Missouri Senate

Perfected

The Compact shall apply to the children of active duty members of the United States military forces or the National Guard and Reserve, children of members or veterans who are medically discharged or retired for one year, and children of members who die on active duty or as a result of injuries sustained on active duty. The provisions shall only apply to local education agencies that provide control of and direction for Kindergarten through Twelfth grade public educational institutions.

The Compact requires that the custodian of records in any state from which a child of a military family is sent shall furnish unofficial education records to the parent, containing information enumerated in the Compact. The school in the state to which the child is sent shall enroll the child pending validation by official records. The school in the receiving state shall requires the student's official education record, and the school in the state that sent the child shall furnish such records within ten days, or within such time as determined by rules promulgated by the Interstate Commission.

States who have entered into this Compact shall give thirty days from the date of enrollment for students to obtain immunizations, or within such time as determined by rules promulgated by the Interstate Commission.

Students shall be allowed to continue their enrollment in the receiving state at the same grade level, including kindergarten, as he or she was attending in the sending state, or shall be able to attend the next highest grade level in the receiving state if he or she completed the prerequisite grade level in the sending state.

When a student transfers before or during the school year, the receiving state shall honor placement of the student in courses based on the student's enrollment and assessments conducted at the school of the sending state. The receiving state school shall also honor placement of the student in educational programs based on assessments conducted at the school of the sending state. This does not preclude the receiving state from performing evaluations to ensure appropriate placement.

A receiving state shall provide comparable services to a student with disabilities based on his or her current Individualized Education Program and in compliance with federal disability laws, in order to address the needs of incoming students with disabilities. This does not preclude the receiving state from performing evaluations to ensure appropriate placement.

Local education agency officials shall have flexibility in waiving course program prerequisites or other preconditions for placement in courses or programs.

A student whose parent or guardian has been called for, is on leave from, or who has immediately returned from deployment to a combat zone or combat support posting shall be granted additional excused absences, at the discretion of the local education agency superintendent.

Local education agencies shall not charge tuition to a transitioning military child placed in the care of a non-custodial parent or other person standing in loco parentis who lives in a jurisdiction other than that of the custodial parent. Such a child may continue to attend the school in which he or she was enrolled while residing with the custodial parent.

State and local education agencies shall facilitate the opportunity for transitioning military children to participate in extracurricular activities, regardless of application deadlines, to the extent they are otherwise qualified.

State and local education agencies shall waive specific courses required for graduation if similar course work has been satisfactorily completed in another agency, or shall provide justification for denial of graduation. If a waiver is not granted to a student who would qualify to graduate from a sending school, the agency shall provide alternative means of acquiring required course work so that graduation can occur. States shall also accept exit or end-of-course exams required for graduation, or national achievement tests, or alternative testing in lieu of testing requirements for graduation in the sending state. If a military student transfers at the beginning or during his or her senior year and is ineligible to graduate from the receiving education agency after all alternatives have been considered, the sending and receiving local education agencies shall ensure the receipt of a diploma from the sending local agency, if the student meets requirements of such agency. If the sending state is not a member of this Compact, the member state shall use best efforts to facilitate the on-time graduation of the student.

Each member state shall provide for coordination among its agencies to ensure compliance with this Compact and Interstate Commission activities by creating a State Council, or by using an existing body or board, as long as the membership thereof includes the state superintendent of education, superintendent of a school district with a high concentration of military children, a representative of a military installation, a representative from the legislative and executive branches government, and any other offices or groups the Council deems appropriate. The Council shall also appoint a military family education liaison.

The Compact also establishes the Interstate Commission on Educational Opportunity for Military Children, having all of the powers and duties described in this Compact, including establishing bylaws and rules to provide for administration of the Compact, collecting standardized data regarding the educational transition of the children of military families, creating a process that will permit military and educational officials and parents to inform the Commission of any violations of the Compact or rules established under the Compact, and reporting to the legislatures and state councils the activities and recommendations of the Commission during the previous year.

The liability of the Interstate Commission shall not exceed the limits of liability set forth under the Constitution and laws of that state for state officials, employees, and agents, and the Commission is considered to be an instrumentality of the state for the purposes of any such action. The Commission shall defend the executive director of the Commission and its employees, and subject to the approval of the Attorney General or other legal counsel of the member state, shall defend such Commission representative in any civil action seeking to impose liability arising out of an act or omission that occurred within the scope of Commission employment or duties. To the extent that the Commission, its representatives, or employees are not covered by the state involved, they shall be held immune from any settlement or judgment obtained from acts or omissions arising out of an act or omission that occurred within the scope of Commission duties, other than intentional, willful, or wanton misconduct.

The Commission shall be organized, and shall have the power to establish committees, as herein provided. The rulemaking procedure of the Commission shall substantially conform to the Model State Administrative Procedure Act, as may be appropriate to the operations of the Commission. The majority of state legislatures of the compacting states may reject a rule by statute or resolution.

All branches of government in the compacting state shall enforce this Compact, and shall take all actions necessary to effectuate its purposes. In any proceeding in a member state pertaining to the subject matter of the Compact, or that may affect the powers or duties of the Commission, the Commission shall receive service of process and shall have standing to intervene.

If the Commission determines that a member state has defaulted in its performance of obligations under the Compact, the Commission shall specify the conditions by which the state must cure the default, shall provide training and assistance to cure the default, or, if all other means of securing compliance have been exhausted, shall terminate the state from the Compact, therefore terminating all rights, privileges, and benefits conferred herein.

The Commission may levy and collect an annual assessment from each member state to cover the cost of operations and activities of the Commission and its staff, in an amount sufficient to cover the Commission's annual budget, based on a formula to be determined by the Commission.

Any member state may withdraw from the Compact by repealing the statute that enacted the Compact into law, however, the withdrawal shall not become effective until one year after the effective date of such statute, and until written notice of withdrawal has been given to the Governor of each other member state.

ALEXA PEARSON