With the summer session coming to a close, the Missouri legislature has sent a number of bills to Gov. Nixon’s desk for his final approval.
Among those sent is one regarding higher education, Senate Bill 563. The bill would, among other things, create the Higher Education Capital Fund, a program that would appropriate money to a Missouri public college or university for capital projects. There are two stipulations: first, the college or university must earn half of the cost of the project solely from private donations or grants, and second, the funds cannot be used for parking, athletic or housing structures. Once these two stipulations are met, the general assembly would provide the other half of the funding.
“From my perspective, this underscores the current reality: we need to find ways to privately underwrite public education,” MU political science professor Marvin Overby said in an email. “It also reflects another current reality: MU’s student housing, athletic facilities and parking structures are in relatively good shape. What is not in such good shape? Classrooms, laboratories, offices for faculty and teaching assistants and similar facilities.”
The bill also contains several other measures that would affect MU, including the reformatting of the Missouri Higher Education Savings program, the authorization of Missouri colleges and universities to issue documented acknowledgments of the completion of a school social work program and the guarantee only a Missouri college or university can authorize the use of the school’s emblem for a personalized license plate. The last measure mentioned was added in response to rumors of University of Kansas alumni attempting to create a University of Kansas-themed Missouri license plate.
“I wish I could say that such activities were rare for state legislators, but largely symbolic legislation of this sort is actually very common,” Overby said. “In large measure this is because the public is often far more responsive to symbolic gestures than to substantive policy changes.”
A second education-related bill is SB 576, which focuses on charter schools in Missouri. The bill would provide for the creation and operation of charter schools in unaccredited districts, as well as for provisions regarding the sponsorship of new charter schools. The bill was created with Missouri’s current state of education in mind.
“I think we need to take a critical look at education,” Sen. Bill Stouffer, R-District 21, said. “We are simply not getting results. Our performance is flat.”
Stouffer gave an example of a St. Louis school where, on a military test that required a score of 50 to qualify for all positions, the valedictorian of the school scored a four.
The bill would reduce or eliminate many of the restrictions for the creation of charter schools, such as the requirement a college must be in the same district as a charter school to sponsor it. Stouffer gave an example of a corporation that would sponsor a charter school because the current system was producing possible future employees who were illiterate. The bill also would replace many of the restrictions with measures that instead evaluate how the charter schools are performing.
“The No. 1 important thing (about this bill) is the creation of a standard of accountability,” Stouffer said. “It sets up a system of accountability and responsibility between the school board and the sponsors — it adds flexibility and local control. It is pathetic that we continue to play games with education.”
In addition to the two education-related bills, the legislature passed 114 other bills. One in particular, SB 749, focuses on healthcare. The bill, sponsored by Sen. John Lamping, R-District 24, states an employer or health care provider can legally refuse to cover abortion, contraception or sterilization if it is against the religious beliefs or moral convictions of the employer or provider. This bill mirrors the national debate over whether or not contraception should be included in mandated health care plans.
Other bills cover issues ranging from age caps for the state militia to do-not-call lists. A full list of passed bills can be found on the [Missouri Senate’s website](http://www.senate.mo.gov/12info/BTS_Web/TrulyAgreed.aspx?SessionType=R).