MO HB626

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall develop and implement a grant program for unaccredited and provisionally accredited school districts that commit to extended instructional time to improve academic achievement, including early childhood education.

Grants shall be awarded for two-year terms and renewable for up to two additional two-year terms, with award amounts proportional to additional instructional time beyond the legal minimum and average daily attendance rates.

Eligible school districts must analyze current instructional time usage and potential effects on student achievement, including impacts on personnel assignments and professional development needs, and provide rationale for their chosen method of adding instructional time.

Establishes the "Extended Instructional Time Fund" in the state treasury to be administered by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, consisting of appropriated moneys and any gifts, grants, or bequests from federal, state, private, or other sources.

Unaccredited districts receive priority for grant funding, and any remaining fund balance at the end of the biennium shall not revert to the general revenue fund.