Good morning MACRAO membership-

With the close of this year’s Missouri Legislature session on Friday, May 17, 2024, the Governmental Relations Committee is now able to provide a final summary of this legislative session. From a higher education perspective (and really a general perspective), there is a very limited amount of legislation that was passed. Much of the final week consisted of legislative filibuster and political party in-fighting with preventing the majority of bills from reaching the finish line.

Below are two bills that were passed that may be of professional interest to the membership:

SB 727 (https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=244)
Sponsor: Andrew Koenig R)
Synopsis: This act creates and modifies provisions related to elementary and secondary education.
MACRAO Interest: While this is not a higher education bill, there may be items of interest to some MACRAO institutions, which includes and is not limited to:

• The bill established that charter schools may now be operated within Boone County.
• The bill increases the minimum teacher’s salary from $25,000 to $40,000 as well as increases for experienced teachers beginning in 2025-2026. There is not state funding provided for this outside of some additional monies to support teacher salary increases to districts who offer a five-day school week (versus a four-day school week).
• Require that any city with more than 30,000 inhabitants (or schools located in charter counties) may only move to a four-day school week upon majority votes of the qualified voters of the school district.
• Expansion of the Empowerment Scholarship Account from $50 to $75 million in maximum tax credits annually to donors to this account.
• Establishment of a DESE developed 18 hour online teacher preparation program that an individual with a Bachelor’s degree may complete and receive a certificate of license to each. This certificate shall not be accepted by Missouri public schools, but shal be accepted by private schools and private school accrediting agencies.
• Changes the name of the “Urban Flight and Rural Needs Scholarship Program” to the “Teacher Recruitment and Retention State Scholarship Program.”  The act provides that scholarship funds may be used to cover up to 100% of the tuition costs related to teacher preparation at a four-year college or university located in Missouri, except that no amount granted for tuition shall exceed the amount of tuition charged a Missouri resident at the University of Missouri-Columbia for attendance. To be eligible for the scholarship, the recipient must sign an agreement to teach in a Missouri public school that is a “hard-to-staff” school (defined in the act). This act repeals a provision that a student must have attended a Missouri high school in order to be eligible for a scholarship. The number of students who may receive the award was increased from 100 to 200, but the number of years a student may receive the scholarship was reduced from 4 years to 2 years.

SB 912 (https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=414)
Sponsor: Ben Brown (R)
Synopsis: This bill calls for a tuition and fee waiver for Missouri National Guard members attempting their undergraduate degree at a public institution of higher learning in Missouri. The waiver would be for remaining tuition and fees after federal military tuition assistance; state military tuition assistance;  additional scholarships; GI Bill entitlements; and federal financial grants to include Pell are applied. Fees are defined as only mandatory fees charged by an institution to all full-time students as a condition of enrollment. The bill will take effect for the 2025-2026 academic year.  This waiver is capped at 120 credit hours and is for an undergraduate degree only. Furthermore, this act provides that the tuition and fee waiver shall not be available in fiscal years in which the percentage of the total program costs covered by state appropriation for the educational assistance programs covered by this act has decreased compared to the previous fiscal year.

None of the other bills that we reported on this session passed. Bills previously covered but that did not pass this session included:

HCS HB 1569
(https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1569&year=2024&code=R)
Sponsor: Ann Kelley (R)
Synopsis: This bill contains multiple higher education related initiatives, which include increasing Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program amounts, creates a STEM grant for eligible Access Missouri recipients, creates a Career-Tech Certificate program, updates eligibility for the Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grant, and requires public institutions of higher education to adopt a policy to grant undergraduate course credit to incoming freshmen who receive a score of 4 or higher on an International Baccalaureate exam.  
NOTE: The bill still does not distinguish between International Baccalareate SL and HL tests. IB portion similar to HB 1578 and HB 2051.

HB 1445 (https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB1445&year=2024&code=R)
Sponsor: Jamie Johnson (D)
Synopsis: This bill adds the general election day that occurs in November of even numbered years to the list of public holidays in Missouri. Additionally, the Coordinating Board of Higher Education must require that all colleges and universities be closed on the general election day, unless such college or university serves as a polling place.

HB 2310 (https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2310&year=2024&code=R) -Similar to SB 1075
Sponsor: Cameron Parker (R)
Synopsis: Modifies provisions of the Higher Education Core Curriculum Transfer Act. Would require the transition of Core 42 to a 60-credit hour program that must be in place by June 30, 2026 for the 2027-2028 academic year. The bill allows students with an associate degree from a Missouri public institution of higher education to be considered as satisfying the transferable lower-division coursework requirements and upon transfer to a public institution no additional general education requirements for the same program of study will be required. Would require the development of at least five different “degree program” Core 60 sets.

SCR 22 (https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=906046)
Sponsor: Jill Carter (R)
Synopsis: This act adds health and life sciences and immersive learning experiences to the mission of Missouri Southern State University.

SB 749 (https://www.senate.mo.gov/24info/BTS_Web/Bill.aspx?SessionType=R&BillID=37)
Sponsor: Lincoln Hough (R)
Synopsis: This bill repeals provision restrictions related to the authority to confer research doctorates and first-professional degrees, and degrees in podiatry and chiropractic and osteopathic medicine.