Missouri Revised Statutes
Chapter 161
State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
←161.800
Section 161.825.1
161.850→
August 28, 2015
Citation of law--definitions--master list of autism spectrum disorder resources required--scholarship granting organizations, requirements, duties--department duties--sunset provision.
161.825. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as "Bryce's
Law".
2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "Autism spectrum disorder", pervasive developmental disorder;
Asperger syndrome; childhood disintegrative disorder; Rett syndrome; and
autism;
(2) "Contribution", a donation of cash, stock, bonds, or other
marketable securities, or real property;
(3) "Department", the department of elementary and secondary
education;
(4) "Director", the commissioner of education;
(5) "Dyslexia therapy", an appropriate specialized dyslexia
instructional program that is systematic, multisensory, and research-based
offered in a small group setting to teach students the components of
reading instruction including but not limited to phonemic awareness,
graphophonemic knowledge, morphology, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics,
instruction on linguistic proficiency and fluency with patterns of language
so that words and sentences are carriers of meaning, and strategies that
students use for decoding, encoding, word recognition, fluency and
comprehension delivered by qualified personnel;
(6) "Educational scholarships", grants to students or children to
cover all or part of the tuition and fees at a qualified nonpublic school,
a qualified public school, or a qualified service provider, including
transportation;
(7) "Eligible child", any child from birth to age five living in
Missouri who has an individualized family services program under the first
steps program, sections 160.900 to 160.933*, and whose parent or guardian
has completed the complaint procedure under the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act, Part C, and has received an unsatisfactory
response; or any child from birth to age five who has been evaluated for
qualifying needs as defined in this section by a person qualified to
perform evaluations under the first steps program and has been determined
to have a qualifying need but who falls below the threshold for eligibility
by no less than twenty-five percent;
(8) "Eligible student", any elementary or secondary student who
attended public school in Missouri the preceding semester, or who will be
attending school in Missouri for the first time, who has an individualized
education program based on a qualifying needs condition or who has a
medical or clinical diagnosis by a qualified health professional of a
qualifying needs condition which in the case of dyslexia, may be based on
the C-TOPP assessment as an initial indicator of dyslexia and confirmed by
further medical or clinical diagnosis;
(9) "Parent", includes a guardian, custodian, or other person with
authority to act on behalf of the student or child;
(10) "Program", the program established in this section;
(11) "Qualified health professional", a person licensed under chapter
334 or 337 who possesses credentials as described in rules promulgated
jointly by the department of elementary and secondary education and the
department of mental health to make a diagnosis of a student's qualifying
needs for this program;
(12) "Qualified school", either an accredited public elementary or
secondary school in a district that is accredited without provision outside
of the district in which a student resides or an accredited nonpublic
elementary or secondary school in Missouri that complies with all of the
requirements of the program and complies with all state laws that apply to
nonpublic schools regarding criminal background checks for employees and
excludes from employment any person not permitted by state law to work in a
nonpublic school;
(13) "Qualified service provider", a person or agency authorized by
the department to provide services under the first steps program, sections
160.900 to 160.933*, and in the case of a provider offering dyslexia
therapy, the term also includes a person with national certification as an
academic language therapist;
(14) "Qualifying needs", an autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome,
Angelman Syndrome, cerebral palsy, or dyslexia;
(15) "Scholarship granting organization", a charitable organization
that:
(a) Is exempt from federal income tax;
(b) Complies with the requirements of this program;
(c) Provides education scholarships to students attending qualified
schools of their parents' choice or to children receiving services from
qualified service providers; and
(d) Does not accept contributions on behalf of any eligible student
or eligible child from any donor with any obligation to provide any support
for the eligible student or eligible child.
3. The department of elementary and secondary education shall develop
a master list of resources available to the parents of children with an
autism spectrum disorder or dyslexia and shall maintain a web page for the
information. The department shall also actively seek financial resources
in the form of grants and donations that may be devoted to scholarship
funds or to clinical trials for behavioral interventions that may be
undertaken by qualified service providers. The department may contract out
or delegate these duties to a nonprofit organization. Priority in referral
for funding shall be given to children who have not yet entered elementary
school.
4. The director shall determine, at least annually, which
organizations in this state may be classified as scholarship granting
organizations. The director may require of an organization seeking to be
classified as a scholarship granting organization whatever information
that is reasonably necessary to make such a determination. The director
shall classify an organization as a scholarship granting organization if
such organization meets the definition set forth in this section.
5. The director shall establish a procedure by which a donor can
determine if an organization has been classified as a scholarship granting
organization. Scholarship granting organizations shall be permitted to
decline a contribution from a donor.
6. Each scholarship granting organization shall provide information
to the director concerning the identity of each donor making a contribution
to the scholarship granting organization.
7. (1) The director shall annually make a determination on the
number of students in Missouri with an individualized education program
based upon qualifying needs as defined in this section. The director shall
use ten percent of this number to determine the maximum number of students
to receive scholarships from a scholarship granting organization in that
year for students with qualifying needs who have at the time of application
an individualized education program, plus a number calculated by the
director by applying the state's latest available autism, cerebral palsy,
Down Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, and dyslexia incidence rates to the
state's population of children from age five to nineteen who are not
enrolled in public schools and taking ten percent of that number. The
total of these two calculations shall constitute the maximum number of
scholarships available to students.
(2) The director shall also annually make a determination on the
number of children in Missouri whose parent or guardian has enrolled the
child in first steps, received an individualized family services program
based on qualifying needs, and filed a complaint through the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, Part C, and received an unsatisfactory
response. In addition to this number, the director shall apply the latest
available autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, and
dyslexia incidence rates to the latest available census information for
children from birth to age five and determine ten percent of that number
for the maximum number of scholarships for children.
(3) The director shall publicly announce the number of each category
of scholarship opportunities available each year. Once a scholarship
granting organization has decided to provide a student or child with a
scholarship, it shall promptly notify the director. The director shall
keep a running tally of the number of scholarships granted in the order in
which they were reported. Once the tally reaches the annual limit of
scholarships for eligible students or children, the director shall notify
all of the participating scholarship granting organizations that they shall
not issue any more scholarships and any more receipts for contributions.
If the scholarship granting organizations have not expended all of their
available scholarship funds in that year at the time when the limit is
reached, the available scholarship funds may be carried over into the next
year. These unexpended funds shall not be counted as part of the
requirement in subdivision (3) of subsection 8 of this section for that
year. Any receipt for a scholarship contribution issued by a scholarship
granting organization before the director has publicly announced the
student or child limit has been reached shall be valid. Beginning with
school year 2016-17, the director may adjust the allocation of the
proportion of scholarships using information on unmet need and use patterns
from the previous school years. The director shall provide notice of the
change to the state board of education for its approval.
8. Each scholarship granting organization participating in the
program shall:
(1) Notify the department of its intent to provide educational
scholarships to students attending qualified schools or children receiving
services from qualified service providers;
(2) Provide a department-approved receipt to donors for contributions
made to the organization;
(3) Ensure that at least ninety percent of its revenue from donations
is spent on educational scholarships, and that all revenue from interest or
investments is spent on educational scholarships;
(4) Ensure that the scholarships provided do not exceed an average of
twenty thousand dollars per eligible child or fifty thousand dollars per
eligible student;
(5) Inform the parent or guardian of the student or child applying
for a scholarship that accepting the scholarship is tantamount to a
parentally placed private school student pursuant to 34 CFR 300.130 and,
thus, neither the department nor any Missouri public school is responsible
to provide the student with a free appropriate public education pursuant to
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973;
(6) Distribute periodic scholarship payments as checks made out to a
student's or child's parent and mailed to the qualified school where the
student is enrolled or qualified service provider used by the child. The
parent or guardian shall endorse the check before it can be deposited;
(7) Cooperate with the department to conduct criminal background
checks on all of its employees and board members and exclude from
employment or governance any individual who might reasonably pose a risk to
the appropriate use of contributed funds;
(8) Ensure that scholarships are portable during the school year and
can be used at any qualified school that accepts the eligible student or at
a different qualified service provider for an eligible child according to a
parent's wishes. If a student moves to a new qualified school during a
school year or to a different qualified service provider for an eligible
child, the scholarship amount may be prorated;
(9) Demonstrate its financial accountability by:
(a) Submitting a financial information report for the organization
that complies with uniform financial accounting standards established by
the department and conducted by a certified public accountant; and
(b) Having the auditor certify that the report is free of material
misstatements;
(10) Demonstrate its financial viability, if the organization is to
receive donations of fifty thousand dollars or more during the school year,
by filing with the department before the start of the school year:
(a) A surety bond payable to the state in an amount equal to the
aggregate amount of contributions expected to be received during the school
year; or
(b) Financial information that demonstrates the financial viability
of the scholarship granting organization.
9. Each scholarship granting organization shall ensure that each
participating school or service provider that accepts its scholarship
students or children shall:
(1) Comply with all health and safety laws or codes that apply to
nonpublic schools or service providers;
(2) Hold a valid occupancy permit if required by its municipality;
(3) Certify that it will comply with 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, as
amended;
(4) Provide academic accountability to parents of the students or
children in the program by regularly reporting to the parent on the
student's or child's progress;
(5) Certify that in providing any educational services or behavior
strategies to a scholarship recipient with a medical or clinical diagnosis
of or an individualized education program based upon autism spectrum
disorder it will:
(a) Adhere to the best practices recommendations of the Missouri
Autism Guidelines Initiative or document why it is varying from the
guidelines;
(b) Not use any evidence-based interventions that have been found
ineffective by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as described
in the Missouri Autism Guidelines Initiative guide to evidence-based
interventions; and
(c) Provide documentation in the student's or child's record of the
rationale for the use of any intervention that is categorized as
unestablished, insufficient evidence, or level 3 by the Missouri Autism
Guidelines Initiative guide to evidence-based interventions; and
(6) Certify that in providing any educational services or behavior
strategies to a scholarship recipient with a medical or clinical diagnosis
of, or an individualized family services program based upon Down Syndrome,
Angelman Syndrome, cerebral palsy, or dyslexia, it will use student,
teacher, teaching, and school influences that rank in the zone of desired
effects in the meta-analysis of John Hattie, or equivalent analyses as
determined by the department, or document why it is using a method that has
not been determined by analysis to rank in the zone of desired effects.
10. Scholarship granting organizations shall not provide educational
scholarships for students to attend any school or children to receive
services from any qualified service provider with paid staff or board
members who are relatives within the first degree of consanguinity or
affinity.
11. A scholarship granting organization shall publicly report to the
department, by June first of each year, the following information prepared
by a certified public accountant regarding its grants in the previous
calendar year:
(1) The name and address of the scholarship granting organization;
(2) The total number and total dollar amount of contributions
received during the previous calendar year; and
(3) The total number and total dollar amount of educational
scholarships awarded during the previous calendar year, including the
category of each scholarship, and the total number and total dollar amount
of educational scholarships awarded during the previous year to students
eligible for free and reduced lunch.
12. The department shall adopt rules and regulations consistent with
this section as necessary to implement the program.
13. The department shall provide a standardized format for a receipt
to be issued by a scholarship granting organization to a donor to indicate
the value of a contribution received.
14. The department shall provide a standardized format for
scholarship granting organizations to report the information in this
section.
15. The department may conduct either a financial review or audit of
a scholarship granting organization.
16. If the department believes that a scholarship granting
organization has intentionally and substantially failed to comply with the
requirements of this section, the department may hold a hearing before the
director or the director's designee to bar a scholarship granting
organization from participating in the program. The director or the
director's designee shall issue a decision within thirty days. A
scholarship granting organization may appeal the director's decision to the
administrative hearing commission for a hearing in accordance with the
provisions of chapter 621.
17. If the scholarship granting organization is barred from
participating in the program, the department shall notify affected
scholarship students or children and their parents of this decision within
fifteen days.
18. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section
536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section
shall become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of
the provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This
section and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested
with the general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the
effective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held
unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule
proposed or adopted after August 28, 2013, shall be invalid and void.
19. The department shall conduct a study of the program with funds
other than state funds. The department may contract with one or more
qualified researchers who have previous experience evaluating similar
programs. The department may accept grants to assist in funding this
study.
20. The study shall assess:
(1) The level of participating students' and children's satisfaction
with the program in a manner suitable to the student or child;
(2) The level of parental satisfaction with the program;
(3) The percentage of participating students who were bullied or
harassed because of their special needs status at their resident school
district compared to the percentage so bullied or harassed at their
qualified school;
(4) The percentage of participating students who exhibited behavioral
problems at their resident school district compared to the percentage
exhibiting behavioral problems at their qualified school;
(5) The class size experienced by participating students at their
resident school district and at their qualified school; and
(6) The fiscal impact to the state and resident school districts of
the program.
21. The study shall be completed using appropriate analytical and
behavioral sciences methodologies to ensure public confidence in the study.
22. The department shall provide the general assembly with a final
copy of the evaluation of the program by December 31, 2016.
23. The public and nonpublic participating schools and service
providers from which students transfer to participate in the program shall
cooperate with the research effort by providing student or child assessment
instrument scores and any other data necessary to complete this study.
24. The general assembly may require periodic updates on the status
of the study from the department. The individuals completing the study
shall make their data and methodology available for public review while
complying with the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and
Privacy Act, as amended.
25. Under section 23.253 of the Missouri sunset act:
(1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section
shall sunset automatically on December 31, 2019, unless reauthorized by an
act of the general assembly; and
(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under
this section shall sunset automatically on December 31, 2031; and
(3) This section shall terminate on December thirty-first of the
calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program
authorized under this section is sunset.
(L. 2013 S.B. 17 § 135.1220, A.L. 2014 H.B. 1614)
*Section 160.933 was repealed by H.B. 1298 Revision, 2014.
Sunset date 12-31-19
Termination date 12-31-20
2013
2013
161.825. 1. This section shall be known and may be cited as "Bryce's
Law".
2. As used in this section, the following terms mean:
(1) "Autism spectrum disorder", pervasive developmental disorder;
Asperger syndrome; childhood disintegrative disorder; Rett syndrome; and
autism;
(2) "Contribution", a donation of cash, stock, bonds, or other
marketable securities, or real property;
(3) "Department", the department of elementary and secondary education;
(4) "Director", the commissioner of education;
(5) "Educational scholarships", grants to students to cover all or part
of the tuition and fees at a qualified nonpublic school, a qualified public
school, or a qualified service provider, including transportation;
(6) "Eligible child", any child from birth to age five living in
Missouri who has an individualized family services program under the first
steps program, sections 160.900 to 160.933, and whose parent or guardian has
completed the complaint procedure under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, Part C, and has received an unsatisfactory response; or any
child from birth to age five who has been evaluated for special needs as
defined in this section by a person qualified to perform evaluations under the
first steps program and has been determined to have special needs but who
falls below the threshold for eligibility by no less than twenty-five percent;
(7) "Eligible student", any elementary or secondary student who attended
public school in Missouri the preceding semester, or who will be attending
school in Missouri for the first time, who has an individualized education
program based on a special needs condition or who has a medical diagnosis by a
qualified health professional of a special needs condition;
(8) "Parent", includes a guardian, custodian, or other person with
authority to act on behalf of the child;
(9) "Program", the program established in this section;
(10) "Qualified health professional", a person licensed under chapter
334 or 337 who possesses credentials as described in rules promulgated jointly
by the department of elementary and secondary education and the department of
mental health to make a diagnosis of a student's special needs for this
program;
(11) "Qualified school", either an accredited public elementary or
secondary school in a district that is accredited without provision outside of
the district in which a student resides or an accredited nonpublic elementary
or secondary school in Missouri that complies with all of the requirements of
the program and complies with all state laws that apply to nonpublic schools
regarding criminal background checks for employees and excludes from
employment any person not permitted by state law to work in a nonpublic
school;
(12) "Qualified service provider", a person or agency authorized by the
department to provide services under the first steps program, sections 160.900
to 160.933;
(13) "Scholarship granting organization", a charitable organization
that:
(a) Is exempt from federal income tax;
(b) Complies with the requirements of this program;
(c) Provides education scholarships to students attending qualified
schools of their parents' choice or to children receiving services from
qualified service providers; and
(d) Does not accept contributions on behalf of any eligible student or
eligible child from any donor with any obligation to provide any support for
the eligible student or eligible child;
(14) "Special needs", an autism spectrum disorder, Down Syndrome,
Angelman Syndrome, or cerebral palsy.
3. The department of elementary and secondary education shall develop a
master list of resources available to the parents of children with an autism
spectrum disorder and shall maintain a web page for the information. The
department shall also actively seek financial resources in the form of grants
and donations that may be devoted to scholarship funds or to clinical trials
for behavioral interventions that may be undertaken by qualified service
providers. The department may contract out or delegate these duties to a
nonprofit organization. Priority in referral for funding shall be given to
children who have not yet entered elementary school.
4. The director shall determine, at least annually, which organizations
in this state may be classified as scholarship granting organizations. The
director may require of an organization seeking to be classified as a
scholarship granting organization whatever information which is reasonably
necessary to make such a determination. The director shall classify an
organization as a scholarship granting organization if such organization meets
the definition set forth in this section.
5. The director shall establish a procedure by which a donor can
determine if an organization has been classified as a scholarship granting
organization. Scholarship granting organizations shall be permitted to
decline a contribution from a donor.
6. Each scholarship granting organization shall provide information to
the director concerning the identity of each donor making a contribution to
the scholarship granting organization.
7. (1) The director shall annually make a determination on the number
of students in Missouri with an individualized education program based upon
special needs as defined in this section. The director shall use ten percent
of this number to determine the maximum number of students to receive
scholarships from a scholarship granting organization in that year for
students with special needs who have at the time of application an
individualized education program, plus a number calculated by the director by
applying the state's latest available autism, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome,
and Angelman Syndrome incidence rates to the state's population of children
from age five to nineteen who are not enrolled in public schools and taking
ten percent of that number. The total of these two calculations shall
constitute the maximum number of scholarships available to students.
(2) The director shall also annually make a determination on the number
of children in Missouri whose parent or guardian has enrolled the child in
first steps, received an individualized family services program based on
special needs, and filed a complaint through the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, Part C, and received a negative response. In addition to this
number, the director shall apply the latest available autism, cerebral palsy,
Down Syndrome, and Angelman Syndrome incidence rates to the latest available
census information for children from birth to age five and determine ten
percent of that number for the maximum number of scholarships for children.
(3) The director shall publicly announce the number of each category of
scholarship opportunities available each year. Once a scholarship granting
organization has decided to provide a student or child with a scholarship, it
shall promptly notify the director. The director shall keep a running tally
of the number of scholarships granted in the order in which they were
reported. Once the tally reaches the annual limit of scholarships for
eligible students or children, the director shall notify all of the
participating scholarship granting organizations that they shall not issue any
more scholarships and any more receipts for contributions. If the scholarship
granting organizations have not expended all of their available scholarship
funds in that year at the time when the limit is reached, the available
scholarship funds may be carried over into the next year. These unexpended
funds shall not be counted as part of the requirement in subdivision (3) of
subsection 10 of this section for that year. Any receipt for a scholarship
contribution issued by a scholarship granting organization before the director
has publicly announced the student or child limit has been reached shall be
valid.
8. Each scholarship granting organization participating in the program
shall:
(1) Notify the department of its intent to provide educational
scholarships to students attending qualified schools or children receiving
services from qualified service providers;
(2) Provide a department-approved receipt to donors for contributions
made to the organization;
(3) Ensure that at least ninety percent of its revenue from donations is
spent on educational scholarships, and that all revenue from interest or
investments is spent on educational scholarships;
(4) Ensure that the scholarships provided do not exceed an average of
twenty thousand dollars per eligible child or fifty thousand dollars per
eligible student;
(5) Inform the parent or guardian of the student or child applying for a
scholarship that accepting the scholarship is tantamount to a parentally
placed private school student pursuant to 34 CFR 300.130 and, thus, neither
the department nor any Missouri public school is responsible to provide the
student with a free appropriate public education pursuant to the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of
1973;
(6) Distribute periodic scholarship payments as checks made out to a
student's or child's parent and mailed to the qualified school where the
student is enrolled or qualified service provider used by the child. The
parent or guardian shall endorse the check before it can be deposited;
(7) Cooperate with the department to conduct criminal background checks
on all of its employees and board members and exclude from employment or
governance any individual who might reasonably pose a risk to the appropriate
use of contributed funds;
(8) Ensure that scholarships are portable during the school year and can
be used at any qualified school that accepts the eligible student or at a
different qualified service provider for an eligible child according to a
parent's wishes. If a student moves to a new qualified school during a school
year or to a different qualified service provider for an eligible child, the
scholarship amount may be prorated;
(9) Demonstrate its financial accountability by:
(a) Submitting a financial information report for the organization that
complies with uniform financial accounting standards established by the
department and conducted by a certified public accountant; and
(b) Having the auditor certify that the report is free of material
misstatements;
(10) Demonstrate its financial viability, if the organization is to
receive donations of fifty thousand dollars or more during the school year, by
filing with the department before the start of the school year:
(a) A surety bond payable to the state in an amount equal to the
aggregate amount of contributions expected to be received during the school
year; or
(b) Financial information that demonstrates the financial viability of
the scholarship granting organization.
9. Each scholarship granting organization shall ensure that each
participating school or service provider that accepts its scholarship students
or children shall:
(1) Comply with all health and safety laws or codes that apply to
nonpublic schools or service providers;
(2) Hold a valid occupancy permit if required by its municipality;
(3) Certify that it will comply with 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, as amended;
(4) Provide academic accountability to parents of the students or
children in the program by regularly reporting to the parent on the student's
or child's progress;
(5) Certify that in providing any educational services or behavior
strategies to a scholarship recipient with a diagnosis of or an individualized
education program based upon autism spectrum disorder it will:
(a) Adhere to the best practices recommendations of the Missouri Autism
Guidelines Initiative or document why it is varying from the guidelines;
(b) Not use any evidence-based interventions that have been found
ineffective by the commission on Medicare as described in the Missouri Autism
Guidelines Initiative guide to evidence-based interventions; and
(c) Provide documentation in the student's or child's record of the
rationale for the use of any intervention that is categorized as
unestablished, insufficient evidence, or level 3 by the Missouri Autism
Guidelines Initiative guide to evidence-based interventions; and
(6) Certify that in providing any educational services or behavior
strategies to a scholarship recipient with a diagnosis of, or an
individualized family services program based upon Down Syndrome, Angelman
Syndrome, or cerebral palsy, it will use student, teacher, teaching, and
school influences that rank in the zone of desired effects in the
meta-analysis of John Hattie, or equivalent analyses as determined by the
department, or document why it is using a method that has not been determined
by analysis to rank in the zone of desired effects.
10. Scholarship granting organizations shall not provide educational
scholarships for students to attend any school or children to receive services
from any qualified service provider with paid staff or board members who are
relatives within the first degree of consanguinity or affinity.
11. A scholarship granting organization shall publicly report to the
department, by June first of each year, the following information prepared by
a certified public accountant regarding its grants in the previous calendar
year:
(1) The name and address of the scholarship granting organization;
(2) The total number and total dollar amount of contributions received
during the previous calendar year; and
(3) The total number and total dollar amount of educational scholarships
awarded during the previous calendar year, including the category of each
scholarship, and the total number and total dollar amount of educational
scholarships awarded during the previous year to students eligible for free
and reduced lunch.
12. The department shall adopt rules and regulations consistent with
this section as necessary to implement the program.
13. The department shall provide a standardized format for a receipt to
be issued by a scholarship granting organization to a donor to indicate the
value of a contribution received.
14. The department shall provide a standardized format for scholarship
granting organizations to report the information in this section.
15. The department may conduct either a financial review or audit of a
scholarship granting organization.
16. If the department believes that a scholarship granting organization
has intentionally and substantially failed to comply with the requirements of
this section, the department may hold a hearing before the director or the
director's designee to bar a scholarship granting organization from
participating in the program. The director or the director's designee shall
issue a decision within thirty days. A scholarship granting organization may
appeal the director's decision to the administrative hearing commission for a
hearing in accordance with the provisions of chapter 621.
17. If the scholarship granting organization is barred from
participating in the program, the department shall notify affected scholarship
students or children and their parents of this decision within fifteen days.
18. Any rule or portion of a rule, as that term is defined in section
536.010, that is created under the authority delegated in this section shall
become effective only if it complies with and is subject to all of the
provisions of chapter 536 and, if applicable, section 536.028. This section
and chapter 536 are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with the
general assembly pursuant to chapter 536 to review, to delay the effective
date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently held
unconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any rule proposed
or adopted after August 28, 2013, shall be invalid and void.
19. The department shall conduct a study of the program with funds other
than state funds. The department may contract with one or more qualified
researchers who have previous experience evaluating similar programs. The
department may accept grants to assist in funding this study.
20. The study shall assess:
(1) The level of participating students' and children's satisfaction
with the program in a manner suitable to the student or child;
(2) The level of parental satisfaction with the program;
(3) The percentage of participating students who were bullied or
harassed because of their special needs status at their resident school
district compared to the percentage so bullied or harassed at their qualified
school;
(4) The percentage of participating students who exhibited behavioral
problems at their resident school district compared to the percentage
exhibiting behavioral problems at their qualified school;
(5) The class size experienced by participating students at their
resident school district and at their qualified school; and
(6) The fiscal impact to the state and resident school districts of the
program.
21. The study shall be completed using appropriate analytical and
behavioral sciences methodologies to ensure public confidence in the study.
22. The department shall provide the general assembly with a final copy
of the evaluation of the program by December 31, 2016.
23. The public and nonpublic participating schools and service providers
from which students transfer to participate in the program shall cooperate
with the research effort by providing student or child assessment instrument
scores and any other data necessary to complete this study.
24. The general assembly may require periodic updates on the status of
the study from the department. The individuals completing the study shall
make their data and methodology available for public review while complying
with the requirements of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, as
amended.
25. Under section 23.253 of the Missouri sunset act:
(1) The provisions of the new program authorized under this section
shall sunset automatically on December 31, 2019, unless reauthorized by an act
of the general assembly; and
(2) If such program is reauthorized, the program authorized under this
section shall sunset automatically on December 31, 2031; and
(3) This section shall terminate on December thirty-first of the
calendar year immediately following the calendar year in which the program
authorized under this section is sunset.
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