On Friday, Governor Mike Parson signed SB 681 into law. It was an omnibus education bill which creates new rules for schools.
Drinking Water: Schools will be required to conduct an inventory of all drinking water outlets and outlets used for dispensing water for cooking or cleaning purposes, develop a plan for testing each outlet, and make plans available to the public. The purpose is to prevent lead contamination. Drinking water in schools must be below five parts per billion by the 2023-2024 school year. Grant opportunities from the DNR, with support from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, will be used to help schools fund testing, filtration, and other remediation. Schools that do not find a drinking water source with lead concentrations over 5 parts per billion shall be required to test only every five years.
Corporal Punishment: Schools shall be required to get written permission from parents before using corporal punishment. The act also curtails the authority of the Children's Division to investigate reports of alleged child abuse by school personnel.
Innovation Waivers: The State Board of Education will now be allowed to grant innovation waivers to schools for certain purposes, including student readiness for employment, higher ed, vocational training, technical training, increasing the compensation of teachers, or improving the recruitment, retention, training, preparation, or professional development of teachers. This provision does not apply to federal statutory requirements related to teacher certification, tenure, or any requirement imposed by federal law.
Competency Based Education: The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will award grants to eligible school districts for the purpose of providing competency-based education programs. The Department will facilitate the creation, sharing, and development of course assessments, curriculum, training and guidance, and best practices.
Holocaust: The second week in April shall be designated as "Holocaust Education Week." Schools will instruct students from 6th grade and up on the Holocaust. A pilot program involving 25 school districts will start in the 2023-2024 school year and be extended to include all school districts in the 2025-2026 school year.
Community Engagement Policy: Schools shall develop a community engagement policy based on community input that provides residents a method of communicating with the school board.
Bottom 5%: Any public school that is in the bottom 5% of scores on the annual performance report shall mail a letter to parents and guardians informing them of the score and options available.
School Board Districts: Schools will be allowed to divide their boards into subdistricts or a combination of subdistricts and at-large districts. Such divisions can be submitted for a vote by board vote or by initiative petition signed by 10% of the number of votes cast in the most recent election. Such changes must be in effect for at least 5 years.
Talented and Gifted: Starting in the 2024-2025 school year, if 3% or more students enrolled in a district are identified as gifted, school districts will be required to establish a gifted program. Schools with an average daily attendance of 350 or less will not be required to hire a teacher certified to teach gifted education.
Residency Tuition: Effective July 1st, 2023, any person or beneficiary of a trust owning residential or agricultural real property in any school district and pays a school tax of at least $2,000 and owned property for at least four years can send up to four of such owner's or beneficiary's children to a school within that district, excluding a charter school, without a tuition payment, upon notification to the district at least 30 days prior to enrollment. Such children shall be counted in the school's average daily attendance.
Blind and Visually Impaired Students: Blind and visually impaired students will be required to have an IEP or family support plan that includes instruction in Braille or the use of Braille. All such instruction must be designed for a student to function at an age appropriate level.
Reading Interventions: The act changes how schools are to do reading interventions. Each school shall have on file a policy for reading success plans. All students enrolled in kindergarten through 3rd grade will be assessed at the beginning and end of each school year. Schools will give reading success plans to any students with dyslexia or who exhibit a substantial deficiency in reading. If a student has a substantial reading deficiency at the end of third grade, promotion or retention of the student shall be discussed by the student's parent or guardian and appropriate school staff. Schools will be required to provide intensive reading instruction to students from kindergarten through 5th grade who are assessed as exhibiting a substantial reading deficiency. The provisions for reading assessments will take effect January 1st, 2023.
Individual Healthcare Plans: This act establishes "Will's Law," requiring individualized health care plans to be developed by school nurses in public schools and charter schools. Such plans shall be developed in consultation with a student's parent or guardian and appropriate medical professionals that address procedural guidelines and specific directions for particular emergency situations relating to the student's epilepsy or seizure disorder. Plans are to be updated at the beginning of each school year and as necessary. Notice must be given to any school employee that may interact with the student, including symptoms of the epilepsy or seizure disorder and any medical and treatment issues that may affect the educational process.
Substitute Teaching: This act creates a 4-year certificate for individuals that want to substitute teach. Applicants for certification must complete a background check and also have at least 36 college hours or have completed a 20-hour online training. Individuals must also have a high school diploma or equivalent. An alternative route to certification is provided for qualified individuals with technical or business expertise or Armed Forces experience and a superintendent sponsorship. Until June 30th, 2025, retired teachers with a substitute certification can now substitute teach part time or as a temporary substitute and not have those hours and salary affect their retirement allowance.
Computer Science: Effective July 1st, 2023, schools will be required to teach computer science courses for high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools.
Suicide Prevention: Effective July 1st, 2023, schools that issue pupil identification cards cards will be required to print 988, the new Suicide and Crisis Lifeline number.
Mental Health: Schools will now be required to teach mental health awareness to high school students and include it as part of the district's existing health or PE curriculum.
Workforce Diploma Program: The state is in the process of setting up a workforce diploma program to assist students who dropped out of school in obtaining a high school diploma and in developing employability, career, and technical skills. These programs shall not cost students unless the student chooses to obtain additional education offered by the provider not included in the program.
Advanced Placement: Each institution, which includes in-state public community college, college, or university that offers postsecondary freshman-level courses shall adopt and implement a policy to grant undergraduate course credit to entering freshman students for each advanced placement examination where a student achieves a score of 3 or higher for any similarly correlated course offered by the institution.
Transportation: School buses are now defined to include only vehicles designed for carrying 10 or more passengers. School districts can now use vehicles other than school buses to transport school children, use transportation network companies for the transportation of school children without being regulated by the State Board of Education, and hire drivers of non-school bus vehicles without requiring them to get the School Bus Driver's License. The State Board of Education shall not require an individual using a motor vehicle with a gross vehicle weight of 12,000 pounds or less for the purpose of providing student transportation services in a vehicle other than a school bus to obtain any license other than a Class F license.
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