HB 1368 — Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents. Changes the composition of the board of regents for Northwest Missouri State University (NMSU). The regents in office on August 28, 2008, will continue to serve the terms of their original appointments. A majority of voting members is required for appropriation or disbursement of money and for employment or dismissal of teachers. Other provisions of law regarding boards of regents will apply to the extent they are not covered by the specifics of law relating to NMSU’s board. (Signed 6/25/08)

SS HB 1678 — Military Families, Tuition Grants for Veterans’ Survivors, and Interstate Compact Educational Opportunity for Military Children. (See Military/Veterans Law)

SCS HCS HB 1807 — State Schools for the Severely Disabled. Renames the State Schools for Severely Handicapped Children to the Missouri Schools for the Severely Disabled. (Signed 6/10/08)

HB 1869 — Community Colleges. Requires the Missouri Revisor of Statutes to change all references of the term “junior college” to “community college” in the Revised Statutes of Missouri. (Signed 7/1/08)

SCS HCS HB 2048 — Textbook Transparency Act. Establishes the Textbook Transparency Act which requires textbook publishers to make the price, any substantial content revision between the last two editions, copyright dates, and the variety of formats for a text available, upon request, to faculty members or textbook adopters at public higher education institutions when the publisher provides information about their products. Distinguishes between supplemental material and integrated textbooks and requires a publisher to make a textbook and supplemental material available separately when selling the materials bundled together. Where it is feasible, public institutions of higher education must develop policies allowing students to use financial aid that has not been disbursed for tuition or fees to purchase textbooks at campus bookstores. Public higher education institutions are required to encourage the selection of textbooks early enough that the campus bookstore can supply information about textbooks and materials which will promote cost-efficiency. (Signed 6/25/08)

SS SCS HB 2191 — Higher Education Scholarships. Clarifies that a school district may participate in the A+ Schools Program regardless of its accreditation status by the State Board of Education if the district meets all other requirements. Two-year public and private vocational and technical schools may participate as providers in the A+ Schools Program if they are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission as of July 1, 2008, and are nonprofit organizations under federal tax law, unless the schools are already receiving reimbursements. Rankin Tech is the only private school known to meet these criteria. Reimbursements to private schools must not exceed the community college tuition rate for similar course work offered within the service area of a community college nor violate the constitutional provisions that prohibit the use of public funds for religious purposes.

The Kids’ Chance Scholarship Fund (awarded to dependent children whose parents have sustained work-related injuries) receives a yearly $50,000 transfer from workers’ compensation premiums, currently scheduled to end in 2008. The bill extends the transfers until 2018 and allows the distribution of any interest in the fund for use in scholarships as of the second Monday in October 2008. (Signed 7/10/08)

CCS HCS SS SCS SB 711 — Property Taxation. (See Taxation Law)

HCS SCS SB 830 — Missouri Returning Heroes’ Education Act. (See Military/Veterans Law)

SB 839 — Use of School Funds for Purchase of Lease-Purchase Properties. Currently, when a school district buys a building that was constructed under a lease-purchase agreement, it must use moneys from its capital projects fund or undergo a reduction in its state aid payment. Kingston K-14 School District is exempted from the aid reduction for buying its currently leased modular buildings with moneys from its operating fund. (Signed 7/10/08)

HCS SB 863 — Higher Education Savings Programs. Currently, the annual limit on contributions to the Missouri Higher Education Savings Program is $8,000 per taxpayer. This clarifies that a married couple filing jointly may contribute up to $16,000 per year.

Missouri residents will be allowed to make contributions to any qualified higher education tuition savings program and receive the same tax benefits as contributions to the state program. The savings from these contributions will not be considered as income when determining state student aid eligibility. (Signed 7/10/08)

SCS SB 873 — University of Missouri Student Curators. Currently, the University of Missouri Board of Curators has nine voting members, one from each Congressional district and an additional nonvoting student curator. If Missouri loses a Congressional district following the 2010 redistricting, this bill specifies that the ninth curator position will be filled by a full-time student with voting power on all matters except faculty or staff personnel decisions. The student curator will replace the current nonvoting student curator as of January 2011 but will serve a two-year term and be appointed through the same process as the nonvoting student curator. (Vetoed 7/9/08)

CCS HCS SS SCS SB 931 — Agricultural Incentives and Programs. (See Agricultural/Animal Law)

SCS SB 967 — Federally Guaranteed Student Loans. Authorizes the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MoHELA) to originate federally guaranteed student loans if Stafford loans for students attending schools in Missouri do not exceed 10% of the previous year’s total volume of the state’s Federal Family Education Loan Program.

Contains an emergency clause. (Signed 5/2/08)

SB 1066 — Elementary and Secondary Education. Requires the State Board of Education to issue an initial four-year teaching certificate to an individual who completes certification with the American Board for Certification of Teacher Excellence, except for special education, early childhood, and elementary education certification. Additional qualifying criteria are specified.

Also makes the Commissioner of Education’s expenditures on areas of critical need subject to the approval of the Joint Committee on Education. This provision contains a nonseverability provision.

The State Auditor is authorized to audit a school district in the same way that a state agency is audited.

Provisions of the bill relating to teacher certificates will expire August 28, 2014. (Signed 5/1/08)

HCS SCS SB SB 1170 — School Construction and Leases. Establishes the Rebuild Missouri Schools Program which requires the State Board of Education to distribute no-interest funding to eligible school districts to help pay the costs of emergency projects because of severe damage or destruction due to an act of God or an extreme weather event such as a tornado, flood, or hail storm which renders the facility, or a substantial portion of it, unusable for the purpose it was serving before the destructive event. Funding agreement requirements are stipulated.

The district must pledge to the state board that the school facilities being repaired or rebuilt as part of the emergency project will be used and occupied until the funding is repaid.

Funding awarded by the state board for an emergency project cannot exceed the cost of the project, less the amount of any insurance proceeds or other money received by the district as a result of the severe damage. If the district receives insurance payments after receiving funding from this program, it must pay the state board any money in excess of the project’s costs. These payments will be in addition to the annual installment payment and will be made when the annual installment is due.

Districts that received severe damage after April 1, 2006, cannot be excluded from participating in the program.

The limit on lease purchase agreements for boards of educational institutions is increased from 20 years to 25 years.

Provisions regarding the Rebuild Missouri Schools Program will expire six years from the effective date.

Contains an emergency clause for the provisions regarding the Rebuild Missouri Schools Program. (Signed 7/10/08)

CCS HCS SCS SB 1181, 1100, 1262 & 1263 — Energy and Environment. (See Environmental/Energy Law)