NEA Legislative Update

The following is from Missouri National EducationAssociation

BUDGET

The House Budget Committee considered numerous amendments to the budget bills (HBs 1-12) Allen Icet. As noted previously, Budget Chair Allen Icet has inserted federal stimulus and stabilization funds into the elementary and secondary education budget bill (HB 2) and removed a total of roughly $900 million in general revenue from the budget process. Committee members are not allowed to consider this revenue in the budget process, so all amendments to increase must be accompanied by a like decrease. Rep. Sara Lampe offered an amendment to restore $5 million in professional development funding by reducing formula transportation funding. The amendment was defeated. Other amendments offered to restore funding for Parents as Teachers and the Scholars and Fine Arts Academies were also defeated.
The Association believes that the current House budget process is fundamentally flawed. Proper decisions for budgeting and balancing priorities can not be properly done without having all the available funding on the table for consideration. Missouri NEA supports incorporating federal economic stimulus and stabilization revenues into next year's budget in a careful way to maintain vital public services, while also seeking to address the structural budget deficit, improve the fairness of the state tax code and ensure adequate funding for public education and other vital public services.


PROTECTING MISSOURI'S FAIR AND IMPARTIAL COURTS
The Senate Governmental Accountability and Fiscal Oversight Committee will hear SJR 9 (Jim Lembke) on March 12. The SJR would revise Missouri's Non-Partisan Court Plan in a number of ways. Upon passage of this amendment, the terms of all members of the Appellate Judicial Commission and Circuit Judicial Commission would automatically expire. A new Governor could remove members of the commissions who were appointed by the previous Governor. These provisions will make the judicial selection process more political.
The SJR would also force all applicants to be publicly disclosed and require all interviews to be public meetings. This is likely to reduce the pool of qualified applicants, since clients or employers may be affected adversely by the knowledge that an attorney is considering applying for a court appointment.
The Missouri Nonpartisan Court Plan is essential for the state to select qualified judges in a way that limits partisan politics in the selection process. This non-partisan plan is so effective that a majority of states have adopted some version of the “Missouri Plan.” Fair and impartial courts are vital to democracy and the preservation of our rights, including the fundamental right of access to a great public school. The Association opposes the Joint Resolution and urges the General Assembly to refrain from any changes in the Missouri Non-Partisan Court Plan.


HOUSE ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

In addition to hearing the scheduled bills on March 11, the House Elementary and Secondary Education Committee voted out three bills as Consent Bills:
1) HB 922 (Joe Smith) to require school districts to adopt policies on allergy prevention and response, with priority given to addressing potentially deadly food-borne allergies.
2) HB 659 (Gary Dusenberg) to revise the laws regarding special administrative boards appointed for lapsed school districts. In part the bill sets up a structure for moving away from an unelected, administrative board and back to an elected board over time by electing new board members.
3) HCS/HB 304 (Rodney Schad) to specify what constitutes a significant difference in the time involved in transporting students for the purposes of elections to change school district boundaries.
The Committee was also scheduled to consider and vote on HB 387 (Robert Wayne Cooper), but the committee postponed the vote on the bill until after spring break. HB 387 creates a voluntary Quality Rating System for early child care facilities. Missouri NEA supports the bill.

SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE

The Senate Education Committee met on March 11 and heard three of the four scheduled bills, but the hearing for SB 373 (Rob Mayer) was postponed. SB 373 creates procedures for open enrollment of public school students across school district boundary lines.
The committee also voted out two bills:
1) SCS/SB 94 (Jolie Justus) to increase the eligibility limits on state child care subsidies. The Association strongly supports this effort to help low income, working parents model the value and dignity of work while making sure their children have access to quality early childhood instruction and child care. The SCS allows the qualification level to still be set by appropriations, and then adds a sliding scale up to 45% above the percentage of Federal Poverty Level set by appropriations. The SCS also started with the Quality Rating System language from SB 4 (Charlie Shields), but the QRS language was removed by a committee amendment offered by Sen. Scott Rupp.
2) SCS/SB 175 (Eric Schmitt) to require DESE to produce and distribute a guidance document known as "The Parents' Bill of Rights" for parents of children with an individualized education program.

NO TAX JUSTICE IN "FAIR TAX"

The House Tax Reform Committee approved HCS/HBs 814 & 318 on March 11 by a party-line vote of 7-5. The HCS would eliminate the state income tax and replace it with a state sales tax. The resolution would make Missouri's tax code profoundly less fair, less adequate and less sustainable. Missouri NEA strongly opposes this type of regressive tax change that will keep the Missouri from obtaining the revenue it needs to invest in public schools, public higher education and other vital public services like healthcare.

SENATE DEBATES MORE BUSINESS TAX CREDITS

The Senate began floor debate on SCS/SBs 45 et al. (David Pearce) relating to business tax credits on March 11. SCS/SBs 45 et al. lifts or raises the cap on several business tax credits and reinstates some that have expired. The exact impact of these tax credit changes is unknown, since some currently capped programs, such as the Quality Jobs Program, would no longer have any limit on the amount of tax credits.
The Association strongly urges the legislature to maintain limits on all tax credits and to ensure that all tax credit programs are transparent, properly documented and accountable for meaningful results in return for the public investment of the tax expenditures given.