Read the full stored bill text
SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 898
103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATOR MCCREERY .
4338S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
AN ACT
To amend chapter 162, RSMo, by adding thereto five new sections relating to early childhood
education.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 162, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto 1
five new sections, to be known as sections 162.2000, 162.2005, 2
162.2015, 162.2025, and 162.2035, to read as follows:3
162.2000. 1. As used in sections 162.2000 to 1
162.2035, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, 2
the following terms mean: 3
(1) "Department", the department of elementary and 4
secondary education; 5
(2) "Early education district", a special district, as 6
such term is defined in section 115.013, that is formed for 7
purposes of providing free public prekindergarten programs 8
to eligible children pursuant to the provisions of sections 9
162.2000 to 162.2035; 10
(3) "Eligible child", any child who reaches the age of 11
four before the first day of August of the school year 12
beginning in that calendar year, but who is not yet eligible 13
for kindergarten pursuant to the provisions of section 14
160.053, and who is not enumerated for payments pursuant to 15
section 163.018. 16
SB 898 2
2. An early education district may be established in a 17
county with more than one million inhabitants pursuant to 18
the provisions of sections 162.2000 to 162.2035 for purposes 19
of providing free public prekindergarten programs for 20
eligible children who reside within the county. 21
3. The curriculum of an early education district shall 22
be so designed as to be developmentally appropriate and 23
aligned with the early childhood education standards 24
established pursuant to the provisions of section 161.213 25
and any other standards for early childhood education and 26
early childhood special education established by the 27
department. 28
4. The board of education of an early education 29
district may establish or partner with schools to provide 30
prekindergarten programs for eligible children within any 31
public school district comprising the early education 32
district. The board may additionally establish programs for 33
any such children within any school district included in the 34
early education district. 35
5. Upon the establishment of an early education 36
district, the school districts located in the same county as 37
the early education district and the state board of 38
education shall continue to provide services formerly 39
provided to eligible children residing in the county until 40
the resources of the early education district are sufficient 41
to permit its assuming such responsibilities. 42
6. An early education district shall comply with any 43
accountability metrics for early childhood education 44
established by the department, and shall provide reasonable 45
assistance to the department in the development of such 46
accountability metrics for early childhood programming. 47
SB 898 3
7. The department shall inspect all programs for 48
eligible children established by an early education district 49
pursuant to the provisions of sections 162.2000 to 50
162.2035. Upon the department's approval, and upon the levy 51
of an initial property tax for the early education district 52
as provided in section 162.2035, the following provisions 53
shall apply: 54
(1) The district shall receive state aid for eligible 55
children enrolled in such district in an amount equal to the 56
product of the district's weighted average daily attendance 57
multiplied by the state adequacy target multiplied by the 58
dollar value modifier, as such terms are defined in section 59
163.011, provided that any children who are otherwise 60
enumerated in the pupil count of a school district for 61
payment pursuant to the provisions of section 163.018 shall 62
not be included in such calculation; 63
(2) The district shall receive state aid pursuant to 64
the provisions of section 162.700 to provide special 65
education services for eligible children in the same manner 66
as such funds are appropriated to other school districts; 67
(3) The district shall receive state aid pursuant to 68
the provisions of section 163.172 to fund teacher salaries 69
in the same manner as other school districts receive such 70
state aid; and 71
(4) All teachers and other personnel of such district 72
shall be eligible for career pay supplements and retirement 73
allowances in the same manner as other public school 74
employees are eligible for career pay supplements and 75
retirement allowances pursuant to the provisions of sections 76
168.500 to 168.515 and chapter 169. 77
8. The department of elementary and secondary 78
education shall promulgate rules to implement the provisions 79
SB 898 4
of sections 162.2000 to 162.2035. Any rule or portion of a 80
rule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, that is 81
created under the authority delegated in this section shall 82
become effective only if it complies with and is subject to 83
all of the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, 84
section 536.028. This section and chapter 536 are 85
nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the 86
general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay 87
the effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are 88
subsequently held unconstitutional, then the grant of 89
rulemaking authority and any rule proposed or adopted after 90
August 28, 2026, shall be invalid and void. 91
162.2005. 1. An early education district may be 1
established in any county with more than one million 2
inhabitants only as permitted pursuant to the provisions of 3
this section. 4
2. (1) When the voters of the county desire to form 5
an early education district, a petition signed by voters of 6
the county in a number equal to at least five percent of the 7
number of votes cast for school board members, in the 8
aggregate, in the most recent school board election for each 9
school district located wholly within the county, shall be 10
submitted to the board of election commissioners. The 11
petition shall request that a proposal be submitted to the 12
voters of the county for the organization of an early 13
education district embracing the entire area of the county 14
for the purpose of providing free public prekindergarten 15
programs for eligible children who reside in the county. 16
(2) Within thirty days of receipt of the petition 17
described in subdivision (1) of this subsection, the board 18
of election commissioners shall verify the signatures and 19
cause the proposal to be submitted to the voters of the 20
SB 898 5
county at the next general municipal election in accordance 21
with the provisions of chapter 115. 22
3. The question shall be submitted to qualified voters 23
in substantially the following form: 24
Shall there be organized an early education 25
district in ______ (county name), state of 26
Missouri, for the purpose of providing public 27
prekindergarten programs under the direction of 28
the Missouri department of elementary and 29
secondary education for children in the year 30
before kindergarten eligibility, embracing the 31
entire area of the county, having the power to 32
impose a property tax not to exceed the annual 33
rate of fifty-two cents on each hundred dollars 34
assessed valuation, and any additional tax that 35
is approved hereafter by vote thereon, and to be 36
known as "The Early Education District of 37
______", as requested by a petition filed on the 38
______ day of ______, 20______? 39
4. If a majority of the votes cast on the question by 40
the qualified voters in the county are in favor of the 41
measure, then the provisions of subsection 1 of this section 42
shall become effective. If a majority of the votes cast on 43
the question by the qualified voters voting thereon are 44
opposed to the measure, then the provisions of subsection 1 45
of this section shall not become effective unless and until 46
the measure is resubmitted pursuant to the provisions of 47
this section to the qualified voters and such question is 48
approved by a majority of the qualified voters voting on the 49
same measure. 50
5. When a new early education district is organized, 51
it shall be a body corporate and political subdivision of 52
SB 898 6
the state and shall be known as "The Early Education 53
District of ______" (a name selected by the governing board) 54
and, in that name, may sue and be sued, levy and collect 55
taxes within the limitations of the Constitution of Missouri 56
and section 162.2035, issue bonds, and possess the same 57
corporate powers as seven-director school districts, other 58
than urban districts. 59
162.2015. 1. The board of education of an early 1
education district shall consist of seven members to be 2
elected by the qualified voters of such district as provided 3
in section 162.2025. The board shall perform the same 4
duties and be subject to the same liabilities as the board 5
of a seven-director school district, other than an urban 6
district, acting under the general school laws of the state 7
of Missouri. 8
2. The board of education of an early education 9
district shall have the power to: 10
(1) Establish and operate public prekindergarten 11
programs for eligible children residing in the district 12
subject to rules and regulations promulgated by the 13
department pursuant to the provisions of sections 162.2000 14
to 162.2035; 15
(2) Develop and adopt the annual budget; 16
(3) Authorize all tax levies by two-thirds approval of 17
the board of education prior to submission of the tax levy 18
proposal to the voters of the district as provided by law; 19
(4) Annually develop a five-year plan for the 20
operation and management of the district. In developing the 21
plan, the board of education shall solicit a broad range of 22
public input. The plan shall contain, but shall not be 23
limited to, the following: 24
(a) The delivery of services; 25
SB 898 7
(b) The structure, governance, administration, and 26
financial management of the district; 27
(c) Cooperation with component school districts; and 28
(d) Responsiveness to the needs and concerns of the 29
citizens of the early education district; 30
(5) Employ administrators, teachers, and other 31
personnel necessary to provide public prekindergarten 32
programs to eligible children resident within the district's 33
boundaries; 34
(6) Work with the department and other entities 35
engaged in accreditation of early childhood programming to 36
create statewide accountability metrics for early childhood 37
education, and to take all necessary actions to comply with 38
any such accountability metrics established by the 39
department; 40
(7) Ensure that there is no coercion or interference 41
with any parent of a pupil of the early education district 42
on account of the parent having exercised any rights under 43
any law affecting the education of the pupil; and 44
(8) Do such other things as are necessary and 45
incidental to any of the powers set forth in sections 46
162.2000 to 162.2035 or in the laws applicable to seven- 47
director school districts, except urban districts. 48
162.2025. 1. Candidates for membership on the board 1
of education of an early education district shall be voters 2
of the early education district who have resided within the 3
state for one year preceding the election and who are at 4
least twenty-four years of age. All candidates shall file 5
their declarations of candidacy with the secretary of the 6
state board of education for the initial election of board 7
members and shall file their declarations of candidacy with 8
SB 898 8
the board of education of the early education district for 9
all subsequent elections of board members. 10
2. Except as otherwise provided in this section, the 11
board members of an early education district shall be 12
elected at large in municipal elections conducted in 13
accordance with the provisions of chapter 115. The term of 14
office of each member of the board of education shall be 15
three years, except that of the initial elected board 16
members, the seven candidates receiving the highest number 17
of votes cast shall be elected as follows: 18
(1) The three candidates receiving the highest number 19
of votes cast shall be elected for terms of three years each; 20
(2) The two candidates receiving the next highest 21
number of votes cast shall be elected for terms of two years 22
each; and 23
(3) The two candidates receiving the next highest 24
number of votes cast shall be elected for terms of one year 25
each. 26
3. That part of the year between the date of the 27
election of board members and the municipal election day of 28
the following year is considered a full year in the terms of 29
the members elected. All board members shall serve until 30
their successors are elected and qualified. Any vacancy 31
occurring in the unexpired term of office of any board 32
member shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired 33
term by the remaining members of the board; except that if 34
there are more than two vacancies at any one time, the 35
county board of commissioners upon receiving written notice 36
of the vacancies shall fill the vacancies by appointment. 37
The person appointed shall hold office until the next 38
municipal election, when a board member shall be elected for 39
SB 898 9
the unexpired term. The state board of education shall 40
issue certificates of election to the board members elected. 41
4. No member of the board of education of an early 42
education district shall: 43
(1) Vote on, solicit, transact, offer, or accept any 44
contract between the early education district and any 45
corporation, partnership, association, or other organization 46
in which that member of the board of education has a 47
financial interest, unless otherwise provided in this 48
section, excluding interests owned prior to such member's 49
election; 50
(2) Be a paid employee of the board of education of 51
the early education district while serving; or 52
(3) Vote on, solicit, transact, offer, or accept any 53
contract or procurement in which that board member shall 54
have a direct or indirect beneficial interest, unless: 55
(a) The material facts as to such member's 56
relationship or interest and as to the contract or 57
transaction are disclosed in writing and are known to the 58
board, and such board, in good faith, authorizes the 59
contract or transaction by the affirmative vote of the 60
majority of the disinterested members; and 61
(b) Such member's relationship or interest in such 62
contract or transaction shall not be voted upon by such 63
interested member. 64
162.2035. 1. The initial tax imposed on property 1
subject to the taxing power of an early education district 2
under Article X, Section 11(a) of the Constitution of 3
Missouri shall not exceed the annual rate of fifty-two cents 4
on each hundred dollars assessed valuation, which tax rate 5
shall be used for the district's programs for the education 6
SB 898 10
of eligible children as provided in sections 162.2000 to 7
162.2035. 8
2. Increases in the tax rate may be made with voter 9
approval in the same manner as provided in chapter 164 for 10
other school districts. 11
3. All real and tangible personal property owned by 12
railroads, street railways, bridge companies, telegraph 13
companies, electric light and power companies, electric 14
transmission line companies, pipeline companies, express 15
companies, airline companies, and other companies and public 16
utilities whose property is assessed by the state tax 17
commission shall be taxed at the same rate of taxation 18
levied on other property in the early education district. 19
Such property shall be taxed in the same manner and to the 20
same extent as property that is subject to assessment and 21
taxation for general county purposes, and all of the 22
provisions of chapters 151, 153, 154, and 155 shall apply to 23
taxation by early education districts to the same extent as 24
if early education districts were specifically included in 25
the provisions contained in chapters 151, 153, 154, and 155, 26
except that the taxes levied by early education districts 27
shall not be included for the purpose of determining the 28
average school levy for the other school districts in the 29
county in which they are situated. The taxes levied against 30
the property by early education districts shall be collected 31
in the same manner as general county taxes. 32
✓