FIRST REGULAR SESSION
93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES SMITH (118) (Sponsor),
CUNNINGHAM (86) AND DENISON (Co-sponsors).
Read 1st time February 3, 2005 and copies ordered printed.
STEPHEN S. DAVIS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To amend chapter 162, RSMo, by adding thereto one new section relating to high school cooperative sponsorships.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Chapter 162, RSMo, is amended by adding thereto one new section, to be known as section 162.1225, to read as follows:
162.1225. 1. With the approval of the board of directors of the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA), students from two MSHSAA member senior high schools or two MSHSAA member junior high schools may be combined to cooperatively sponsor interschool activities, provided such is necessary to have a sufficient number of students to participate in a program or if the combination will result in increasing opportunities for students to participate in a program.
2. Establishment of a cooperative program may be approved by the MSHSAA board of directors provided one or both of the two schools was without an interscholastic program in the particular activity or sport the previous year and provided a need is shown to the board. Examples which may constitute need are:
(1) Insufficient numbers;
(2) Lack of staff;
(3) Lack of a program; or
(4) Lack of facilities.
3. When forming a common participating group, no more than two schools may be combined to compete. For senior high schools, the school classification for the competition in the particular activity shall be based on the combined enrollments for grades 9-12 of the two schools involved.
4. At the time the application to form a common participation group is made, one of the participating schools shall be designated to administer the program.
5. The two schools must be in the same geographical area and the school districts must be continuous or both schools located in the same school district, including both public and nonpublic. Noncontiguous districts that are isolated from a specific activity may request approval from the MSHSAA to form a cooperative program with the nearest district if that will increase the opportunities for students to participate.
6. The cooperative sponsorship agreement must be for a minimum of two years. The two-year period must coincide with the MSHSAA district cycles. The cooperative agreement may be voided at any time by mutual agreement of both schools with the approval of the board of directors. No other cooperative agreement in the same activity may be entered into with another school until the original two-year period lapses.
7. The cooperative agreement will be for a specific sport or activity. A school may have a cooperative agreement with one school in a particular activity or sport and with another school in a different activity or sport.
8. In multi-school districts, the central administration must designate the school or schools which may request permission to cooperatively sponsor programs in a particular sport or activity.
9. If a school in one district wishes to join with a school in a multi-district in a cooperatively sponsored sport or activity, the school must join with the nearest school in the multi-school district which offers the activity.
10. Applications for cooperative sponsorship must be made jointly by the school boards of education of the involved schools and submitted to the MSHSAA by December first of the year preceding the school year in which the cooperative sponsorship, if approved, will be implemented.
11. Pursuant to section 23.253, RSMo, of the Missouri Sunset Act:
(1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset six years after the effective date of this section unless reauthorized by an act of the general assembly; and
(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under this section shall automatically sunset twelve years after the effective date of the reauthorization of this section; and
(3) This section shall terminate on September first of the calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program authorized under this section is sunset.