SPONSOR: Griesheimer
COMMITTEE ACTION: Voted "Do Pass with HCS" by the Standing Committee on Elementary and Secondary Education by a vote of 20 to 0. Voted "Do Pass" by the Standing Committee on Rules- Legislative Oversight by a vote of 8 to 0. Voted "Do Pass with HS" by Legislative Review by a vote of 8 to 0.
The following is a summary of the House Substitute for HB 306.
This bill requires school districts and charter schools to establish a state-approved gifted program if 3% or more of the students are determined to be gifted by July 1, 2023. By July 1, 2023, districts and charter schools with average daily attendance of more than 350 students are required to have a teacher certificated to teach gifted education. In districts with an average daily attendance of 350 or less any teacher providing gifted instruction shall not be required to be certified to teach gifted education but must participate in six hours per year of professional development, paid for by the school district, regarding gifted services.
This bill requires the Department of Elementary and Secondary education to make rules regarding the minimal grade average (GPA) requirement to qualify for the A+ grant award that will only consider grade averages that do not have a negative change to a student's GPA from 2019-20 or 2020-21 due to the impact of "Covid- 19".
This bill modifies the definition of an "eligible education institution" and changes the Missouri Education Savings Program to the "Missouri Education Program".
Portions of this bill are subject to an emergency clause.
This bill is similar to HB 1317 (2020) and HB 112 (2019).
The following is a summary of the public testimony from the committee hearing. The testimony was based on the introduced version of the bill.
PROPONENTS: Supporters say that this is much needed legislation because there has been a steady decline in the number of districts that offer gifted education programs. Missouri is one of very few states that do not require education for those on the higher end of the special needs spectrum. Testifying for the bill were Representative Griesheimer; Meredith Gayle Wisniewski; Ruth Elizabeth Caplinger; Missouri NEA; Dr. Beth Winton, Advisory Council on Gifted Education; Nikke Veit; and the Gifted Association of Missouri.
Written testimony has been submitted for this bill. The full written testimony can be found under Testimony on the bill page on the House website.
Statutes affected: