Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe has signed nearly a dozen new laws affecting education.
Among the proposals that advanced this year are bills governing how public schools handle religious chaplains, banning cellphones and opening school activities to homeschooled students. Higher education students can expect some new financial aid programs, a law aimed at encouraging help for hazing victims and changes to make transferring credits easier.
Kehoe also approved the major education budget bills for the upcoming year in late June, though he vetoed some line items.
Here are some key changes you can expect in Missouri education law.
Cellphones
Senate Bill 68, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mike Henderson of Desloge, says public schools must prohibit students from using cellphones or other "electronic personal communication devices" at school.
Schools must ban the devices throughout the school day — not just during classes. They're required to write policies that include consequences for violations and lay out when to make exceptions for special education, health needs, emergencies and educational purposes.
Reading
In recent years, there's been a national push to align reading instruction with techniques supported by scientific research about how people learn to read.
In line with that research, Senate Bill 68 also says reading instruction must be primarily based in phonics rather than tactics such as the "three-cueing system" — which encourages students to guess words based on context — or visual memory.
Discipline and safety
Senate Bill 68 also prohibits zero-tolerance discipline policies that require an automatic consequence without room to account for circumstances.
Many other items in the 142-page bill are related to safety issues such as improving school door locks, developing plans for emergencies and creating a reporting system for safety incidents.
Religion in schools
Senate Bill 49, sponsored by Republican Sen. Rusty Black of Chillicothe, allows school districts and charter schools to hire religious chaplains or accept them as volunteers.
Chaplains must be a member of a religious group recognized by the Armed Forces Chaplains Board. The board's long list of organizations excludes groups like the Satanic Temple, which testified against the bill and pledged to station ministers of Satan in schools if it passed.
The proposal requires that chaplains go through background checks and not be registered sex offenders. It also says they can't serve in teaching roles unless they are certified teachers.
There are no requirements that the chaplains be trained or formally recognized by their religious group. The bill leaves open-ended what they will do, saying only that they'll "provide support, services, or programs for students as assigned."
Homeschooled students
Senate Bill 63, sponsored by Republican Sen. Ben Brown of Washington, allows homeschooled and virtual school students to participate in public school programs such as sports, fine arts and co-curricular activities.
Students will participate in normal tryouts and can't be required to attend classes unless they are directly related to the activity. Schools can require the students to conform to normal attendance, discipline and academic performance policies that other students follow.
CROWN Act
Senate Bill 160, sponsored by Republican Sen. Brad Hudson of Cape Fair, includes the Missouri CROWN Act, a proposal aimed at protecting students from discrimination based on hair textures and protective styles that are associated with a specific race or national origin.
Elementary and secondary schools that receive any state financial assistance are forbidden from discriminating, though they can require hair coverings when needed for safety reasons.
Education spending
Kehoe signed the budget bills for K-12 and higher education at the end of June, though he vetoed certain line items.
Notable details include an additional $500 million going toward the foundation formula, which determines how much the state should contribute to public schools. That's $300 million more than Kehoe originally recommended.
For the first time, Missouri will send state general revenue — $50 million — directly to the MOScholars program, which provides scholarships for students to attend religious and other private schools. That part of the budget has already provoked a lawsuit from a Missouri teachers union.
Kehoe ceremonially signed House Bill 12, which contains the MOScholars spending, at St. Mary's Catholic High School in St. Louis on July 11.
The governor's education budget highlights also note that the budget fully funds transportation costs for school districts, ensures teachers are paid at least the minimum salaries the Legislature set in 2024 and gives public colleges and universities a small increase in funding.
Degrees and emphasis areas
The University of Missouri has the exclusive right to grant doctoral and first-professional degrees. House Bill 419, sponsored by Republican Rep. Don Mayhew of Crocker, changes that by allowing Missouri State University to grant doctoral degrees in many areas and bachelor of science degrees in veterinary technology.
House Bill 419, Senate Bill 150 and Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 also add health and life sciences and "immersive learning experiences" to the mission of Missouri Southern State University. Republican Sen. Jill Carter, from the Joplin area, sponsored the concurrent resolution and Senate bill.
Tuition, curriculum and financial aid
House Bill 419 also clarifies that military personnel stationed in Missouri and their dependents can pay the in-state tuition rate for both undergraduate and graduate degrees.
It requires public universities to have policies for granting course credit to students who get a 4 or higher on international baccalaureate exams. IB is an international academic program offered in several Kansas City-area districts and charter schools.
Both House Bill 419 and Senate Bill 71 include the Public Safety Recruitment and Retention Act. The proposals provide free public college tuition to certain first responders and their dependents. Republican Sen. David Gregory of St. Louis County sponsored the Senate bill.
First responders can pick from a list of eligible topics of study. For example, the dozen-plus options on the list for police include forensic science, history, Spanish and criminal justice. Dependents using the program must additionally promise to stay in the state for five years. If they fail to stay, the tuition payments are treated as a loan.
Carter's Senate Bill 150 also expands aid for postsecondary education.
Students eligible for the Access Missouri Financial Assistance Program, based on need, will receive higher awards. Those eligible for Access Missouri who study science, technology, engineering or math can receive an additional STEM grant of $1,500 per year for up to four years.
Another program in the bill creates a new career-tech certificate program to cover some students' education costs for things such as certified nurse assistant programs or commercial driver's license programs.
Carter's proposal also requires there to be common lower-division core curricula of 60 credit hours for general business, elementary education and teaching, general psychology, registered nursing and general biology or biological science. Any public higher education institutions that offer those degrees must allow students to transfer those credits from other schools.
Hazing
Hudson's Senate Bill 160 and Sen. Travis Fitzwater's Senate Bill 43 include Danny's Law, which incentivizes seeking aid for hazing victims. Fitzwater is a Republican from Holts Summit.
People who might otherwise be guilty of hazing charges could be exempt if they aid the hazing victim or are the first person to call 911 or campus police for medical attention, cooperate with first responders and stay on the scene until they arrive.
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