Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

SECOND REGULAR SESSION
                       HOUSE BILL NO. 3235
                              103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY


                               INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVE LEWIS.

    7086H.01I                                                                    JOSEPH ENGLER, Chief Clerk


                                               AN ACT
    To repeal sections 21.487, 135.714, 160.405, 167.950, 173.680, 173.750, and 633.420,
          RSMo, and section 167.910 as enacted by house bill no. 1606, ninety-ninth general
          assembly, second regular session, and section 167.910 as enacted by house bill no.
          1415, ninety-ninth general assembly, second regular session, and to enact in lieu
          thereof five new sections relating to duties of the joint committee on education.


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

           Section A. Sections 21.487, 135.714, 160.405, 167.950, 173.680, 173.750, and
 633.420, RSMo, and section 167.910 as enacted by house bill no. 1606, ninety-ninth general
 assembly, second regular session, and section 167.910 as enacted by house bill no. 1415,
 ninety-ninth general assembly, second regular session, are repealed and five new sections
 enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 21.487, 135.714, 160.405, 167.950, and
 173.750, to read as follows:
           21.487. The joint committee on education shall [develop a comprehensive funding
 formula for Missouri public institutions of higher education by December 31, 2013. The
 general assembly shall implement a funding formula beginning in fiscal year 2015] receive a
 report from the Missouri department of higher education and workforce development
 developed by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems review
 and make recommendations to the general assembly.
           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;


    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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         (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"]
 "individualized education 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] 167.950;
         (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;
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         (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) 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]
 individualized education program developed under the federal Individuals with Disabilities
 Education Act (IDEA), 20 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;
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         (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:
         (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;
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         (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
 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] individualized education 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;
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          (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.
               160.405. 1. A person, group or organization seeking to establish a charter school
 shall submit the proposed charter, as provided in this section, to a sponsor. If the sponsor is
 not a school board, the applicant shall give a copy of its application to the school board of the
 district in which the charter school is to be located and to the state board of education, within
 five business days of the date the application is filed with the proposed sponsor. The school
 board may file objections with the proposed sponsor, and, if a charter is granted, the school
 board may file objections with the state board of education. The charter shall include a
 legally binding performance contract that describes the obligations and responsibilities of the
 school and the sponsor as outlined in sections 160.400 to 160.425 and section 167.349 and
 shall address the following:
          (1) A mission and vision statement for the charter school;
          (2) A description of the charter school's organizational structure and bylaws of the
 governing body, which will be responsible for the policy, financial management, and
 operational decisions of the charter school, including the nature and extent of parental,
 professional educator, and community involvement in the governance and operation of the
 charter school;
          (3) A financial plan for the first three years of operation of the charter school
 including provisions for annual audits;
          (4) A description of the charter school's policy for securing personnel services, its
 personnel policies, personnel qualifications, and professional development plan;
          (5) A description of the grades or ages of students being served;
          (6) The school's calendar of operation, which shall include at least the equivalent of a
 full school term as defined in section 160.011;
          (7) A description of the charter school's pupil performance standards and academic
 program performance standards, which shall meet the requirements of subdivision (6) of
 subsection 4 of this section. The charter school program shall be designed to enable each
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 pupil to achieve such standards and shall contain a complete set of indicators, measures,
 metrics, and targets for academic program performance, including specific goals on
 graduation rates and standardized test performance and academic growth;
          (8) A description of the charter school's educational program and curriculum;
          (9) The term of the charter, which shall be five years and may be renewed;
          (10) Procedures, consistent with the Missouri financial accounting manual, for
 monitoring the financial accountability of the charter, which shall meet the requirements of
 subdivision (4) of subsection 4 of this section;
          (11) Preopening requirements for applications that require that charter schools meet
 all health, safety, and other legal requirements prior to opening;
          (12) A description of the charter school's policies on student discipline and student
 admission, which shall include a statement, where applicable, of the validity of attendance of
 students who do not reside in the district but who may be eligible to attend under the terms of
 judicial settlements and procedures that ensure admission of students with disabilities in a
 nondiscriminatory manner;
          (13) A description of the charter school's grievance procedure for parents or
 guardians;
          (14) A description of the agreement and time frame for implementation between the
 charter school and the sponsor as to when a sponsor shall intervene in a charter school, when
 a sponsor shall revoke a charter for failure to comply with subsection 8 of this section, and
 when a sponsor will not renew a charter under subsection 9 of this section;
          (15) Procedures to be implemented if the charter school should close, as provided in
 subdivision (6) of subsection 16 of section 160.400 including:
          (a) Orderly transition of student records to new schools and archival of student
 records;
          (b) Archival of business operation and transfer or repository of personnel records;
          (c) Submission of final financial reports;
          (d) Resolution of any remaining financial obligations;
          (e) Disposition of the charter school's assets upon closure; and
          (f) A notification plan to inform parents or guardians of students, the local s