
 form of a deposit into the scholarship account of the qualified student;
         (7) Provide the state treasurer, upon request, with criminal background checks on all
 such organization's employees and board members and exclude from employment or
 governance any individual who might reasonably pose a risk to the appropriate use of
 contributed funds;
         (8) Demonstrate such organization's financial accountability by:
         (a) Submitting to the state treasurer annual audit financial statements by a certified
 public accountant within six months of the end of the educational assistance organization's
 fiscal year; and
         (b) Having an auditor certify that the report is free of material misstatements; and
         (9) Ensure that participating students take the state achievement tests or nationally
 norm-referenced tests that measure learning gains in math and English language arts, and
 provide for value-added assessment, in grades that require testing under the statewide
 assessment system set forth in section 160.518;
         (10) Allow costs of the testing requirements to be covered by the scholarships
 distributed by the educational assistance organization;
         (11) Provide the parents of each student who was tested with a copy of the results of
 the tests on an annual basis, beginning with the first year of testing;
         (12) Provide the test results to the state treasurer, the department of elementary and
 secondary education, and the board established in section 135.715 on an annual basis,
 beginning with the first year of testing;
         (13) Report student information that would allow the state treasurer, the department
 of elementary and secondary education, and the board established in section 135.715 to
 aggregate data by grade level, gender, family income level, and race;
         (14) Provide rates of high school graduation, college attendance, and college
 graduation for participating students to the state treasurer, the department of elementary and
 secondary education, and the board established in section 135.715 in a manner consistent with
 nationally recognized standards;
         (15) Provide to the state treasurer, the department of elementary and secondary
 education, and the board established in section 135.715 the results from an annual parental
 satisfaction survey, including information about the number of years that the parent's child
 has participated in the scholarship program. The annual satisfaction survey shall ask parents
 of scholarship students to express:
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         (a) Their level of satisfaction with the child's academic achievement, including
 academic achievement at the schools the child attends through the scholarship program versus
 academic achievement at the school previously attended;
         (b) Their level of satisfaction with school safety at the schools the child attends
 through the scholarship program versus safety at the schools previously attended;
         (16) Demonstrate such organization's financial viability, if such organization is to
 receive donations of fifty thousand dollars or more during the school year, by filing with the
 state treasurer before the start of the school year a surety bond payable to the state in an
 amount equal to the aggregate amount of contributions expected to be received during the
 school year or other financial information that demonstrates the financial viability of the
 educational assistance organization.
         2. The annual audit required under this section shall include:
         (1) The name and address of the educational assistance organization;
         (2) The name and address of each qualified student for whom a parent opened a
 scholarship account with the organization;
         (3) The total number and total dollar amount of contributions received during the
 previous calendar year; and
         (4) The total number and total dollar amount of scholarship accounts opened during
 the previous calendar year.
         3. The state treasurer shall:
         (1) Ensure compliance with all student privacy laws for data in the state treasurer's
 possession;
         (2) Collect all test results;
         (3) Provide the test results and associated learning gains to the public via a state
 website after the third year of test and test-related data collection. The findings shall be
 aggregated by the students' grade level, gender, family income level, number of years of
 participation in the scholarship program, and race; and
         (4) Provide graduation rates to the public via a state website after the third year of test
 and test-related data collection.
         4. The state treasurer shall cause the following information to be posted on the state
 treasurer's website annually, provided that no personally identifiable information of any
 student is released:
         (1) The number of students who have been awarded a scholarship to date and the
 number of students who have been awarded a scholarship in the current school year;
         (2) The number of scholarship recipients enrolled in each qualified school, along with
 the number of recipients who qualify for free and reduced price lunch and the number of
 HB 1748                                            5

recipients who receive special education services and the type of special education services
received. Such information shall be broken down by school year and the total to date;
       (3) The total number of scholarship recipients who are eligible for free and reduced
price lunch as approved by the department of elementary and secondary education in
accordance with federal guidelines, broken down by school year and the total to date;
       (4) The total number of scholarship recipients who have an individualized education
[plan] program (IEP) developed under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education
Act, 20 U.S.C. Section 1400, et seq., as amended, broken down by school year and the total to
date;
       (5) The number of scholarship recipients who have received a grant from each
educational assistance organization, broken down by school year and the total to date;
       (6) The student test scores required to be posted online pursuant to subdivision (3) of
subsection 3 of this section;
       (7) The results of the parent satisfaction survey required annually pursuant to
subdivision (15) of subsection 1 of this section;
       (8) The average dollar amount of a scholarship grant for all students who participate
in the program;
       (9) The average dollar amount of a scholarship grant for all students who participate
in the program and who have an IEP;
       (10) The average duration of a student's participation in the program;
       (11) The number of students who are in their first year of participation in the
program;
       (12) A list of the educational assistance organizations that make contributions to the
empowerment scholarship accounts of students enrolled in each qualified school; and
       (13) The total amount of money that has been remitted from qualified students'
empowerment scholarship accounts to each qualified school, broken down by school year and
the total aggregate amount.
       5. An educational assistance organization may contract with private financial
management firms to manage scholarship accounts with the supervision of the state treasurer,
provided that all laws and regulations that apply to employees of such educational assistance
organization shall also apply to the actions of any employees of the management firm while
they are conducting work relating to the direct decision-making of the operation of such
educational assistance organization.
            151.150. 1. For the purpose of levying school taxes, including taxes for school
purposes, as defined in section 163.011 for capital projects purposes, as authorized under
section 165.011, "and for other purposes", as defined in section 151.160, in the several
counties of this state, on the distributable property of the railroad company, the several county
HB 1748                                              6

 commissions shall ascertain from the returns in the office of the county clerk the average rate
 of taxation levied for school purposes for capital projects purposes, and for other purposes,
 each separately by the several local school boards or authorities of the several school districts
 throughout the county.
          2. The average rate for school purposes shall be ascertained by adding together the
 local rates of the several school districts in the county and by dividing the sum thus obtained
 by the whole number of districts levying a tax for school purposes. The county clerk shall
 cause to be charged to the railroad companies taxes for school purposes at the average rate on
 the proportionate value of the railroad property so certified to the county commission by the
 state tax commission, under the provisions of this chapter, and shall apportion the taxes for
 school purposes, so levied and collected, among all the school districts in his county, the same
 proportion that the September membership of a district, determined as provided in [(1) of
 subdivision (8)] paragraph (a) of subdivision (12) of section 163.011, bears to the sum of
 the September membership of all districts in the county.
          3. The average rate levied for capital projects purposes, and for other purposes, each
 separately, shall be ascertained by adding together the local rates of the several districts in the
 county levying a tax for capital projects purposes, or for other purposes and by dividing the
 sum thus obtained in each case by the whole number of districts in the county. The county
 clerk shall cause to be charged to the railroad companies taxes for capital projects purposes,
 or for other purposes, at the average rate on the proportionate value of the railroad
 distributable property so certified to the county commission by the state tax commission,
 under the provisions of this chapter, and the county commission shall apportion the taxes for
 capital projects purposes, or for other purposes so levied and collected, among the several
 school districts levying the taxes, in proportion to the amount of such taxes so levied in each
 of the districts.
          4. All local property owned or controlled by a railroad company lying in any school
 district shall be taxed at the same rate as other property in the district, and the school taxes,
 including taxes for capital projects purposes, and for other purposes thereon, shall go to the
 district in which such property is situated.
              163.011. As used in this chapter unless the context requires otherwise:
          (1) "Adjusted operating levy", the sum of tax rates for the current year for teachers'
 and incidental funds for a school district as reported to the proper officer of each county
 pursuant to section 164.011;
          (2) "Average daily attendance", the quotient or the sum of the quotients obtained by
 dividing the total number of hours attended in a term by resident pupils between the ages of
 five and twenty-one by the actual number of hours school was in session in that term. To the
 average daily attendance of the following school term shall be added the full-time equivalent
HB 1748                                               7

 average daily attendance of summer school students. "Full-time equivalent average daily
 attendance of summer school students" shall be computed by dividing the total number of
 hours, except for physical education hours that do not count as credit toward graduation for
 students in grades nine, ten, eleven, and twelve, attended by all summer school pupils by the
 number of hours required in section 160.011 in the school term. For purposes of determining
 average daily attendance under this subdivision, the term "resident pupil" shall include all
 children between the ages of five and twenty-one who are residents of the school district and
 who are attending kindergarten through grade twelve in such district. If a child is attending
 school in a district other than the district of residence and the child's parent is teaching in the
 school district or is a regular employee of the school district which the child is attending, then
 such child shall be considered a resident pupil of the school district which the child is
 attending for such period of time when the district of residence is not otherwise liable for
 tuition. Average daily attendance for students below the age of five years for which a school
 district may receive state aid based on such attendance shall be computed as regular school
 term attendance unless otherwise provided by law;
          (3) "Current operating expenditures":
          (a) For the fiscal year 2007 calculation, current operating expenditures shall be
 calculated using data from fiscal year 2004 and shall be calculated as all expenditures for
 instruction and support services except capital outlay and debt service expenditures minus the
 revenue from federal categorical sources; food service; student activities; categorical
 payments for transportation costs pursuant to section 163.161; state reimbursements for early
 childhood special education; the career ladder entitlement for the district, as provided for in
 sections 168.500 to 168.515; the vocational education entitlement for the district, as provided
 for in sectio