From John Urkevich, Executive Director,
Cooperating School Districts of Greater St. Louis, Inc.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Special Needs Tax Credit Scholarships
HCS HB1886 (Scharnhorst)
has been sent back to committee and may appear on the House floor for
debate this week. Advocates are using this delay to stage another rally
at the capitol to try to influence legislators. Even though many of you
have already done so, please contact your legislators again to ask that
they do NOT support HCS HB1886. Click HERE for talking points against HCS HB 1886.It appears that SCS SBs 993 & 770 will also be up for debate this week. If you have not already done so, please contact your senator to voice opposition to these bills.Click HERE for talking points.
Other voucher type bills to watch are SB977 and HB2207.
Missouri Human Rights Act
HB1858 (Emery and Jones) was heard on Wednesday in the House Special Committee on Workforce Development and Safety. It is expected to make its way to the House floor for debate this week. CSD is in support of this bill. This bill clarifies what constitutes an adverse employment action, prohibits punitive damages against governmental entities, and limits individual liability. Contact your state representative and ask them to support HB1858.
Teacher Minimum Salary Proposals
We are modifying our stance on SB1092 and SB1152 from opposed to neutral as we work with the sponsors to address concerns. Click HERE for talking points on SB1092 and click HERE for talking points on SB1152. We are not opposed to raising salaries, but would like to see a more equitable distribution of funds. One of the major problems with these bills is that there is no identified funding source. This fact alone may cause the concept to fail.
Open Enrollment from Unaccredited Districts
HB1676 (Hoskins) requires DESE to develop guidelines for the admission or rejection of non-resident students from unaccredited districts into adjoining accredited districts. CSD opposes this bill. Click HERE to learn more and to download talking points.
ABCTE Certification
SB1066 (Ridgeway) will be the main vehicle to pass this bill into law. Senator Bray filibustered passage in the Senate until such time as certain concerns of hers were addressed. They have been, and now that bill has moved over to the House for consideration. To the best of our knowledge, other than the MNEA, no other major public education organization has opposed this concept.
School-Based Mental Health Services
Funding in Jeopardy
The Department of Mental Health has requested funding in its FY 2009 Appropriation Request to support the expansion of school-based mental health services in Missouri schools. This week the House Budget Committee eliminated all funding for school-based mental health; however, there is still time to act. A final vote on the Department of Mental Health's Appropriation Bill - HB 10 - is scheduled to occur Wednesday, March 12. Committee members may submit amendments to HB 10 until Tuesday, March 11. Please contact members of the House Budget Committee requesting that they support the Governor's Recommendation of $2.5 million for school based mental health. Click HERE for talking points and to learn more.
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