FIRST REGULAR SESSION
95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES KINGERY (Sponsor), SMITH (150), DAY, NANCE, SATER, COX, SCHAD, FAITH, WALLACE, McGHEE, DOUGHERTY ,WILSON (130), WILSON (119), MUNZLINGER, FUNDERBURK AND BIVINS (Co-sponsors).
0472L.01I D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk
AN ACT
To repeal sections 160.011, 160.041, 171.031, and 171.033, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof five new sections relating to four-day school weeks.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 160.011, 160.041, 171.031, and 171.033, RSMo, are repealed and five new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 160.011, 160.041, 171.029, 171.031, and 171.033, to read as follows:
160.011. As used in chapters 160, 161, 162, 163, 164, 165, 167, 168, 170, 171, 177 and 178, RSMo, the following terms mean:
(1) "District" or "school district", when used alone, may include seven-director, urban, and metropolitan school districts;
(2) "Elementary school", a public school giving instruction in a grade or grades not higher than the eighth grade;
(3) "Family literacy programs", services of sufficient intensity in terms of hours, and of sufficient duration, to make sustainable changes in families that include:
(a) Interactive literacy activities between parents and their children;
(b) Training of parents regarding how to be the primary teacher of their children and full partners in the education of their children;
(c) Parent literacy training that leads to high school completion and economic self sufficiency; and
(d) An age-appropriate education to prepare children of all ages for success in school;
(4) "Graduation rate", the quotient of the number of graduates in the current year as of June thirtieth divided by the sum of the number of graduates in the current year as of June thirtieth plus the number of twelfth graders who dropped out in the current year plus the number of eleventh graders who dropped out in the preceding year plus the number of tenth graders who dropped out in the second preceding year plus the number of ninth graders who dropped out in the third preceding year;
(5) "High school", a public school giving instruction in a grade or grades not lower than the ninth nor higher than the twelfth grade;
(6) "Metropolitan school district", any school district the boundaries of which are coterminous with the limits of any city which is not within a county;
(7) "Public school" includes all elementary and high schools operated at public expense;
(8) "School board", the board of education having general control of the property and affairs of any school district;
(9) "School term", a minimum of one hundred seventy-four school days, as that term is defined in section 160.041, for schools with a five-day school week or a minimum of one hundred forty-two school days, as that term is defined in section 160.041, for schools with a four-day school week, and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance as scheduled by the board pursuant to section 171.031, RSMo, during a twelve-month period in which the academic instruction of pupils is actually and regularly carried on for a group of students in the public schools of any school district. A "school term" may be within a school year or may consist of parts of two consecutive school years, but does not include summer school. A district may choose to operate two or more terms for different groups of children;
(10) "Secretary", the secretary of the board of a school district;
(11) "Seven-director district", any school district which has seven directors and includes urban districts regardless of the number of directors an urban district may have unless otherwise provided by law;
(12) "Taxpayer", any individual who has paid taxes to the state or any subdivision thereof within the immediately preceding twelve-month period or the spouse of such individual;
(13) "Town", any town or village, whether or not incorporated, the plat of which has been filed in the office of the recorder of deeds of the county in which it is situated;
(14) "Urban school district", any district which includes more than half of the population or land area of any city which has not less than seventy thousand inhabitants, other than a city which is not within a county.
160.041. 1. The "minimum school day" consists of three hours for schools with a five-day school week or four hours for schools with a four-day school week in which the pupils are under the guidance and direction of teachers in the teaching process. A "school month" consists of four weeks of five days each for schools with a five-day school week or four weeks of four days each for schools with a four-day school week. The "school year" commences on the first day of July and ends on the thirtieth day of June following.
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 1 of this section, the commissioner of education is authorized to reduce the required number of hours and days in which the pupils are under the guidance and direction of teachers in the teaching process if:
(1) There is damage to or destruction of a public school facility which requires the dual utilization of another school facility; or
(2) Flooding or other inclement weather as defined in subsection 1 of section 171.033, RSMo, prevents students from attending the public school facility.
Such reduction shall not extend beyond two calendar years in duration.
171.029. The school board of any school district in the state, upon adoption of a resolution by the vote of a majority of all its members to authorize such action, may establish a four-day school week in lieu of a five-day school week. Upon adoption of a four-day school week, any school that adopts a four-day school week shall file a calendar with the department of elementary and secondary education in accordance with section 171.031. Such calendar shall include, but not be limited to, a minimum term of one hundred forty-two days and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance.
171.031. 1. Each school board shall prepare annually a calendar for the school term, specifying the opening date and providing a minimum term of at least one hundred seventy-four days for schools with a five-day school week or one hundred forty-two school days for schools with a four-day school week, and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance. In addition, such calendar shall include six make-up days for possible loss of attendance due to inclement weather as defined in subsection 1 of section 171.033.
2. Each local school district may set its opening date each year, which date shall be no earlier than ten calendar days prior to the first Monday in September. No public school district shall select an earlier start date unless the district follows the procedure set forth in subsection 3 of this section.
3. A district may set an opening date that is more than ten calendar days prior to the first Monday in September only if the local school board first gives public notice of a public meeting to discuss the proposal of opening school on a date more than ten days prior to the first Monday in September, and the local school board holds said meeting and, at the same public meeting, a majority of the board votes to allow an earlier opening date. If all of the previous conditions are met, the district may set its opening date more than ten calendar days prior to the first Monday in September. The condition provided in this subsection must be satisfied by the local school board each year that the board proposes an opening date more than ten days before the first Monday in September.
4. If any local district violates the provisions of this section, the department of elementary and secondary education shall withhold an amount equal to one quarter of the state funding the district generated under section 163.031, RSMo, for each date the district was in violation of this section.
5. The provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section shall not apply to school districts in which school is in session for twelve months of each calendar year.
6. The state board of education may grant an exemption from this section to a school district that demonstrates highly unusual and extenuating circumstances justifying exemption from the provisions of subsections 2 to 4 of this section. Any exemption granted by the state board of education shall be valid for one academic year only.
7. No school day for schools with a five-day school week shall be longer than seven hours except for vocational schools which may adopt an eight-hour day in a metropolitan school district and a school district in a first class county adjacent to a city not within a county, and any school that adopts a four-day school week in accordance with section 171.029.
171.033. 1. "Inclement weather", for purposes of this section, shall be defined as ice, snow, extreme cold, flooding, or a tornado, but such term shall not include excessive heat.
2. A district shall be required to make up the first six days of school lost or canceled due to inclement weather and half the number of days lost or canceled in excess of six days. Schools with a four-day school week may schedule such make-up days on Fridays.
3. [In the 2005-06 school year, a school district may be exempt from the requirement to make up days of school lost or canceled due to inclement weather occurring after April 1, 2006, in the school district, but such reduction of the minimum number of school days shall not exceed five days when a district has missed more than seven days overall, such reduction to be taken as follows: one day for eight days missed, two days for nine days missed, three days for ten days missed, four days for eleven days missed, and five days for twelve or more days missed. The requirement for scheduling two-thirds of the missed days into the next year's calendar pursuant to subsection 1 of this section shall be waived for the 2006-07 school year.
4.] The commissioner of education may provide, for any school district in which schools are in session for twelve months of each calendar year that cannot meet the minimum school calendar requirement of at least one hundred seventy-four days for schools with a five-day school week or one hundred forty-two days for schools with a four-day school week and one thousand forty-four hours of actual pupil attendance, upon request, a waiver to be excused from such requirement. This waiver shall be requested from the commissioner of education and may be granted if the school was closed due to circumstances beyond school district control, including inclement weather, flooding or fire.
•