MO HB1452

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall develop a process and scoring guide that provides additional performance points on the school improvement program for districts offering full-day kindergarten to students qualifying for free or reduced price lunch, receiving special education services, or identified as at-risk.

Beginning in the 2015-16 school year, parents in metropolitan school districts or urban school districts in home rule cities with more than 400,000 inhabitants spanning multiple counties must enroll children by age five in public, private, parochial, or parish schools, unless choosing home school instruction.

Exception allows parents intending to provide home school instruction complying with subsection 2 of section 167.031 to opt out of the mandatory five-year-old enrollment requirement.

Department of Elementary and Secondary Education must report to the Joint Committee on Education by November 1, 2017, on any academic performance effects of lowering mandatory enrollment age in affected districts.

Subsection 8 provisions automatically sunset six years after the effective date unless reauthorized by the General Assembly.