FIRST REGULAR SESSION
92ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES BOYKINS, VILLA, CARNAHAN, WALTON, FRASER,
JOHNSON (61), HUBBARD (Co-sponsors), DAUS, KRATKY, HAYWOOD, WILSON (42),
JONES AND SANDERS BROOKS.
Read 1st time March 4, 2003, and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 160, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to the Missouri tutoring corps program.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 160, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 160.710, to read as follows:
160.710. 1. There is hereby established the "Missouri Tutoring Corps Program". This program shall be established jointly by the department of elementary and secondary education and the department of higher education.
2. Subject to appropriation, the department of elementary and secondary education shall provide grants and technical assistance for tutors for school districts that have a large student population living in poverty. The award of such a grant to any school district shall be based upon a demonstration of need. The department of elementary and secondary education shall establish appropriate qualifications for school districts to meet prior to approval to receive such a grant, including but not limited to giving more weight to applications from districts with a percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch in excess of fifty percent and the highest priority to districts with a percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch in excess of seventy percent. Applications for a grant pursuant to this program shall be on a form provided by the department of elementary and secondary education.
3. The department of elementary and secondary education and the department of higher education shall coordinate efforts to obtain suitable tutors for the program, and ensure that such tutors are placed in appropriate school districts demonstrating the greatest need for the program. Tutors shall be available to provide assistance to students in kindergarten through the twelfth grade. Tutors participating in this program shall be at least eighteen years of age.
4. Subject to appropriation, any individual who becomes a tutor pursuant to this program shall be eligible to receive reimbursement from the state for three credit hours of higher education for every one hundred hours spent as a tutor. Such reimbursement shall be available only for students attending a public college or university within the state of Missouri. The reimbursement shall apply only for a course taken in mathematics, English, science, language arts, or social sciences. The individual must also receive a passing grade for the course prior to receiving the reimbursement.
5. The commissioner of education and commissioner of higher education shall have the authority to promulgate any rules necessary for the administration of this section. No rule or portion of a rule promulgated pursuant to the authority of this section shall become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo.