MSTA-supported career ladder bill has hearing in committee
HB2493 (R. Black) would restart the “Missouri Career Development and Teacher Excellence Plan” – also known as Career Ladder. The bill was presented in the House Workforce Development Committee. With attention on multiple fronts for ways to improve compensation for teachers and address recruitment and retention issues, Rep. Rusty Black has again proposed a jumpstart to a program some veteran teachers may remember. The Career Ladder program is a voluntary salary supplemental program where teachers can earn additional compensation based upon the number of hours of work that is done outside of contracted time. Under the old program, local districts contributed 60% of the cost with the state picking up the remaining 40%. This legislation would switch the percentages to 60% state funded and 40% coming from local sources. In the past, teachers were required to have worked a minimum of 5 years in public schools - this proposed bill would lower that number to 2 years of teaching to help with retention efforts.
The bill lists the additional responsibilities and volunteer efforts outside of compensated hours that may include teacher externships, serving as a coach, supervising and organizing extracurricular activities, serving as a mentor or tutor to students, additional teacher training or certification outside of what is offered by the school district or assisting students with college preparation.
These additional contact hours benefit Missouri students and provide opportunities to further involve parents in their students’ education. Restarting this program is is another step toward increasing pay, in addition to the grant program proposed by Gov. Mike Parson to raise the minimum teacher salary to $38,000.
MSTA testified in support of HB2493 as the legislation is supported by MSTA Adopted Resolutions and is included in the MSTA 2022 Education Policy Priorities. MSTA supports reinstating state funding of the Career Ladder program, allowing educators to earn an additional stipend for engaging students in activities that enrich the students, schools and community.
In the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Ann Kelley presented HB1981, this legislation would allow educators to take a tax deduction in the amount of 100 percent of unreimbursed educator expenses incurred by an eligible educator for up to $500. These expenses would include professional development courses related to the curriculum in which the educator provides instruction, expenses in connection with books, supplies, computer equipment and other equipment, and supplementary materials used by the eligible educator in the classroom. MSTA testified in support of this bill.
State Board of Education moves forward with Blue Ribbon Commission
The State Board of Education approved forming a Blue Ribbon Commission on Teacher Recruitment and Retention. The Commission builds off of the board’s legislative priorities which include studying alternatives to the traditional salary schedule, such as incentive pay, pay for performance, health benefit design, tenure and differential pay based on subject area and geography. These ideas may sound familiar to educators - Missouri citizens spoke loud and clear in 2014, defeating Amendment 3 which would have put many of these harmful and divisive ideas into law. More 75% of Missouri voters rejected the well-funded ballot measure aimed at weakening Missouri’s public schools.
The Commission will be comprised of up to 22 members including business leaders, legislators, members of the State Board of Education, the governor’s staff as well as 2 educators and 1 school leader. The plan approved for the commission includes the ability to form work groups that will provide expert input and feedback on teacher recruitment and retention strategies.
While there may be opportunities for input and advocacy with the commission, the voices of Missouri’s educators will be greatly reduced with the composition of the commission’s actual decision makers.
Beginning in March of 2019, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education presented the State Board of Education with a Teacher Workforce Outreach Plan with updates in May, September and December of that year. The plan provided direction and focus for addressing challenges and issues regarding Missouri’s teacher workforce that included 26 strategies and 90 action steps. The DESE-led effort to prepare, develop and support educators to ensure an effective teacher in every classroom and an effective leader in every school, was largely halted by the COVID19 pandemic. The work done on this plan in collaboration with students, parents and educators will apparently be scrapped and replaced by a panel comprised of mostly individuals outside of education.
The Missouri State Teachers Association has shared teacher input with the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education over the last four years relating to teacher recruitment and retention. The 2021 Missouri Educator Wellness Survey showed 51% of teachers consider leaving the profession often or very often. Eighty-three percent of teachers surveyed said they frequently or almost always feel stressed, with the major sources of their stress coming from student behaviors, student motivation, and substitute shortages. Even with the stress that our educators are under, 74% say their work is quite or extremely meaningful. The 2019 MSTA State of the Education Profession survey showed the main reasons teachers were considering leaving the profession included the lack of pay and respect, student behavior, and classroom support.
According to Missouri’s education professionals, the path forward must include increasing support and respect for the profession, reducing the burden of state testing mandates when instruction time has become disrupted due to circumstances outside of the control of educators, improving pay for all education employees and addressing student behavior issues. Missouri doesn’t need another study to start working on these important issues facing public education.
Senate Education Committee Approves Bills
This week the Senate Education Committee gave approval to several bills. SB681 (O’Laughlin) is a bill designed to improve literacy in Missouri schools. The bill changes the make-up of the Missouri Advisory Board for Educator Preparation (MABEP) to include at least three active elementary or secondary classroom teachers and at least three faculty members within approved educator preparation programs. In consultation with MABEP, the State Board of Education will align literacy and reading instruction coursework for teacher education programs. All reading and special education certificates will be required to include specific training in literacy.
The State Board of Education, in collaboration with the Coordinating Board for Higher Education and the Commissioner's advisory council which is also established in the bill, is required to develop a plan to establish a comprehensive system of services for reading instruction. SB681 also requires the State Board of Education to create an Office of Literacy.
Each school district and charter school will be required to have a policy on-file for reading success plans, which provide parents and guardians of students with a plan that includes suggestions for regular parent-guided home reading. School districts and charter schools will be required to assess all students enrolled in kindergarten through 3rd grade at the beginning of each school year for their level of reading or reading readiness and will notify the parent of any student who exhibits a substantial deficiency in reading.
If a student has a substantial reading deficiency at the end of 3rd grade, promotion or retention of the student will be discussed with the student's parent or guardian and appropriate school staff. School districts and charter schools must provide students with a substantial reading deficiency additional support.
School districts and charter schools will establish a reading development initiative designed to offer intensive reading instruction to each kindergarten through 3rd grade students whose assessment is exhibiting a substantial reading deficiency.
Each school district and charter school is required to provide professional development services to enhance the skills of elementary teachers in responding to children's unique reading issues and needs to increase the use of evidence-based strategies.
Finally, the Commissioner of Education is required to establish a literacy advisory council. The council will include members representing education stakeholder groups, including teachers, parents, administrators and reading specialists. The council is required to provide recommendations to the Commissioner and the State Board of Education regarding any identified improvements to literacy education, instruction and practice.
The education committee also heard and voted out SB869 (Koenig), which modifies the calculation of the amount a school district with one or more pupils attending a charter school shall pay to the charter school.
The committee voted the following bills do pass:
SB648 (Rowden) would make modifications to the virtual education programs offered in Missouri.
SB650 (Eigel) would expand where charter schools can be located.
SB657 (Cierpiot) would allow for recall of school board members.
House approves vital supplemental budget
The House moved forward on a request by the governor to increase the current year’s budget in order to allow school districts to receive available federal funds. This supplemental budget request includes $1.9 billion that would go to local school districts.
HB3014 (C. Smith) includes federal money which would go to all school districts. The federal guidelines on this money require that 90% of the money go to local school districts and 10% be used by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for discretionary spending. The bill now outlines specific plans for the use of the DESE money. Those plans include:
- Longitudinal Data System Update - $640.626
- Postsecondary Advising Initiative - $9.0 million
- Summer Learning - $20 million
- Teacher and Recruitment Grants - $19.9 million
- Mathematics Mastery - $10.3 million
- Mental Health Support Initiative - $19.1 million
- Assessment System Redesign - $12.9 million
A new program that was added is the Close the Gap Program for $75 million. This program would make direct payments to families of students in kindergarten through 12th grade to support qualifying educational enrichment activities. The bill requires that a third-party administrator run the program instead of local districts or DESE. The qualifying expenses, which would be reimbursable, include tutoring, extended school day educational programs, academic and arts-related day or summer camp and educational, learning or study skills services.
Grant awards would be calculated in two groups. The first group would include those with incomes below 185% of the federal poverty level ($49,025). The awards would be given to the lesser of $1,500 or the ratio of total number of applicants divided by the appropriation allowed in the bill. The second group would be for remaining applicants with a cap of $1,500.
There is some question if this grant program would be allowable under the federal guidelines and if expenses would need to be approved in advance or reimbursed after the expense occurs.
The legislature is under a timeline for approving this money. March 24 is the deadline for the governor to sign the appropriation of this money to districts or it would be returned to the federal government. Before districts can spend this money, they must have plans that are approved by DESE. Currently 94% of the local districts have approved plans on file with DESE.
Summaries
House
Elementary and Secondary Education
HB1973 (Gregory) modifies the definition of a school bus to include the requirement that the bus must be designed to carry more than 10 people. School districts are authorized to use other motor vehicles for the purpose of transporting school children. The State Board of Education may adopt rules and regulations governing the use of the other motor vehicles, but not vehicles operating under the authority of the Department of Revenue's Transportation Network Provision.
HB2010 (T. Smith) requires that for hearings for children with disabilities, the burden of proof and the burden of production shall be on the school district regarding any matter related to identification, evaluation, reevaluation, classification, educational placement, disciplinary action or the provision of free appropriate public education.
HB2011 (T. Smith) requires public schools that serve students with an IEP to implement parental consent procedures. Written parental consent shall be obtained and maintained for initial placement, annual placement or revision to a student's IEP. If the parents and school only reach an agreement on certain IEP services or interim placement, the child's new IEP shall be implemented in the areas of agreement. The child's last agreed-upon IEP shall remain in effect in the areas of disagreement until the disagreement is resolved. If a child is identified as eligible for special education services, the parents have the right to observe any program proposed for their child.
HB2095 (H. Kelly) repeals language related to the jurisdiction of the Children's Division within the Department of Social Services and its ability to investigate reports of alleged child abuse by personnel of a school district, a teacher or other school employee. It also repeals language related to how a school and school district are to handle reports of alleged child abuse.
HB2359 (Basye) expands the information to be made accessible on the Missouri Accountability Portal to include all forms of compensation and benefits paid to or on behalf of employees and all bonds issued by any public school district. The bill also requires public school districts to make the information accessible on the Portal to the Office of Administration.
HB2428 (Dogan) provides that no school or school employee shall compel teachers or students to discuss public policy issues without consent. The bill outlines additional ideas related to Title IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that teachers and students cannot be compelled to adopt, affirm or profess including but not limited to: that individuals of any race, ethnicity, color, or national origin are inherently superior or inferior and that individuals, by virtue of their race, ethnicity, color, or national origin, bear collective guilt and are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, ethnicity, color or national origin.
Executive Session
HB1804 (Veit) allows school districts to be divided into subdistricts, or a combination of subdistricts and at large districts for the purpose of electing school board members and provides for the process for the election of subdistrict board members. Voted do pass.
HB1721 (Shields) allows school districts that share superintendents to receive additional state aid. Voted do pass.
Pensions
Executive Session
HB2114 (R. Black) would allow PSRS retirees who work part time in PEERS covered positions to earn up to the annual earnings limit applicable to a Social Security recipient. Currently, such retirees may only earn up to 60 percent of the minimum teacher’s salary. This legislation would allow for responsible growth within the limit. The bill also extends the cap from two years to four years for the use of the critical shortage provision to hire retirees for hard to fill positions. Voted do pass.
Emerging Issues
HB2341 (Shields) would change the total number of qualifying pupils, defined as ages three through five and eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, that are included in the calculation of average daily attendance. Currently, that number may not exceed 4% of the total number of non-qualifying pupils ages five through 18 who are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and who are included in the calculation of average daily attendance. For the 2023-2024 school year, the percentage will increase to 6%. For the 2024-2025 school year, the percentage will increase to 8%. For the 2025-2026 school year, and for each school year thereafter, the percentage shall be 10%. MSTA testified in support.
HB2365 (Shields) removes the label of pilot program from the early learning quality assurance reporting program and authorizes the program to provide continuous improvement and ongoing updated consumer education and removes the sunset on the program.