HCS/SS/SB 112 - This act provides that the Missouri Sunset Act shall not apply to the early intervention program for infants and toddlers with disabilities (the First Steps program).
Also, subject to appropriations, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education shall implement a pilot program requiring the department to implement a pilot program allowing the Regional Interagency Coordinating Council (RICC) of the Greater St. Louis single point of entry (SPOE) to hire a part-time child-find coordinator to conduct the child-find requirements of the First Steps program. The part-time child-find coordinator shall be hired, selected, and employed by the RICC of the Greater St. Louis SPOE by July 1, 2008. By September 1, 2010, the Greater St. Louis SPOE shall conduct a study on the effect of hiring the child-find coordinator and submit the study to the Department, the State Interagency Coordinating Council and the General Assembly.
This act establishes the "Part C Early Intervention Pilot Program Fund" for implementing the pilot program. The provisions of the pilot program shall expire on September 1, 2011.
This act also combines references to the term "handicapped" in the special education statute with the "children with disabilities" to mean children under the age of twenty-one years who have not completed an approved high school program and who, because of mental, physical, emotional learning problems, require special education services.
This act also provides that any school district wanting to change its boundary lines must submit the question at the next election, rather than the next general municipal election. The State Board of Education must approve a proposed boundary change in certain circumstances based on the scores of the receiving and sending districts on their most recent annual performance reports.
This act is similar to SB 436 (2007).
ADRIANE CROUSE